Background: Grade retention is an educational aspect that concerns teachers, families, and experts. It implies an economic cost for families, as well as a personal cost for the student, who is forced to study one more year. The objective of the study was to evaluate the effect of course repetition on math, science and reading competencies, and…

We evaluate the effects of grade retention on students' academic, attendance, and disciplinary outcomes in Indiana. Using a regression discontinuity design, we show that third-grade retention increases achievement in English Language Arts (ELA) and math immediately and substantially, and the effects persist into middle school. We find no evidence…

Various forms of networks in education have been proposed by scholars, policymakers, and educational administrators as a strategy for school improvement. However, there are few empirical studies on the effect of interschool networks. We analyzed data from 76 elementary schools in a Midwestern state to examine the association between interschool…

The purpose of this technical appendix is to share detailed results and to more fully describe the sample and methods used in the research included in the brief, "Recovery Still Elusive: 2023-24 Student Achievement Highlights Persistent Achievement Gaps and a Long Road Ahead." The authors investigated three main research questions in…

Michigan's Great Start Readiness Program (GSRP) is a state-funded pre-K program that serves at risk four-year-old children across the state. Utilizing longitudinal data from 1,394 children in a mid-sized urban school district, we conducted regression analyses and piecewise linear growth models to examine the growth trajectory of GSRP children and…

There is growing concern that some public service providers may be nonprofit in name but not in fact. We consider this issue in the context of nonprofit charter schools, which sometimes subcontract their daily operations to for-profit management organizations. We use unique data from Ohio to study how nonprofit charters' reliance on for-profit…

This brief is a continuation of NWEA's research series examining the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on student achievement and progress toward academic recovery. Initiated in the early phase of the pandemic, this series has leveraged NWEA's large national sample of longitudinal MAP® Growth™ data to track student performance and compare it to…

The purpose of this article is to review recent literature on summer learning loss (SLL) and consider the implications for post-pandemic learning loss. Fifteen articles, published between 2010 and 2022, were reviewed and selected according to a systematic protocol from two widely used online databases. The analysis shows that SLL has been widely…

Grit, a non-cognitive skill that indicates perseverance and passion for long-term goals, has been shown to predict academic achievement. This paper provides evidence that grit also predicts student outcomes during the challenging period of the COVID-19 pandemic. We use a unique dataset from a digital learning platform in the United Arab Emirates…

This is the sixth report in a series prepared and delivered to the governor and the Senate and House standing committees responsible for education law in the Michigan legislature. It is designed to help interpret and contextualize assessment results and students' progress toward learning goals in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Our analyses…

Summer learning loss is a perennial concern for educators and parents alike. However, researchers have recently questioned whether summer learning loss is just a statistical artifact driven by how achievement is measured across the school year. In this study, we empirically investigated a plausible critique of summer learning loss research, namely…

The COVID-19 pandemic prompted schools to transition to remote instruction during the latter half of the 2019-20 school year and continuing into the 2020-21 school year. National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) data trends indicate that there were statistically significant declines in students' mathematics and reading scores between 2020…

The COVID-19 pandemic led to notable disruptions in student learning, particularly in mathematics, impacting students from marginalized backgrounds. This quasi-experimental quantitative study examines whether the State of Texas Assessment of Academic Readiness (STAAR) Mathematics results from 2019 to 2024 indicate that students have recovered…

The student check-up (SCU) is a brief school-based motivational interviewing intervention developed to promote academic-related behavioral changes and to increase accessibility to mental health services. Despite published randomized controlled trials demonstrating SCU's effectiveness in promoting student self-efficacy in academic efforts, the…

The pandemic has exacerbated existing learning gaps and created new challenges for students. This Spotlight explores effective strategies to address these gaps, accelerate learning, and support students' overall well-being. From identifying which students have been disproportionately affected to implementing in-school tutoring, these articles…