Millions of Students Can (Still) Take a Gap Year: Achievement and Variability in Mathematics and Reading

• In Event: Classroom Practices and Student Achievement

Abstract

Previously, Peters et al. (2017) showed that millions of students demonstrate end of year goals at the beginning of the year. Grade-level standards are unlikely to challenge these students. In this paper, we conceptually replicate and extend this prior study using Renaissance Star assessment data from fall 2018 and fall 2021. Our results indicate that (a) achievement dropped during COVID-19 relative to pre-COVID, with a larger drop in mathematics and (b) achievement variability increased during COVID-19, with the variability in reading slightly more pronounced. Further, our results replicated Peters et al.’s (2017) results—large numbers of students performed above grade-level, and substantial variability in achievement was present within schools.

Authors

• Karen E. Rambo-Hernandez, Texas A&M University

• Matthew C. Makel, University of Calgary

• Noah Koehler, Texas A&M University