Recently, Curriculum Associates conducted a large-scale longitudinal study to examine if student academic growth is recovering or mirroring pre-COVID trends. This brief report builds on that research and examines student growth among students using i-Ready Personalized Instruction as recommended.
It found that growth among i-Ready Personalized Instruction fidelity users was higher than post-pandemic national averages across all cohorts. Growth in reading kept pace with or exceeded historical growth. Using i-Ready Personalized Instruction as recommended appeared to support post-COVID recovery for younger students and students below grade level. These were some of the nation’s most impacted students according to national trends.
Kelsey Young, Ph.D., leads the Research Insights and Analytics team at Curriculum Associates, conducting research evaluating national trends in student achievement. Previously, Young served as a consultant for the Colorado Department of Education and as a researcher at two other educational technology companies. Young graduated with a B.S. in Child Psychology and earned her Ph.D. in Educational Psychology, both from the University of Minnesota (UMN). While at UMN, Young's research focused on the identification and support of students with disabilities.
Ethan Young, Ph.D., is a research scientist at Curriculum Associates. He specializes in analyzing longitudinal data to uncover national trends in student learning. He received his Ph.D. in Developmental and Cognitive Psychology in 2019 from the University of Minnesota. Before Curriculum Associates, Young was a postdoctoral researcher at Utrecht University in the Netherlands. His research examined how people develop different cognitive skills in the face of childhood adversity. Over his academic career, Young has authored more than 15 academic articles, including one deemed “the best article of the year” in 2019 by Self and Identity and another as a top 10 most cited paper in 2022 by Child Development.
