Reading and math achievement gains in 2021-22 paralleled pre-pandemic trends in many grades, with stronger rebounding in math and among younger students¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · associational r2 · q2
Currency · newest study 2022 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person · recheck by 2027: baselines and conditions change

Subclaims¶

q2 i? In 2021-22, reading and math achievement gains paralleled pre-pandemic trends in many grades, with stronger rebounding in math and among younger students. → Kuhfeld 2022

Evidence¶

Kuhfeld 2022¶

Kuhfeld, M., & Lewis, K. (2022). Student achievement in 2021-22: Cause for hope and continued urgency. NWEA Research brief. https://www.nwea.org/research/publication/student-achievement-in-2021-22-cause-for-hope-and-continued-urgency/

q2 · i? · associational · r2

Large-scale observational analysis of MAP Growth assessment data from 8.3 million students in grades 3-8 tested between 2018-19 and 2021-22, compared with a similarly sized pre-pandemic sample. The brief reports "encouraging early signs of academic rebounding in 2021–22" with gains paralleling pre-pandemic trends in many grades.

"this new research reveals some encouraging early signs of academic rebounding in 2021–22: reading and math achievement gains paralleled pre-pandemic trends in many grades, with stronger rebounding in math and among younger students."

Discussion¶

Learner Variables¶

• Age and Developmental Stage — moderator: an instructional effect differs with it

Related Claims¶

• Student achievement at the start of the 2021-22 school year lagged pre-pandemic norms, especially in math — related
• First graders in 2021–22 grew less in math and reading than a typical prepandemic year, by 6–7% — related
• Students lost less ground over summer 2022 compared to pre-pandemic summer-loss trends — related
• Middle school achievement declines in spring 2022 appear to be mostly unchanged from earlier pandemic levels — possibly the same claim (merge candidate)
• Second graders' 2021–22 fall–spring growth in math and reading paralleled prepandemic achievement gains — a narrower finding that bears on this claim
• Pandemic achievement gaps in math and reading continued to narrow from spring 2021 through fall 2022 — related
• Achievement disparities remained wider in spring 2022 than before the pandemic, and constant-gain trends imply recovery timelines extending past federal recovery-fund spending deadlines — related
• Evidence of academic rebounding in 2021-22 appeared across all school-poverty levels — related
• Academic rebounding in reading and math was uneven across school years and summers, especially in reading — related
• By spring 2021 students remained behind typical prepandemic achievement averages in both math and reading — 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
• Current third-graders showed the largest reading achievement gap and the least rebounding — reports the opposite
• 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
• Universal screening data from a small sample of full-implementation schools show fall-to-spring benchmark gains in reading and most math grades, largest in kindergarten, but behavior data show losses and the data are inconclusive — related
• Achievement progress is steeper for students tested at younger ages, especially in math — related
• Student achievement remained below typical-year levels in fall 2022, with full recovery projected several years away — related
• The brief compared pandemic achievement gains to pre-pandemic trends for students low- or high-achieving at the pandemic's start — a narrower finding that bears on this claim
• First- and second-grade spring 2022 achievement in reading and math was lower than spring 2019 prepandemic achievement — related