Student achievement at the start of the 2021-22 school year lagged pre-pandemic norms, especially in math¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · associational r2 · q3
Currency · newest study 2021 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person · recheck by 2026: baselines and conditions change

Subclaims¶

q3 i? On average, student achievement in fall 2021 was lower than pre-pandemic trends, with the largest lag in math. → Karyn Lewis 2021

Evidence¶

Karyn Lewis 2021¶

Karyn Lewis, Megan Kuhfeld. (2021). Learning during COVID-19: An update on student achievement and growth at the start of the 2021-22 school year. NWEA Research brief. https://www.nwea.org/research/publication/learning-during-covid-19-an-update-on-student-achievement-and-growth-at-the-start-of-the-2021-22-school-year/

q3 · i? · associational · r2

Analysis of MAP Growth assessment data from "6 million students in grades 3-8" comparing fall 2021 achievement and pandemic-period gains to pre-pandemic trends; the brief reports achievement lagged norms, "especially in math." No effect sizes are printed in the available text.

"The results showed that, on average, both student achievement at the start of the 2021-22 school year and student gains across the pandemic (from fall 2019 to fall 2021) lagged pre-pandemic norms, especially in math."

Discussion¶

Related Claims¶

• Reading and math gains during 2020-21 were diminished compared to pre-pandemic trends, especially in the latter half of the school year — related
• The COVID-19 pandemic influenced U.S. science achievement, as shown by trends in science test scores across seven school years from 2019 through 2024 — related
• NWEA's 2024 technical brief examines pandemic impacts on science achievement and gains from 2019 through 2024, continuing research on COVID-19 school-closure effects on learning — related
• Pandemic-period gains from fall 2019 to fall 2021 fell short of pre-pandemic growth norms — related
• Reading and math achievement gains in 2021-22 paralleled pre-pandemic trends in many grades, with stronger rebounding in math and among younger students — related
• Low achievers experienced larger initial pandemic impacts and less improvement during 2021-22 — related
• Growth for all race/ethnicity groups lagged pre-pandemic trends in 2023-24, with marginalized students furthest from recovery — related
• End-of-2021-22 student achievement remained lower than a typical year, with larger declines in math (5 to 10 percentile points) than reading (2 to 4 percentile points) — related
• The 2021-22 study investigated whether achievement gains across the 2021-22 school year compared to pre-pandemic trends and whether there were initial signs of rebounding or recovery. — related
• After the U.S. Department of Education offered assessment waivers to all 50 states in 2019-2020, many educators and policymakers advocated restarting assessment programs in 2020-2021 to evaluate teaching and learning and inform recovery policies — related
• Assessments are framed as one indicator among many of student impact from COVID-19 — related
• The report examines how school shutdowns impacted student achievement at the start of the 2020-21 school year — related
• The 2021-22 COVID learning study investigated fall 2021 achievement versus pre-pandemic fall 2019 levels and fall 2019 to fall 2021 gains versus normative growth expectations — possibly the same claim (merge candidate)
• Updated norms are heavily weighted toward 2021/22 pandemic-era performance, with lower norm-group performance than the prior norms — related
• Fall 2020 math achievement was 5 to 10 percentile points lower than pre-COVID-19 performance by same-grade students — related
• The Learning during COVID-19 research investigated whether 2020-21 school-year gains and spring 2021 achievement differed from pre-pandemic trends and levels in reading and math. — related
• AI-supported PBL offerings showed higher A-rates and fewer low grades than pre-integration control offerings when including the COVID-19 year — related
• The brief investigated the degree to which students' reading and math test scores became more variable as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic — related
• The average student demonstrated positive math and reading gains during the 2020-2021 school year — related