Approximately one in four students who tested the prior year were missing from fall 2020 data, disproportionately Black or Latinx students in higher-poverty schools, so prior estimates likely understated pandemic impacts¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · associational r2 · q2
Currency · newest study 2021 · checked against its sources 2026-10-20 (automated, 1 of 1 entry) · not reviewed by a person · recheck by 2026: baselines and conditions change

Subclaims¶

q2 i? About one in four students who had tested the previous year were missing in fall 2020 data, and missing test takers were more likely to be Black or Latinx and attend schools serving higher proportions of students in poverty. → Megan Kuhfeld 2021

Evidence¶

Megan Kuhfeld 2021¶

Megan Kuhfeld, Erik Ruzek, Karyn Lewis, Jim Soland, Angela Johnson, Beth Tarasawa, & Lindsay Dworkin. (2021). Understanding the initial educational impacts of COVID-19 on communities of color. NWEA Research Report. https://www.nwea.org/research/publication/understanding-the-initial-educational-impacts-of-covid-19-on-communities-of-color/

q2 · i? · associational · r2

Descriptive finding from the authors' prior analysis of the same NWEA data, reported in the introduction: "approximately one in four students who had tested last year were missing in the fall 2020 data." The report argues its earlier study therefore likely did not fully capture outcomes of the hardest-hit students, and this report used multiple imputation to address differential missingness.

"A key finding from our research was that approximately one in four students who had tested last year were missing in the fall 2020 data, and that a higher percentage of missing test takers were Black or Latinx and attended schools serving a higher proportion of students living in poverty."

Discussion¶

Related Claims¶

• American Indian and Alaska Native, Black, and Latinx students and students in high-poverty schools were disproportionately impacted by pandemic-era achievement declines, particularly in elementary grades — related
• Fall 2021 achievement was lower for all student groups, with disproportionately high impacts for historically marginalized students and students in high-poverty schools — related
• Systematic demographic differences in available fall 2020 assessment data suggest COVID-19 impacts on the most vulnerable students may be underestimated — possibly the same claim (merge candidate)
• Systematic attrition differences mean COVID-19 impacts on student achievement are likely underestimated in fall 2020 MAP Growth results — possibly the same claim (merge candidate)
• Heavy weighting of achievement data in U.S. school evaluation clouds how much learning is actually occurring, particularly in high-poverty communities — related
• The webinar frames pandemic learning impact as a concern particularly for students of color and students living in poverty — related
• Researchers deployed stopgaps to address missing data caused by COVID disruptions — a broader claim this one bears on
• Teacher attrition is approximately 55% higher in high-poverty schools than in lower-poverty schools — related
• Students who did not retest in fall 2020 were disproportionately minoritized and lower-achieving compared with students who retested — possibly the same claim (merge candidate)
• The COVID-19 pandemic impacted historically underserved students more severely than their peers — related