New Research from NWEA Shows Students with Disabilities Grow in Reading and Math Similar to Students Without Disabilities

Highlighting learning patterns that challenge long-standing deficit narratives and low expectations of the academic potential of students with disabilities.

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NWEA

Jun 08, 2021, 05:00 ET

PORTLAND, Ore. and WASHINGTON, June 8, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- NWEA, a not-for-profit, research-based provider of assessment solutions and learning services, announced today groundbreaking research on the learning patterns of students with disabilities, titled: Understanding differential growth during school years and summers for students in special education. Using a five-year cohort of 4,228 students (kindergarten through fourth grade) in 109 U.S. public schools that voluntarily provided student-level special education program information, the research study examined how academic achievement and growth in achievement compared between students with and without disabilities*.

"To the best of our knowledge, no study has examined within-year growth (fall to spring) and summer learning for students with disabilities, and how these differences in learning during the school year versus summer may shape disparities for students with and without disabilities," said Elizabeth Barker, research scientist at NWEA, "We wanted to challenge former research that only looked at one snapshot in time and see what trends in learning we can note and provide a better picture of the learning patterns of students with disabilities."

The study found three main insights:

Students with disabilities entered kindergarten with lower test scores in both reading and math than students without disabilities. In addition, while students with disabilities did score similar to the national mean in the fall of kindergarten, their academic growth was slower than their peers' in the kindergarten year, so that they fell behind. This suggests that providing supports during early childhood and preschool grades can help ensure SWDs begin on track with their peers.
During some years, students with disabilities grew academically at higher rates in reading and math during the school year compared to students without disabilities. In reading, first, third and fourth grades were higher-rate growth years, and in math, growth was higher in first and second grade. This result challenges deficit narratives about the academic potential of students with disabilities and shows that, with appropriate support, students with disabilities can grow as much or more than their peers without disabilities.
Students with disabilities showed greater academic losses over the summer than students without disabilities across all grades. While they often showed high growth rates during the school year, greater losses in reading and math for students with disabilities over the summer accumulated to shape the expanding disparities between students with and without disabilities. This suggests that students with disabilities are forced to make up for more lost time than other students and our schools should consider providing additional supports and services.

While this initial look did not include data from this past year, its findings raise important questions about how students with disabilities fared through the immense disruptions of the COVID-19 pandemic. Over the last year, some students received instruction online, some in hybrid models, while others received no instruction for months. Students with disabilities are likely to be disproportionately impacted because the support they need can be more difficult to provide or less effective in a remote setting. If they tend to lose more ground than students without disabilities when outside of formal instruction, we can anticipate uneven impacts and differential unfinished learning from this past year.

As education and policy leaders look at ways to respond to the needs generated after a year of learning during a pandemic and set a path to support all students, NWEA, along with the National Center for Learning Disabilities (NCLD) recommends these actions:

Invest in lasting change: States and districts must invest recovery funds specifically for students with disabilities. To ensure students succeed in the long term, NCLD says states and district should focus funding on high-quality, accessible and inclusive academic instruction, inclusive and culturally responsive social-emotional learning, effective progress monitoring and accurate evaluations for specialized instruction, and meaningful family support and engagement. Read more about the specific recommendations for recovery funds: http://ncld.co/RSLF
Kindergarten matters: Educators and research must identify and provide effective support for struggling students earlier to foster their academic growth in kindergarten. The lower growth seen in our study for students with disabilities suggests missed learning opportunities during this critical kindergarten year and may indicate a need for better identification of students who are struggling and supporting them through a holistic approach that includes (for example) specialists like speech language pathologists, learning specialists, or behavioral specialists.
Extend the school year: Educators, policy makers and researchers must explore how extended school year services may support learning for students with disabilities. Summer learning losses were substantially higher for students with disabilities than those without. This calls for more research to address extended school year services and the potential impact of increasing access to learning programs over the summer.

"This research validates what we know about students with disabilities: they are just as capable as students without disabilities and have been trapped in a system that makes it hard to achieve at high levels. The COVID-19 pandemic and emergency funds given to schools present an incredible moment to rethink how we support students early and design learning pathways for all students. It is time to change the system for good so that it finally fits students, rather than forcing students to fit within the system," said Meghan Whittaker, Director of Policy & Advocacy at NCLD.

View the full research brief on this study at https://www.nwea.org/research/publication/understanding-differential-growth-during-school-years-and-summers-for-students-in-special-education/

* Disability category was not available at the student-level. The study used "ever being in special education services" as a proxy for students with a disability.

About NCLD
The National Center for Learning Disabilities (NCLD) is a Washington, DC-based national policy, advocacy, and research organization that works to improve the lives of the 1 in 5 children and adults nationwide with learning and attention issues — by empowering parents and young adults, transforming schools, and advocating for equal rights and opportunities." Learn more at ncld.org.

Contact: Grace Aiyedogbon, Communications & Advocacy Specialist, [email protected] or 240.360.1007

About NWEA
NWEA® (formerly known as Northwest Evaluation Association) is a mission-driven, not-for-profit organization that supports students and educators worldwide by creating assessment solutions that precisely measure growth and proficiency—and provide insights to help tailor instruction. Educators in more than 10,000 schools, districts, and education agencies in 146 countries rely on our flagship interim assessment, MAP® Growth™; our reading fluency and comprehension assessment, MAP® Reading Fluency™ ; our personalized learning tool powered by Khan Academy, MAP® Accelerator™; and our state solutions that combine growth and proficiency measurement. Visit NWEA.org to find out how NWEA can partner with you to help all kids learn.

Contact: Simona Beattie, Sr. Manager, Public Relations, [email protected] or 971.361.9526

SOURCE NWEA