Educators will have better insights into the academic needs of students in grades 1-8 this coming school year thanks to a research report released by Renaissance Learning in early August. The report, How Kids are Performing, tracked the progress of more than 3.3 million students nationally and in Texas who completed their Star Assessments over the 2019-20 and 2020-21 school years. The report provides insight into students’ academic progress in both literacy and math, with data comparing Texas students’ performance with students nationally.

A key conclusion is that students’ math and reading performance have fallen even farther behind during the 2020-21 school year, with students of color and urban Title 1 students disproportionately affected. The report’s authors estimated that students ended the 2020-21 school year on average 4-7 weeks behind expected progress in reading, and in math, an average of about 8-11 weeks behind in expected progress. Results suggest that students in the middle grades will take longest to catch up to pre-pandemic expectations.

“The pandemic had a disproportionate impact on students from different groups and communities,” said Dr. Katie McClarty, vice president of research and design at Renaissance, “and the results shown in How Kids Are Performing reflect that. As an education community, we need to have a disproportionate response and target students most in need. Our findings aim to give educators context at the national, state, and student group levels, and to offer them resources and support to interpret and act on their own data as we work toward accelerating learning.”

To support educators this school year, Renaissance offers free access to a wide range of resources including focus skills in English and Spanish for TEKS at each grade level and a webinar recording highlighting key strategies for learning acceleration.

Download the complete report at https://www.renaissance.com/how-kids-are-performing/