Prepare for fall 2020 by supporting academically behind students and further differentiating instruction¶

Strategy · All strategies
Evidence · 2 claims (1 for, 1 mixed) · 2 studies (2 associational), q2 · 0 of 2 report an effect size · 2 claims rest on one study

Description¶

The paper recommends that in preparing for fall 2020, "educators will likely need to consider ways to support students who are academically behind and further differentiate instruction." This follows directly from its projection that losses would be uneven, with some students losing ground while the top third may make reading gains. The strategy is a planning recommendation for the post-closure return to instruction rather than a tested intervention.

Design Implications¶

Context¶

Requirements¶

• Educators need awareness of which students are academically behind, which the paper addresses through its loss projections

Constraints¶

• The recommendation is tied to the projected unevenness of COVID-19 learning loss, not to a tested instructional intervention

Target Learners¶

• K-12 students returning to school in fall 2020 after COVID-19 closures, especially those academically behind

Target Learning Goals¶

• Recovering lost reading and mathematics learning after school closures

Claims¶

• Students who fail to reach an ACT 20 gained only 0.6 points from PLAN to ACT versus 3.3 for those who reached 20, falling behind expected gains [~W]
• The lowest-performing middle school readers fell further behind during post-COVID recovery [+W]

Related Strategies¶

Examples¶

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Key Sources¶

• Kuhfeld, M., Soland, J., Tarasawa, B., Johnson, A., Ruzek, E., & Liu, J. (2020). Projecting the potential impact of COVID-19 school closures on academic achievement. Educational Researcher, 49(8), 549–565. https://doi.org/10.3102/0013189X20965918