NWEA finds wider classroom readiness spread

NWEA said Tuesday that post-pandemic elementary classrooms are not just diverse in skill level, but harder to teach because more students start further below grade-level targets. (nwea.org) (prnewswire.com) The April 2026 brief, by Megan Kuhfeld, Emily Morton, Karyn Lewis, and Scott J. Peters, compares fall 2019 and fall 2024 MAP Growth scores for third- through fifth-grade students. (nwea.org 1) (nwea.org 2) NWEA said the overall share of students on and off track for proficiency looks “largely similar” to pre-pandemic classrooms, but slightly more students are now off track and those students are further behind. (nwea.org) The study focuses on “academic diversity,” meaning the spread of achievement levels inside one classroom, from students far below grade level to students already advanced. (nwea.org) NWEA said that wider distance from proficiency, not a dramatic change in classroom mix alone, is what raises the day-to-day instructional load on teachers. (prnewswire.com) (nwea.org) Megan Kuhfeld, NWEA’s director of growth modeling and analytics, said more students now need accelerated growth, and some must make nearly three times typical annual growth to reach proficiency in one year. (prnewswire.com) The sample covered classroom roster data and MAP Growth results from about 6,000 U.S. schools, giving the report a view of what teachers face when students enter classrooms each fall. (prnewswire.com) (nwea.org) The findings add detail to NWEA’s broader recovery research from February, which found only one in three schools had recovered in either math or reading and only one in seven in both. (prnewswire.com) They also follow NWEA’s 2024 warning that achievement gains were still trailing pre-pandemic trends, with the average student needing 4.8 extra months in reading and 4.4 in math to catch up. (nwea.org) NWEA said schools and districts need supports that match those conditions, including protected time for small-group instruction, collaborative planning, and job-embedded training tied to teachers’ own curriculum. (prnewswire.com) The report does not argue that classrooms suddenly became mixed-ability after COVID-19. It argues that the lower end of the class is now farther from the finish line teachers are expected to reach by spring. (nwea.org)