Uncovering disparities in learning loss
Studies show that achievement gaps are widening even as students recover from interrupted learning. Knowing which students need attention means you can tailor interventions more appropriately. Discover how Munetrix can support these data pursuits with our new SchoolData.net offerings.
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Key takeaways
- The Homeroom+ bundle helps educators identify students in need of support and track their academic progress.
- It includes a Student Plans module for documenting interventions and monitoring effectiveness.
- The Attendance Improvement feature enhances absence management and communication between schools and families.
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The data is clear — and it’s not the news we hoped for. While educators have made tremendous efforts to return students’ progress to pre-2020 levels, learning recovery remains incomplete. The NWEA finds that “in nearly all grades, achievement gains during 2022-23 fell short of pre-pandemic trends.”
NWEA models estimate that the average student would require more than 4 months of additional schooling to catch up to pre-COVID levels in reading and math. Summer school or outside tutoring can present a challenge for many families, as well as a heavy investment for district personnel. Schools want to give as much attention as possible to helping students close these gaps quickly.
Disparities magnified in learning gaps
Researchers noted that the post-pandemic losses have disproportionately affected certain student groups. While high-needs districts are suffering in comparison with affluent ones, gaps are also widening within districts, creating more disparity between students from affluent and less affluent homes.
These sample student growth charts from SchoolData.net illustrate how much progress a cohort of students achieved compared with the previous assessment. While incremental progress for students across the country has been steady, it has not been enough to return student performance to pre-COVID levels.
There are also disparities along demographic divisions. Even with recent gains, the gap between Black and white student scores remains larger than in 2019. In order to avoid acceptance of a “new normal” marked by ever-increasing inequities, districts will need to lean on precise data analytics to strategically identify areas of need, as well as evidence-based strategies to implement decisive interventions.
Quick access to actionable data
How can districts locate the populations most in need of learning recovery? SchoolData.net’s Homeroom+ bundle offers user-friendly tools to help educators easily identify the students and groups requiring immediate attention.
As each student assessment is completed, the scores are automatically surfaced on Homeroom Dashboards. Teachers, school administrators, and district administrators can see the current scores for all the students under their supervision. With just a few clicks, users can expand the dataset to show performance on successive assessments — and choose whether they’re viewing data for a school, class, or specific student subset.
Educators review students’ longitudinal progress on the same assessment over multiple years.
Additional views display the same data disaggregated by gender, race, services used, and more. These visualizations can help highlight the gaps for various student groups that might otherwise go unnoticed.
As educators understand the students and groups who are in urgent need of support, they can plot targeted interventions or otherwise tailor their instruction to ensure that all students are closing the achievement gap. Similarly, administrators can ensure they’re providing an equitable education to different groups across the district. The disaggregated performance data may surface needs for new professional development, school improvement emphases, or other building- or district-level solutions.
Disaggregated charts support targeted interventions by student group.
Group students for intervention
Once a student group that requires intervention has been identified, SchoolData.net and Munetrix make it simple to take action quickly. Clicking on a segment of any chart reveals a list of the students in that segment, allowing for continued progress monitoring.
Educators can save listed students as a discrete group for intervention. The group remains accessible to its creator so the students’ progress can be monitored over time.
Conclusion
Districts need simple solutions that allow them to quickly address learning inequities before achievement gaps widen. With the Homeroom+ bundle from SchoolData.net and Munetrix, districts can empower their educators to easily locate students in need of academic support and positively impact their academic success.
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Register for our upcoming webinar. Join us October 23 at 1pm ET to discuss “Storytelling with Data for School Success and Board Engagement.” Discover how to transform raw data into compelling narratives that drive better decision-making and gain stronger backing from stakeholders.
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About Homeroom+
The Homeroom+ bundle provides more than easy-to-use data dashboards and performance analytics. A Student Plans module empowers educators to refer, document, and track interventions or actions taken with identified students, monitor their progress, and log family interactions. And the Attendance Improvement portion supports streamlined absence management, including two-way communications with families.
Together all three of these components — Homeroom Dashboards, Student Plans, and Attendance Improvement — provide a comprehensive toolkit in one platform for both practitioners and school/district leadership. We will dive into additional elements of the Student Plans and Attendance Improvement modules in future posts.
About SchoolData.net + Munetrix
SchoolData.net and Munetrix, two dynamic providers of K-12 data analytics, have now joined forces. Combined, these applications provide districts with early warning tools, student performance analytics, college and career-ready preparation, CTE reporting, human resource management, school performance analytics, peer benchmarking, financial analytics, and tools that simplify compliance reporting. By putting actionable insights about academic and financial data at administrators’ fingertips, SchoolData and Munetrix help districts support students at risk, foster public transparency, and drive gains in student achievement.
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