Working paper and research brief: Understanding differential growth during school years and summers for students in special education¶

Element · All elements
Evidence · 6 claims (6 for) · 2 studies (1 review, 1 associational), q2 · 0 of 2 report an effect size · 6 claims rest on one study

Description¶

The page lists two associated NWEA artifacts: a working paper and a research brief, both titled "Understanding differential growth during school years and summers for students in special education." They underpin the webinar's "new research on the academic growth trends of students with disabilities in special education during the school year as compared to the summer before the pandemic." A related journal article, Supporting students with disabilities throughout the year, and a policy brief on school-year learning gains and summer learning loss are also listed.

Design Implications¶

Context¶

Requirements¶

• Access to the NWEA publication pages for the working paper and research brief

Constraints¶

Target Learners¶

• Students in special education

Target Learning Goals¶

• Understanding seasonal (school-year versus summer) academic growth patterns

Claims¶

• New research examined academic growth trends of students with disabilities in special education during the school year compared to the summer before the pandemic [+W]
• Steeper summer learning losses for students with disabilities contribute to widening disparities with peers [+W]
• Ever-SPED students started kindergarten with lower math and reading scores and grew less than never-SPED students during the kindergarten school year [+W]
• Ever-SPED students lost more learning than never-SPED students during every summer from kindergarten through 4th grade [+W]
• Students with disabilities in grades K-4 grow as much or more academically during some school years than peers without disabilities [+W]
• Test score disparities between ever-SPED and never-SPED students grew from under 0.4 standard deviations in kindergarten to 0.9 standard deviations in 4th grade [+W]

Related Elements¶

• Associated white paper: Evaluating the relationships between poverty and school performance
• Webinar: Supporting COVID-19 recovery for students with disabilities

Examples¶

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Key Sources¶

• Elizabeth Barker, Angela Johnson, Meghan Whittaker, Esq., Michael K. Yudin, Phillip Lovell, Jeremy Boerner. (June 2021). Supporting COVID-19 recovery for students with disabilities: Research findings, policy recommendations, and lessons from the ground. NWEA Research / Alliance for Excellent Education webinar. https://www.nwea.org/research/publication/supporting-covid-19-recovery-for-students-with-disabilities-research-findings-policy-recommendations-and-lessons-from-the-ground/