COVID-19 Impacts on Student Learning: Evidence from Interim Assessments in California

The research featured in this paper is part of the CORE-PACE Research Partnership, which is focused on producing research that informs continuous improvement in the CORE districts as well as policy and practice in California and beyond. In this report, the authors used data from multiple interim assessments to examine how the rate of student learning from fall 2019 through winter 2020-21 differs from that of student learning before COVID-19. Specifically, the authors assessed the degree to which approximately 100,000 students across 19 local education agencies (LEAs) in California experienced slower academic growth compared to previous school years (i.e., a learning lag) by the time they completed winter 2021 interim assessments (NWEA MAP Growth, Renaissance Learning Star, and Curriculum Associates i-Ready) in Grades 4-8. To understand equity gaps in the degree to which students have experienced lost instructional opportunities, the authors disaggregated these results for students who were economically disadvantaged, students who were English learners, students with disabilities, students of different racial/ethnic backgrounds, students with low prior achievement, and students who were experiencing homelessness. The results show that by the time students completed winter interim assessments in the 2020-21 school year, they had experienced a learning lag of approximately 2.6 months in English language arts (ELA) and 2.5 months in math. It was further found that students who were economically disadvantaged, English learners, and Latinx experienced greater learning lag than students who were not in these groups. The authors position these findings in the context of other recent studies that have estimated COVID-19 impacts on student learning, discuss caveats of using interim assessments (including those administered remotely), and highlight the importance of examining differences in the effects for students in different groups. These findings can be useful for guiding decision-making and resource allocation at the state and local levels.