Charter High Schools' Effects on Educational Attainment and Earnings

This issue brief discusses a new analysis, using data from Florida and Chicago, suggesting that charter high schools are not only increasing postsecondary educational attainment but may also boost students' long-run earnings

Student Achievement Growth During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Using individual-level student data from three urban school districts in metro-Atlanta, we measure the impact of the pandemic on student achievement growth and how those effects vary across grades, subjects, student groups, and instructional modes. We use information on the learning trajectories of prior cohorts coupled with individual test score histories of students prior to the pandemic to estimate what each student’s scores would have been in the absence of the pandemic and compare that to their actual scores in fall and winter of the current school year. We find the pandemic slowed learning growth by as much as 7 months of learning in math and up to 7.5 months of learning in reading. These impacts vary considerably across grades, subjects, districts, and student groups, however. Based on these findings, we provide a menu of evidence-based strategies that school districts can use to meet the differing needs of students and get students back on track academically

Impact Evaluation of the Lucy Calkins Units of Study Program

The Lucy Calkins Units of Study Program is a widely-used program that consists of materials and methods for teaching reading and writing in Grades K–8. A metro-Atlanta school district (“the district”) has used the Lucy Calkins Program for many years in the elementary grades with the timing and extent of adoption at the discretion of individual school leaders. In this report, Béla Figge and Tim R. Sass provide evidence on the impact of the Lucy Calkins Program on student achievement in reading/language arts relative to alternative programs in use. We analyze student test scores on summative (Milestones) assessments in Grades 3–5 from school year (SY) 2012–13 to SY 2018–19 and scores on nationally-normed formative assessments in Grades K–3 over the period SY 2017-18 to SY 2018-19. We compare student test scores in a school and grade that had implemented the Lucy Calkins Program to students with similar characteristics and prior-year scores from the same school in different grades and years who were not exposed to the program. The estimated average impacts of the Lucy Calkins Reading and Writing Programs on annual student achievement gains in Grades 4 and 5 are positive but small. In Grades 1–3, the use of the Reading Program is estimated to have a small, negative effect on student achievement. In neither set of grades can we confidently rule out that the effect is zero. We cannot say with confidence that the impacts differ significantly across implementation levels. Impacts of the Reading Program in Grades 4 and 5 appear to be higher for students experiencing poverty than for students from more affluent families and higher for English language learners than for students proficient in English

Potential Remediation Strategies in the Wake of COVID-19 School Closures: A Review of the Literature

https://scholarworks.gsu.edu/gpl_reports/1002/thumbnail.jp

Potential Remediation Strategies in the Wake of COVID-19 School Closures: A Review of the Literature

https://scholarworks.gsu.edu/gpl_reports/1002/thumbnail.jp

Student Achievement Growth During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Fall 2021 Update

Two years into the pandemic, little information has been available about how students in the metro-Atlanta area are performing academically. Metro districts have adopted different strategies to help students navigate and recover from the pandemic, including small-group tutoring, expanded summer school programs, and additional supports for technology use and student health and wellness. This report continues the Metro Atlanta Policy Lab for Education’s research agenda analyzing how the pandemic has affected student achievement in math and reading in metro-Atlanta districts.In this updated report, Tim Sass and Thomas Goldring used administrative data from three districts: Clayton County Public Schools, Fulton County Schools, and a third district that has chosen to remain anonymous. Our outcomes of interest were math and reading scores on the iReady and MAP Growth formative assessments. We used national percentile rankings to measure student progress, comparing student achievement during the pandemic to that of students throughout the U.S. from before the pandemic.We find that the impact of the pandemic on student achievement growth has been greater in math than in reading; reading achievement has rebounded more than math. Students who were in elementary school when the pandemic hit have fared worse than students who were in middle school. Average performance in metro-Atlanta districts was similar to many other districts around the country. Many students have started to recover academically, but improvement is uneven. We find differences in achievement trends by geography and by economic status within at least one district and by race and ethnicity within multiple districts.Our findings have several policy implications. Recovery efforts ought to target students who experienced the greatest declines in national rankings and have been the slowest to recover. Research-supported recovery strategies include high-intensity, small-group tutoring; extended learning time; and extensive summer academic learning programs. Acceleration efforts are more effective if offered during the regular school day (where possible). Frequent participation, which may need to be mandated or incentivized, is key to the programs’ success.https://scholarworks.gsu.edu/gpl_reports/1020/thumbnail.jp