And the Need for High Focus on Recovery for Students with Disabilities
While highly publicized reports underscore the negative effects of COVID-19 on student learning, it is important to focus on recovery, and systemic responses to address that learning loss.
New research1 that used data from 7 million students in grades 3-8 in 25,000 schools nationwide suggests that students are rebounding from the impacts of the pandemic. The study shows that the achievement gap between students with disabilities and those without disabilities is narrowing relative to pre-pandemic levels starting in spring 2021, when pandemic-induced achievement gaps were at their widest.
Like other national assessment agencies, NWEA provides testing accommodations for students with disabilities, and captures data for them as a subset of all students.
While academic rebounds in reading and math continued in fall 2022, the youngest students still have the largest reading achievement gap and showed the least rebounding. This suggests that foundational learning was disrupted at critical developmental moments.
Even with continued rebounding, student achievement remains lower than in a typical year and full recovery is likely still several years away.
In separate research,2 learning rates among younger (K-4) students with disabilities were found to be growing at higher rates than their non-disabled peers, but their learning gap increased over time due to larger summer losses for students with disabilities. This suggests that Extended School Year (ESY) programs are now more vital than ever.
In the context of pandemic recovery, data continue to show significant disparities. Students with disabilities and other disadvantaged students are recovering more slowly, and need the greatest support.
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1. Center for School and Student Progress. Karyn Lewis and Megan Kuhfeld; Progress toward pandemic recovery: Continued signs of rebounding achievement at the start of the 2022–23 school year, December 2022.
2. Center for School and Student Progress. Angela Johnson and Elizabeth Barker; Understanding differential growth during school years and summers for students in special education, May 2021.
