The online tool, its creators say, will democratize school performance data at an important time, as schools nationwide struggle to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Scheduled to go live today, the new website sports a simple interface that allows users to query it conversationally, as they would a search engine or AI chatbot, to plumb math and English language arts data in grades 3-8. At the moment, there are no firm plans to add high school-level data.

If, for instance, a superintendent is curious about math scores for kids learning English in her state, she can : 鈥淪how me math scores over time for English learners and non-English learners in Minnesota.鈥� Want to know the 10 school districts in Mississippi with the highest ELA scores in 2023? .

Similarly, parents moving to a new town or neighborhood can ask about data for individual schools in most cases.

The project, dubbed , is a partnership between Brown University and , the company that built the site鈥檚 AI functionality. 

The tool takes a cue from data dashboards, such as the federal government鈥檚 , which collect statewide assessment information. This one goes further, allowing more up-to-date analyses of state, district and even school-level data, with protections that shield individual students鈥� scores in small districts and schools. 

Within state, local and school-level data, users can also break down results by race, ethnicity, economic level and other indicators.

The AI aspect allows users to query the database in plain language, said Emily Oster, a well-known economist who often writes on parenting. Oster led the tool鈥檚 development and said its potential customer base is broad, from parents and school board members to state policymakers and journalists.

鈥淵ou can imagine people actually wanting to see in a more granular way, or be able to explore in a more granular way: 鈥楬ow are different schools in this district doing鈥� or 鈥楬ow is my district doing relative to another district?鈥� This will make that much easier.鈥�

Oster said the tool is so easy to use that a school board member sitting in a board meeting could pull out her phone and in a few seconds produce a chart showing school-by-school test results districtwide. 

Policymakers could also benefit from the tool, she said, since they can鈥檛 always access state assessment data without cumbersome requests to state education officials. 鈥淎nd that takes time. If you want to have access to get an insight quickly, this is going to make it easier.鈥�

What鈥檚 perhaps most useful, Oster said, is the ability to look inside individual states, down to the district or school level, to figure out which schools and populations are doing better than others. 鈥淚 think that’s actually pretty powerful in terms of where the policy is made.鈥�

Reliance on 鈥榩lain language鈥�

Project Manager Clare Halloran said Zelma grew out of Brown researchers鈥� own frustration in trying to compare COVID recovery data across states. 鈥淚t was usually hard to find out where the information was, what was missing,鈥� she said.

Even states with public-facing data portals and dashboards don鈥檛 make the job easy, she said, as many are 鈥渁 little bit clunky.鈥� They rely on dropdown menus that can only offer one indicator at a time. With Zelma, she said, 鈥淵ou can really just kind of say in plain language what you’re looking for,鈥� even if it involves several variables. 

鈥淚 think it will make a lot of data just a lot more accessible to a lot more people,鈥� she said. 鈥淲hen the states release their data, we get the headline. But it’s hard for the average person to explore it a little bit more.鈥�

All queries are public but the authors aren鈥檛 identified. The site resembles a Twitter-like feed, with the most recent queries at the top so users can see what others want to learn about.

It also offers warnings 鈥� dubbed 鈥渘otable events鈥� 鈥� that caution users not to read too much into proficiency levels in certain cases, such as in states and districts where new assessments are being administered, or where they see lower participation rates.

And while it can offer rudimentary comparisons between states, Oster said neither Zelma nor the assessments themselves are built for such comparisons. 

鈥淭here are things across states you might get out of this, for example how much recovery has there been鈥� in one state vs. another, she said. 鈥淵ou can sort of squint a little and think about differences in trends. And I actually think there is some stuff we can learn from those kinds of trends. But in terms of levels, these data are just not well suited to a question of, 鈥業s Mississippi outperforming Michigan?鈥� That’s why we’ve got the NAEP data.鈥�

Actually, asking the tool to compare states will prompt a warning saying that states administer different assessments and that proficiency rates 鈥渁re not comparable across states.鈥� 

Even with a more user-friendly interface, though, the site is only as good as the data underlying it 鈥� and it鈥檚 uneven among states. Minnesota, for instance, offers test scores clear back to the late 1990s. But Rhode Island has no data before 2018.

And, of course, virtually no states returned test scores in 2020 and 2021, when the U.S. Department of Education granted blanket standardized testing waivers amid the pandemic.

Paul Peterson, who directs the Program on Education Policy and Governance at Harvard University鈥檚 Kennedy School, said he welcomed the ability to more easily dig into states鈥� updated testing data.

鈥淎ny enhancement of transparency is a good thing,鈥� he said.

Disclosure: Walton Family Foundation provides financial support to Zelma and 蜜桃影视.

The last year has witnessed a surge in focus on the importance of background knowledge to reading comprehension. Researchers, including Knowledge Matters鈥� Scientific Advisory Committee, have necessary to effectively cultivate content knowledge in literacy instruction, and policy analysts have in addressing the 鈥楽cience of Reading鈥�. 

This has been a welcome shift in the national conversation about children鈥檚 literacy, and one we have been proud to advance.

Naturally, educators want to know how these key research insights and practices should be translated into curriculum design. In our estimation, this is where the conversation needs to be 鈥� and also where it has been coming up short. Emerging and evolving curriculum review efforts have not been precise enough in truly informing the field about what defines 鈥渒nowledge building鈥� in ELA curricula. Rubrics and guidelines that aren鈥檛 specific will only produce watered down results that confuse and disappoint. The stakes are too high not to get this right.

The new Knowledge Matters Review Tool identifies eight dimensions to high-quality, content-rich ELA curricula:

路 Laser-like focus on what matters most for literacy

路 Communal close reading of content-rich, challenging texts

路 Systematic development of high-value academic language to support building knowledge

路 A volume of reading organized around conceptually coherent texts to build knowledge

路 Regular discussions grounded in texts and topics to build knowledge

路 A volume of writing to build knowledge

路 Targeted supports to ensure all students have access to challenging, grade-level content

路 Ease of enacting curriculum

The Knowledge Matters Campaign that have distinguished themselves across each of these eight dimensions. While they differ greatly in their details, all of them do a far better job of building content knowledge than the ELA programs in widest use across the country, including some that have received positive reviews for alignment to standards. 

This new tool is a natural progression of the Knowledge Matters Campaign鈥檚 efforts to demonstrate what 鈥済ood鈥� looks like from the perspectives of leading experts and pioneering educators. The voices we鈥檝e have shown that schools using these curricula are particularly special learning environments, characterized by high-levels of student engagement and support for teachers in making the shift to this way of teaching. By illuminating the design principles behind excellent reading and writing instruction, we hope to advance the pace at which this kind of learning experience, which is far more equitable to students, becomes the norm, rather than the exception, in US schools.

As we add transparency to our review approach, we also wanted to add transparency to our review process. In fact, this tool has a proud heritage.

The authors of the Knowledge Matters Review Tool, Susan Pimentel (StandardsWorks co-founder), David Liben, and Meredith Liben, have a long and storied history of illuminating for educators how standards and curriculum work together. This team served as lead and contributing authors on the Common Core English Language Arts standards, then as authors of the original Publisher’s Criteria and Instructional Shifts that drove the design and development of some of the highest quality ELA curriculum on the market today. For over a decade, these three individuals led important work to support the implementation of college and career-ready standards at Student Achievement Partners.

Sue, David, and Meredith鈥檚 work is marked by their careful analysis of research paired with a deep understanding of classroom instruction. This trio鈥檚 expertise has brought excellence to our work: first, in the thoughtful curation of leading curricula in the space, and now, in the development of a tool that can be used by the field to make their own assessments.

Our hope now is that more educators and decision makers use this tool to inform their curriculum choices and recognize that the highest-quality curriculum is the scalable, equitable path to ensure strong readers.

After California invested billions to help students rebound from the pandemic, K-12 math and English language arts scores remained mostly stagnant last year and still well below pre-COVID levels. 

The annual Smarter Balanced scores, released today, showed that English language arts scores dropped slightly and math scores inched , although both scores lagged behind pre-pandemic numbers. Science scores were also .

Overall, 46.7% of students were at or above grade level for English language arts, and 34.6% met or exceeded the standard in math. In 2019, before the pandemic disrupted education, 51.1% met the reading standard and 39.7% did in math. 

鈥淲e鈥檙e not where we want to be. We have a long road to go, but we are making headway,鈥� said Linda Darling-Hammond, president of the State Board of Education and president of the Learning Policy Institute, an education research organization. 鈥淚t looks like we鈥檙e turning the corner from the pandemic, and some of our investments are beginning to pay off.鈥�

Meanwhile, chronic absenteeism 鈥� defined as missing 10% or more of school days 鈥� fell significantly, according to data also released today. In 2021-22, 30% of students were , more than three times the rate pre-pandemic, an alarming trend that advocates feared would have dire consequences for California. But in 2022-23 the number dropped to 25%, an encouraging sign for social workers, counselors and others who鈥檝e been working to bring students back to the classroom.

鈥淭his is wonderful news,鈥� said Cristina Dobon-Claveau, president of the California Association of School Social Workers. 鈥淎fter the pandemic, school social workers played, and are still playing, an integral part in ensuring students are attending school and have their basic social-emotional and academic needs met.鈥�

The decline in chronic absenteeism suggests students are more engaged in school, and the numbers might have been even better without the disruptions caused by lingering COVID outbreaks and climate disasters such as floods, storms and fires, Darling-Hammond said.

One explanation for the flat test scores is a rise in students with high needs, said Mao Vang, director of assessments for the California Department of Education. Last year California saw an uptick 鈥� from 60% to 63% 鈥� of students from low-income families, as well as higher numbers of students experiencing homelessness. There were also more students in foster care, migrant students and those with disabilities. The numbers are even more pronounced because overall enrollment has declined. 

鈥楢 sense of complacency鈥�

But overall, the Smarter Balanced scores were disappointing, said Christopher Nellum, executive director of the Education Trust鈥揥est, a research and advocacy group focused on students of color and low-income students鈥� success.

鈥淥ne- or two-point gains are not to be celebrated when we have hundreds of thousands of students who are below grade level,鈥� Nellum said. 鈥淚鈥檓 concerned that there鈥檚 a sense of complacency about student achievement.鈥�

While he applauds the state鈥檚 investments in transitional kindergarten, community schools and other initiatives, he also believes schools need to be held accountable for students鈥� academic performance. The state鈥檚 school funding system, for example, should include more concrete goals with rewards for schools that show improvement and penalties for schools that don鈥檛 meet certain benchmarks.

鈥淢oney is important, but we need to put more teeth into our accountability measures,鈥� he said. 鈥淐alifornia is an amazing state, and getting it right matters 鈥� not just here, but across the country.鈥� 

Billions in school investments

The Smarter Balanced tests, given each spring to students in grades three to eight and 11, are one of the primary measurements of student achievement in California. Prior to the pandemic, scores had been rising steadily for most groups of students, although some groups, such as students with disabilities, English learners, Black, Latino and low-income students, lagged significantly behind their peers.

But when most schools shifted to remote learning in March 2020, thousands of students fell behind. They either lacked access to technology, had no quiet place to study during quarantine, were busy caring for younger siblings, or they felt overwhelmed by mental health challenges.

When campuses re-opened, some students were so far behind that the state and federal governments poured  into helping them catch up. Schools received money to hire tutors, expand after-school and summer programs, expand transitional kindergarten, and serve free breakfasts, lunch and snacks to all students.

The state also invested $3 billion to create hundreds of new community schools, which are campuses that include social services and health care programs available to students and their families. The idea is that students whose basic needs are met will be more engaged in school and perform better academically.

Meanwhile, the state also unveiled a , intended to boost math scores, and invested millions in a statewide . , which passed last year, will bring up to $1 billion annually for schools to expand their arts programs.

Heather Hough, executive director of Policy Analysis for California Education, a nonpartisan research center, noted that some of those investments 鈥� such as the federal COVID relief grants 鈥� will be expiring soon. And the lackluster test scores suggest that money alone might not cure California鈥檚 education challenges.

鈥淭he concern is that we鈥檙e settling in, that the pandemic was not a blip,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 think we need to look closely at how these investments are actually going to affect teaching and learning, and whether teachers are getting the resources they need to really help students in the classroom.鈥�

Big improvements for some districts

There were some bright spots in the Smarter Balanced results. Compton Unified, in Los Angeles County, showed big improvements for many students, especially among 11th-graders. Black students, in particular, saw jumps in both English language arts and math. Latino students also gained ground in math and English language arts scores. At a Monday press conference, Ayanna Davis, the district鈥檚 board vice president, noted that the graduation rate among Black students has jumped from 50% in 2010 to nearly 90% in 2023. More than 40% of Black students completed the required coursework for California鈥檚 public universities last year, up from just 3% in 2011, she said.

鈥淲e have really focused on African American achievement, I think successfully,鈥� Davis said.

Fresno Unified also bucked the trend, posting increases for most student groups in both  English language arts and math. Eleventh-graders saw some of the most significant improvements, with English language arts scores jumping almost 10 percentage points and math scores increasing by nearly 3 percentage points from the year before.

Statewide, scores among Black, Latino, English learner and low-income students reflected the overall trend: slight dips in English language arts scores and slight increases in math scores, but still well below the 2019 scores.

Manuel Buenrostro, director of policy for Californians Together, which advocates for English learners, cautioned that test scores are important, but only one way to gauge student achievement. Schools and families should also pay close attention to attendance and discipline data, as well as , which measure topics like mental health, bullying, drug use, violence and whether students feel safe and connected at school. 

The  were released in December, showing improvements in some categories but still high rates of mental health struggles, lack of motivation and other challenges.

鈥淲e have to look at what鈥檚 not captured in scores, and that鈥檚 students鈥� social and emotional needs 鈥� are our students being well taken care of,鈥� he said.

New standardized test scores for Rhode Island students in grades 3 through 8 made public Wednesday show modest gains in reversing pandemic declines for math and English Language Arts (ELA) proficiency last year.

But improvement at the elementary and middle school levels on the 2023 Rhode Island Comprehensive Assessment System (RICAS) was tempered by PSAT and SAT results for grades 10 and 11 respectively. Nearly half of students taking the SAT last spring met expectations for high school ELA, but slightly more than 25% demonstrated proficiency in math.

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That said, Education Commissioner Ang茅lica Infante-Green still saw cause for celebration in shrinking the gap between the lagging test scores of Rhode Island students with their counterparts in Massachusetts 鈥� which leads the nation in math and reading. Since 2018, the performance gap has shrunk from 21% in math to 11% and from 17% to 9% in ELA, according to the new data from the Rhode Island Department of Education (RIDE).

鈥淭his is the closest we have ever been as a state. That鈥檚 pretty amazing,鈥� Infante-Green said during a virtual presentation to share results with reporters Tuesday morning after holding sessions earlier and the previous day with groups of school superintendents.

The data was reviewed by Gov. Dan McKee last Friday. In a statement, McKee said the 2023 RICAS results show Rhode Island schools moving in the right direction to meet his goal of meeting or surpassing Massachusetts鈥� performance by the year 2030.

鈥淥ur students can perform at high levels, and we must stay the course and make sure our school communities have the support and resources to thrive,鈥� McKee said.

A 2022 analysis by the National Center for the Improvement of Educational Assessment suggested it would take three to five years of accelerated learning for student achievement to return to what it was pre-pandemic. To at least match Massachusetts on test scores, McKee has launched his , which has distributed nearly $3.8 million to communities that signed compacts committing to  creating out-of-school learning opportunities. RIDE was scheduled to hold sessions with city and town officials to review test scores on Wednesday.

The state saw a second year of significant growth in math proficiency with an approximate 2.7 percentage point increase this year, and an increase in English Language Arts (ELA) of approximately 2%.

Among all grades taking the RICAS, fourth graders saw the highest increase in proficiency in both math (from 30.2% to 36.0%) and ELA ( 29.0% to 33.3%)

Fifth grade math proficiency went from 25.9% to 30.0%. Math scores dropped for third graders by half a percentage point to 34.5%

Seventh graders saw a 0.2% drop in ELA proficiency to 29.0%.

Across all racial and ethnic groups, ELA scores increased over last year. In math, all but one racial and ethnic subgroup performed higher. The exception was the Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islanders subgroup which dropped one percentage point, a small demographic of only 93 students, of 0.16% of the 59,272 third through eighth graders tested, Infante-Green said.

Increasing the number of students taking the PSAT and the SAT every April is considered the first step toward ensuring more students are college and career ready.

A total of 9,430 11th graders across the state took the SAT for mathematics, or 94.1%, up from 91.9% in 2022. The lowest rates of participation were at Providence鈥檚 Mount Pleasant (81.9%) and Central (82.1%) high schools and Woonsocket High School (82.5%)

The percentage of high school students meeting or exceeding expectations in math on the SAT remained flat statewide at 25.3% while those not meeting expectations increased 1% to 38.5%. In 2022, 30.8% of 11th graders did not meet expectations for math.

A total of 9,384 high school juniors, representing 94.4% of the state鈥檚 11th graders, took the SAT for ELA/Literacy, up from 92.3% in 2022. The new results show 49.1% met or exceeded expectations, up from 47.1%, while 29.1% of students did not meet expectations, down from 30.8% in 2022.

The percentage of high school sophomores taking the PSAT increased over the past year from 90.5% to 92.4% in math and 91.1% to 92.9% in ELA. Statewide math scores dropped from 29.2% proficient in 2022 to 27.2% proficient this year. Statewide ELA results show 55.3% of students met or exceeded expectations, a drop from 59.2% proficient in 2022.

鈥淭hose were our kids that were in 8th grade when the pandemic started and we鈥檙e seeing that impact,鈥� Infante Green said of high schoolers who had to struggle with the effects of lockdowns and social distancing during a pivotal year in their education and development. 鈥淚t鈥檚 pretty consistent across the nation.鈥�

Results showed a drop in the percentage of students in foster care taking the SAT, from 75.9% in 2022 to 71.8% in 2023, and from 80% to 76.4% who were homeless. The state saw a significant increase in American Indian and Alaskan Islander students taking the SAT, from 83.3% to 88.6%. More students with disabilities also took the SAT from 83.4% to 85.8%.

Multilingual learners

There was a 0.5% increase in multilingual students taking the ACCESS assessment, which tests students in four language domains: listening, reading, speaking, and writing. Student results are categorized in six levels: Entering, Emerging, Developing, Expanding, Bridging and Reaching. The percentage of students scoring at the Expanding and Bridging levels rose 0.3%.

Bright spots

Tiverton saw ELA proficiency rise significantly districtwide, a 10% increase to 47.3%. In Coventry, students proficient in ELA rose 5.2% to 39.2%.Significant gains in ELA proficiency were made at Providence鈥檚 Leviton Dual Language School, from 12.3% in 2022 to 29.6% this year; Richmond Elementary School from 49.4% to 66.5%; and Wyman Elementary School in Warwick, 24.7% to 41.7%.Math proficiency increased the most at West Kingston Elementary School in South Kingstown (20.7% to 47.3%); Norwood School in Warwick (18.0% to 38.5%) and Woodridge School in Cranston (31.9% to 48.9%).

RIDE will offer families Personalized Individual Student Reports that include individualized informational  videos accessible through a QR code. The videos are available in 10 languages and help provide insight for comparisons to school, district, and state performance. Examples of the student report videos that families will be able to access and additional informational resources for assessments can be found on .

In the past, I considered curriculum to be a general guide to daily lessons 鈥� thick books with weekly plans that align to the state standards and are there to reference throughout the year. My students used to get a kick out of the anecdotes I would add to each lesson. I could grade the informal assessments quickly and then moved on to the next lesson. 

Having fun in class was always something I strived for. I got pretty expert at making theme, point of view, and text structure entertaining. I鈥檓 theatrical by nature and my students thrived on how entertaining my classes were. But now, after three years of using the high quality , I understand, regretfully, this does not mean I always had a successful classroom. How much my students like my personality is not something that鈥檚 on formal assessments that evaluate literacy proficiency. 

After receiving substantial implementation support from district and school leaders, and having time to work with my colleagues on making CKLA impactful, I still have a highly spirited, engaged classroom; it just has more depth. In the past, I think my students knew what they were learning and why 鈥� but now they have discussions that lead to them being more independent thinkers. Being more independent in their thinking has led to their being more detailed writers. Students who are capable of complex discussions about what they鈥檙e reading, independent thought and detailed writing are usually also successful on end-of-year tests!   

When our district selected CKLA as our English language arts/literacy curriculum from the state鈥檚 list of approved textbooks, I was lukewarm about the decision. I am the center of my students鈥� world when they鈥檙e in my room 鈥� the most knowledgeable, the expert. Students loved coming to my reading class because they enjoyed all my real-world connections, the jokes I told, the songs I sang. Giving me a nearly scripted curriculum felt like it would rob me of the creative engagement skills I had perfected over my 12 years as a teacher. 

I was pretty convinced this could go badly 鈥� if not for the district, for me personally. How would I ever get to the level of comfort by the time my new students arrived at the classroom door with this new teaching material that I鈥檇 felt in my classroom for years?

Thankfully, I work in a district that has a 鈥渨e are in this together鈥� culture that allowed teachers to learn how to implement this new curriculum together. First, our district leaders brought in CKLA experts to train us on how to use everything from the teacher鈥檚 manuals, to the student books, to the online resources. This launch training showed us that we didn鈥檛 need to be experts, because everything was right there for us.

Then, our principal prioritized watching other teachers execute lessons. At first, we cringed at the thought of being watched so closely, but as we walked away with tons of usable feedback, we began to welcome these visits. That experience became one of the most unique learning opportunities I鈥檝e had as a teacher; it has been invaluable. Obviously, it was great to see 鈥� and celebrate 鈥� the success of other teachers. But it was also so helpful to witness their struggles with things like time management and student misconceptions, and to be a part of a team providing and receiving feedback in real time. It really increased my optimism about the process and helped me understand that we were all learning together. 

Ultimately, implementing the curriculum began to feel more like little sprints we were perfecting together, a little at a time, instead of a huge mission we needed to accomplish on our own.

Once we鈥檇 gotten our feet wet after the first year, district leaders decided it was time to bring in outside professional learning support to hone our ability to implement the curriculum even better. TNTP, , was identified as our partner. They were able to show us how much planning we were still trying to do ourselves when, in fact, CKLA had done it for us 鈥� we just needed to focus on our delivery. The TNTP training was largely designed to help us use our planning time to intellectually prepare. It was also done with teachers from all over the district, which was powerful. We took a deep dive as grade level teams into what the students should get from the lessons and how we would know they understood the standards. 

I am fortunate to work in a district that really understands the need for this time to intellectually prepare for an upcoming lesson. We are given two times each week to plan with our grade level reading teachers, which has really contributed to a culture of collaboration. 

Whereas I would have put myself at a 鈥�5鈥� on a 10-point scale of my enthusiasm about the district-wide ELA adoption, I am now all in. That attitude shift didn’t just happen because I wanted to be a team player. It happened because I was never left alone throughout the transition process. From district leaders bringing in experts to train us, to our visits watching other teachers model lessons, to the way we have been effectively coached to plan, it has all helped me to appreciate the many ways in which our curriculum can lead to student success.

And, as my students are having more intelligent and thought-provoking conversations about texts, they are showing increased proficiency on standard assessments. Our school has seen a dramatic drop in the number of third through fifth grade students who need intervention referrals. Special education placements are also down considerably since we implemented CKLA.

Our district prides itself on supporting teachers and creating strong teams, and nowhere has that been on better display than with our ELA curriculum implementation. I have no doubt this is the key to the literacy success we鈥檙e beginning to experience!

It is no secret that change is hard. When my district announced an English Language Arts curriculum adoption cycle, I could feel teachers holding their breath as they waited to hear what would be the new direction of our literacy program. 

Hamilton County Schools is located in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and is a district as diverse as Tennessee鈥檚 geographical landscape, serving roughly 45,000 students from rural, suburban and urban communities. Although each school holds individual strengths, challenges and needs, a common thread across all K-5 buildings emerged as we considered this adoption: We needed a uniform, high quality ELA curriculum that had a solid 鈥渟ounds first鈥� approach to foundational literacy. As a district, we were underperforming in literacy measures and looking for a strong curriculum that would accelerate student achievement while reducing variability across buildings.聽

Hamilton County formed a literacy adoption team that was charged with reviewing different literacy curricula to determine which would best meet the needs of our schools. The adoption committee developed a set of criteria for evaluating curriculum options, and it was ultimately decided that EL Education, formerly known as Expeditionary Learning, would be our new district-wide curriculum for K-5. EL is a knowledge-building curriculum with a strong sounds-first approach to foundational reading. We knew that implementing a complete shift in literacy instruction across 40 elementary schools would not be an easy task. But at Battle Academy, we knew that there is only one thing to do when everyone is standing around holding their breath: you dive in!

Our district leadership was wise to focus its initial efforts on getting the structures and frameworks in place 鈥� which meant that administrators, coaches and teachers all received in-depth, specific training in implementing the major elements of the curriculum. Hamilton County鈥檚 Office of Teaching and Learning made it clear that they would walk alongside us to support our schools as we navigated uncharted territory. Their message to us was that it was understandable to be uncomfortable as we pushed through this learning process. 

And we were uncomfortable. EL is a notoriously rich and complex curriculum. And although we had ample training, we faced major challenges as we attempted to navigate the large amount of instructional resources provided by EL while simultaneously wrapping our heads around a new curriculum that felt very different. 

As we were getting our feet wet with this new way of doing things, the Tennessee Department of Education also provided all of our teachers and administrators with training, which reinforced the value behind the major shifts we were making. Reading 360 supported our district in further internalizing the science of reading and reinforced why a sounds-first approach is so critical to building strong readers.

During that first year of implementation, it was often said across school circles that we were 鈥渂uilding the plane while we were flying it.鈥� But through this time of challenge, there was a real spirit of camaraderie as educators shared this common experience and reflected together on ways to improve our practice.

Three years later, the Knowledge Matters School Tour visit provided us an opportunity to reflect on that improvement. As I moved through the halls of Battle Academy with our guests, I saw vibrant displays created by first graders that capture the wonder of the sun, moon and stars. I walked into a fourth-grade classroom and listened to students engaging in EL protocols that promote discourse and high-level critical thinking as they discussed animal defense mechanisms. I visited our culinary lab and watched as third-grade students engaged in a 鈥渇reaky foods chopped challenge鈥� to draw deeper connections to their EL module on 鈥渇reaky frogs.鈥� I saw kindergarten students tapping out words and utilizing sound boxes as they smiled at their teacher, beaming with pride as new readers. I entered our digital fabrication space and observed a design challenge presented to our second graders, propelling them into the world of paleontology as they created tools to harvest fossils embedded in salt dough. 

Students were no longer sitting in desks that were arranged into neat arrays for independent work. I saw students actively learning through the implementation of 21st century skills as they demonstrate collaboration, critical thinking, creativity and communication. 

And equally important, I no longer saw apprehensive teachers filled with doubt about curriculum implementation. I saw confident practitioners who understand the science of reading and actively support students in building strong reading foundations through quality phonics instruction. The overarching theme that I see and feel at Battle Academy each day is one of joy 鈥� both in teaching and learning. 

I believe our curriculum has helped to create that joy. Organized into four topical modules for each grade level, students and teachers have a full quarter to dive deeply into each topic, steadily building vocabulary, background knowledge and experiences that promote strong reading comprehension and literacy skills. Our students have found a real sense of pride in becoming experts as they move through the modules. When first graders study birds, they approach their learning as ornithologists. In the fall, our kindergarteners are transformed into meteorologists who share weather predictions around our building. And if you ask our fifth-grade parents, they would fondly report that their children come home as environmental advocates during their module on biodiversity in the rainforest, purging their pantries of foods that are not rainforest friendly. (Sorry, again, about that, parents!) 

Our curriculum modules have the potential to be more than just lessons that teach the ELA standards. They are a foundation for teachers to create rich and meaningful learning experiences that build knowledge and confidence in our students, equipping them with skills to tackle complex literacy tasks and engage with high level texts as strong readers and writers. Learning at Battle Academy is an experience, not just an assignment. 

To see the experiential learning that is taking place in our building every day, so alive and so tangible, there is no need for us to hold our breath any longer. If we knew then what we know now, we wouldn鈥檛 hesitate to dive in; again and again, because the water feels just fine. 

Jennifer Whalen is assistant principal for Battle Academy for Teaching and Learning in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

As instructional leaders in our district, we are fortunate to spend lots of time in classrooms. Cathy loves to share the story of popping in on one fourth-grade lesson to observe student writing. The room was cool, dim and quiet; the only sound was the scratch of pencils on paper as students brainstormed ideas for the poems they were going to write, a culminating task to wrap up an EL Education module on poetry. The teacher circulated as students pondered topics that were especially important to them 鈥� topics that were worthy of an entire poem.

One word at the center of a student鈥檚 brainstorm was particularly striking: 鈥渆ducation.鈥�

We lead literacy work in our district, Murfreesboro City Schools, located about 30 miles south of Nashville in the geographic center of Tennessee. We鈥檙e a district of 13 schools serving students from preschool through 6th grade.

Our journey implementing a new literacy curriculum, , has been rewarding, though filled with twists and turns. It began in 2019, when only about a third of our students showed English proficiency on our state assessment. With teachers creating their own materials at the time, just deciding to implement a core curriculum represented a big shift. Teams of educators across the district worked together to select EL Education. Books and ancillary materials were purchased and delivered to schools and classrooms. Then COVID hit 鈥� midway into our first year of this new district-wide curriculum.  

The ensuing two years looked like they did elsewhere: navigating virtual learning, hybrid instructional models, absences due to illness and quarantines and the myriad other challenges the pandemic thrust into education. Teachers were stretched incredibly thin, and implementing a complex curriculum was even more challenging against this backdrop than it would normally have been. In our first year of state testing after COVID, we saw an expected decrease in student proficiency.

Coming out of the pandemic seemed like the perfect time for a reset around the use of our new curriculum: a time to cast a wider vision, set new and lofty goals, restructure systems and focus our efforts on deeply understanding the materials and bringing them to life in the classroom.  

Over this past year, we鈥檝e focused heavily on deepening our understanding around foundational skills instruction. The Tennessee Department of Education to provide all teachers with sounds-first instruction aligned with the science of reading, and 99% of our district鈥檚 primary teachers and academic interventionists have completed this training. A great effort has been made by district leaders to ensure all foundational skills instruction aligns to the EL Education curriculum and the science of reading, ensuring teachers used a systematic, explicit phonological awareness and phonics approach. Our teachers are already seeing the impact of a sounds-first approach with a strong foundation skills curriculum.

鈥淪tudent writing is far better than I鈥檝e seen before,鈥� kindergarten teacher Kim Taylor said. “I鈥檓 amazed at what my students are writing.鈥�

We also created a protocol for educators to clarify the process by which teachers prepare to utilize the materials. Called the Prepare to Teach Cycle, it begins with a high-level overview of the unit of study: reading and annotating core texts; exploring the essential questions; articulating the knowledge students will gain and the thinking they will need to do on an anchor chart. Then, we take the assessments ourselves and explore the thinking that鈥檚 required for students to perform well and common misunderstandings that may hinder that success; we add these thinking demands to the chart as well. With this chart and student texts front and center, we then work to internalize, and sometimes, rehearse lessons together to deeply understand the purpose of the lesson and the teaching priorities required to accomplish that purpose. Last, we teach and reflect by looking at student work or instructional data from the , our walkthrough tool.

The entire Prepare to Teach protocol lives in an environment of teacher voice; they set enabling conditions such as choosing when to meet, how often, how long, what pre-work will be done, team roles, and the like. We鈥檝e seen the cycle impact student work and teacher practice. As one teacher reflected, 鈥淚 think for us to truly do this job effectively, we have to be together, planning together and talking through what we notice in different lessons. [The cycle] made me confident in my own abilities.鈥�

Finally, we streamlined everything we do to consistently embed our work in the materials. All of our professional learning, cross-district teacher literacy networks, and school-based conversations are grounded in the materials. We talk a lot about how to keep the text at the center of instruction, how to focus on the knowledge students should get from the texts and how to provide just the right support so every student has access to 鈥� and the opportunity to truly grapple with 鈥� complex work.

That grappling is already paying off. In the spring of 2022, our students鈥� proficiency levels were the highest we鈥檝e seen in our district since we adopted new standards in 2017, outperforming our pre-pandemic levels. This lines up with the reading, writing and conversations we see on a daily basis in classrooms.

鈥淚 think with this curriculum, it鈥檚 making those students really feel like they can be world changers and that they can access it,鈥� said third grade teacher Bailey Rose. 鈥淲e don鈥檛 have to lower it. We give it to them as it is, they are able to take it and feel like they can have an impact.鈥�

Here in Murfreesboro, we still want to grow and improve, but we are well on our way and have a strong plan to get there.  And those poems 鈥� they were something else. Education, indeed.

New state test results released Wednesday by the New York City Department of Education offer a complicated picture of the pandemic鈥檚 effects on academic performance in America鈥檚 largest school district, showing students鈥� math performance tumbled but their English skills ticked upward from pre-pandemic levels. 

Just over a third of students in grades 3 through 8 鈥� 37.9% 鈥� were proficient in math, released after COVID forced schools nationwide into remote learning and disrupted state assessments. That鈥檚 a 7.6 percentage point decline from 2019, suggesting deleterious effects of a pandemic that upended in-person learning.  

But it鈥檚 complicated. Nearly half of students 鈥斅�49% 鈥� scored proficient in English language arts, 1.6 percentage points higher than in 2019. The results, which city officials at the state’s request, offer the first comprehensive look at student performance during the pandemic. The state canceled the test in 2020 and made it optional in 2021. Roughly 10% of city students opted out of either the reading or math exams this year, considerably higher than the 4% who sat out in 2019, .

鈥淲hile results are complicated by the pandemic, the results reflect hard work by our students, families and educators during a difficult time,鈥� DOE First Deputy Chancellor Dan Weisberg said, according to 鈥淭hey also reflect opportunity gaps and outcomes in particular for Black and Hispanic students, as well as students with disabilities and English-language learners that are unacceptable.鈥� 

Tests administered outside New York City suggest, perhaps unsurprisingly, the public health emergency had a major negative impact on student learning. Earlier this month, results for the National Assessment of Educational Progress, often called the 鈥渘ation鈥檚 report card,鈥� found two decades of national growth in reading and math were wiped out by just two years of pandemic-induced disruptions. Declines were particularly stark among struggling students, further widening the performance gap between high- and low-achievers. 

In Los Angeles, home to America鈥檚 second-largest school district, showed a significant drop in student achievement from pre-pandemic levels. Outcomes on the 2022 Smarter Balanced state assessment found just 28.47% of students were proficient in math and 41.67% met English standards. Among big city school districts, Los Angeles schools were among to in-person learning while New York City was among the first to push to reopen classrooms, even while a majority of its families well into the 2020-21 school year.

Looking forward, Weisberg said NYC schools are focused on transforming education so that every student graduates with 鈥渁 pathway to a rewarding career, long-term economic security, and equipped to be a positive force for change in their community.鈥�

Here are four key takeaways from the New York City test results: 

Woes in math were particularly profound for older students

Overall, just 37.9% of NYC students scored proficient in math, and students at all grade levels posted declines from pre-pandemic levels. But the downturn was particularly pronounced for students in middle school. Among third graders, 48.4% scored proficient, a 4.8 percentage point drop from 2019. Meanwhile, just 25% of eighth graders scored proficient in math, an 11 percentage point drop from pre-pandemic levels. 

Younger students struggled with reading during the pandemic

NYC students posted gains in English language arts since 2019, and nearly half received a proficient score. But the results are more complicated when disaggregated by grade level. Younger students 鈥� particularly those in third and fourth grade 鈥� struggled while those in middle school outperformed pre-pandemic levels. 

With a 6 percentage point decline from 2019, 43.6% of fourth graders scored proficient in English this year. That鈥檚 compared to 52.6 percent of seventh graders who scored proficient this year, up 9.9 percentage points from 2019. 

Isabella Rieke, communications manager for Advocates for Children of New York, said the results underscored the urgency behind New York City moving  .

鈥淲hile the overall ELA proficiency rate ticked upward, relative to 2019, the percentage of third graders scoring proficient fell by four percentage points and the rate for fourth graders fell by six percentage points,鈥� she said in a statement. 鈥淭hese students would have been in first and second grades in March 2020鈥攇rades when children are mastering the relationships between sounds and letters and building the foundational literacy skills that will shape their future academic trajectory.鈥�

Declines were particularly stark for Black and Hispanic students

As has been the case for years, the latest test results showed significant disparities in New York City between white and Asian American students and their Black and Hispanic peers. 

Among white students, 58.5% of students in third through eighth grade were proficient in math this year and 67.3% were proficient in English language arts. That鈥檚 an 8.2 percentage point decrease and a 0.7 percentage point increase, respectively. 

Meanwhile, 20.6% of Black students scored proficient this year in math and 35.8% were proficient in English. Among Hispanic students, 23.3% were proficient in math and 36.8% were proficient in English. Hispanic students fared the worst during the pandemic, posting a 9.9 percentage point drop in math proficiency compared to 2019.

English learners and students with disabilities may have weathered the pandemic better than the general student population

While English language learners and those in special education had poorer performance than students overall in both math and English, test results suggest they weathered the pandemic better. Compared with 2019, English language learners saw a 3.9 percentage point drop in math while those who have never received the English language learner designation saw a 7.6 percentage point dip. 

Similarly, English learners saw a 3.4 percentage point increase in their English proficiency since 2019 compared to a 1.1 percentage point increase for the general population. 

Students with disabilities posted a 3.1 percentage point decline in math proficiency and a 2.2 percentage point increase in English. Meanwhile, students without disabilities saw an 8.9 percentage point drop in math proficiency and a 1.4 percentage point gain in English. 

For some, the counterintuitive results raised red flags: