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Chart a Path to Recovery with Stretch Growth

i-Ready was developed with the core belief that all students—regardless of where they start—can reach grade level.

What will it take to achieve student proficiency over time? i-Ready’s growth measures provide some insight. Data gathered across millions of students over time who take our assessment informs our individualized student growth targets. This determines their individual placement level and unique growth goals to work toward getting to grade level.

Stretch Growth: A Research-Backed Recovery Metric


Percentage of Students On Grade Level after Two Years of Meeting Growth Goals

Note: All students began Year 1 two or more grade levels below.

Stretch Growth was created to support educators in setting an ambitious, attainable, and accelerated path to grade level for each student.

Our latest research shows more students—including those multiple years below their given grade level—can reach grade level by setting and meeting Stretch Growth targets two years in a row. Across all grades—including grades critical for learning (i.e., Grades 2 and 3 for reading and Grades 4 and 5 for mathematics)—we found:

  • More students who placed two or more years below grade level reached grade level if they met Stretch Growth targets vs. students who met Typical Growth in both years
  • Even meeting Stretch Growth in one year accelerated more students to grade level than two consecutive years of Typical Growth

Read the Evidence


Research

i-Ready Stretch Growth® as a Path Toward Proficiency

This research report provides validity evidence for i-Ready's Stretch Growth targets as a growth goal that is ambitious, is attainable, and puts Grades K–8 students on a path toward proficiency.

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Research

Is Typical Growth Enough for Students Who Have Fallen Behind?

This research report supports the impact of achieving Stretch Growth on below-grade level learners after two years.

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Research

i-Ready Stretch Growth® in the Pandemic Context

This research report provides new validity evidence for i-Ready's Stretch Growth targets using a sample of students who tested after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Research

How i-Ready Instruction Usage Relates to Progress toward Stretch Growth®

This research supports the use of i-Ready Personalized Instruction as a strategy to support achievement of student Stretch Growth goals.

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Research

What Can We Learn from Students’ Usage of i-Ready Personalized Instruction?

This research examines instructional practices and Stretch Growth attainment.

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Celebrate Remarkable Growth

Pierce Hammock Elementary is one of the 2023 i-Ready Super Stretch Schools that had 55% or more students at their school meet Stretch Growth goals last school year.

View More i-Ready Super Stretch Schools!

“When students work toward their stretch goals, they have a desire to track their progress and meet high expectations. Our students focused on goals and made sure they worked toward 80%–85% mastery in their lessons. As a school, we celebrated success during our morning announcements, and in individual classrooms, the teachers focused on mastery goals with rewards.”

—Dianne T. Rivelli-Schreiber, Principal, Pierce Hammock Elementary, Palm Beach, FL



i-Ready's Growth Measures

We provide two growth measures for students:

  • Typical Growth: Typical Growth demonstrates the average annual growth for students who start at a similar level of proficiency.
  • Stretch Growth: Stretch Growth demonstrates the amount of growth a student needs to be on the path to grade-level proficiency. It fosters transparency around the work needed to support student growth goals and promotes higher-expectation settings that students deserve.

Featured Resources

WHITEPAPER

Stretch Growth: Vital Metric for Recovery Post-Pandemic

While unfinished learning has dominated recent education headlines, the educators we serve are largely turning their attention to what comes next: charting a path to recovery for their students. But as the focus shifts to academic recovery, many educators are struggling to measure their progress. What is the appropriate “recovery metric”? Stretch Growth is a proven starting point. 

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PODCAST

Stretch Growth Stories with Linda Dansa on Apple Podcasts

Hear from Linda, an education leader in New York, who uses Stretch Growth. Discover how she used Stretch Growth as one of many strategies to attain and then replicate the success she had seen among students in her district, especially at the middle school level. Listen to specific tips about data chats and how crucial they are to implementation.

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WEBINAR

Root Stretch Growth into Classroom Best Practices

Find out what award-winning education researcher and i-Ready Technical Advisor Professor John Hattie thinks of Stretch Growth and how educators can use it to drive student achievement. 

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