From Learning Loss to Unfinished Learning: A Mixed-Methods Study to Identify Strategies That Accelerate Growth

• In Event: AERA Virtual Poster Session 5
  In Poster Session: Assessment and Student Achievement in Schools

Abstract

Rather than focus on learning loss during COVID-19 school closure, this study assumes that learning remains unfinished. Beginning with data collected from a rural district serving a predominantly low-income Latinx community, this explanatory mixed methods study seeks to understand how growth in reading and math varied for different populations of students before and during the pandemic. Initial analysis finds that learners did make progress but at a lower rate than previous years and with varied levels across sub-populations. Based on analysis of the supports that may have influenced growth, the researchers begin to identify strategies that might accelerate learning for all students as well as outline additional research into unfinished learning.

Authors

• Beth R Holland, The Learning Accelerator

• Margaret Thornton, Princeton University

• Caitlin Clause McLemore, Blank Crayon LLC