The purpose of this study was to examine how the implementation of the Wilson's Language Training program, Fundations, influences the reading growth of first-grade graders. Reading proficiency at the school in this study was quite low at six percent. During the intervention, emphasis was placed on phonemic awareness. The Wilson's Fundations…

It is now well established that the COVID-19 pandemic had a devastating and unequal impact on student achievement. Test score declines were disproportionately large for historically marginalized students, exacerbating preexisting achievement gaps and threatening educational and economic inequality. In this paper, we use longitudinal student-level…

In response to COVID-19, U.S. students learned remotely from mid-March to June 2020. At the start of academic year 2020--21, many schools remained remote but others--primarily Catholic and other private schools--reopened. We consider Catholic schooling as a proxy for in-person instruction and use national data from Renaissance Star and MAP Growth…

The Next Generation Science Standards and the Common Core Mathematics Standards were created to assist U.S.A. school districts in providing the rigorous instruction needed to equip all students for college and career readiness and citizenship. Many minority students in the U.S.A. specifically, those in disadvantaged communities are still showing…

The purpose of this technical appendix is to share detailed results and more fully describe the sample and methods used to produce the research brief, "COVID's Impact on Science Achievement: Trends from 2019 through 2024. We investigated three main research questions in this brief: 1) How did science achievement in 2021 and 2024 compare to…

This study identifies students' academic trajectories in the middle grades relative to a set of college readiness benchmarks. We apply math and reading college readiness benchmarks to rich longitudinal data for more than 360,000 students across the nation. Student-level and school-level demographic characteristics significantly predict academic…

The novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has created an unprecedented set of obstacles for schools and exacerbated existing structural inequalities in public education. In spring 2020, as schools went to remote learning formats or closed completely, end-of-year assessment programs ground to a halt. As a result, schools began the…

The novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has created an unprecedented set of obstacles for schools and exacerbated existing structural inequalities in public education. In spring 2020, as schools went to remote learning formats or closed completely, end-of-year assessment programs ground to a halt. As a result, schools began the…

Beginning with the 2020/21 school year, the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) began collecting literacy screening assessment data from schools and districts participating in certain state grants. Screening assessment benchmark scores were available for just over 35,000 unique students across 2020/21 and 2021/22,…

Despite considerable reform activity surrounding K-12 education over the past 20 years, racial and socioeconomic disparities among students who achieve at advanced levels have received little attention. This study examined how excellence gaps, defined as differences in performance at the 90th percentile of subgroups, change over time and their…

The Office of Shared Accountability (OSA) in Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) conducted a study to examine the impact of student poverty on student achievement. This is the first study in MCPS to examine student poverty longitudinally. Using longitudinal data, students enrolled in Free and Reduced-priced Meals System (FARMS) services every…

This paper describes high quality teaching practices in two schools that produce exceptional growth for all kinds of students. These practices focus on making the most of instructional time and exposing students to high quality content in a variety of contexts. They prove teachers don't need to choose between differentiating to meet students'…