Curriculum Associates logo.
National Research

Student Growth in the Post-COVID Era: Middle School

Overview

Published: April 2025

Prior research has shown variable recovery patterns by student grade. Some work has shown middle school students making strong recovery, while others identify this group as the students most impacted. To provide more insight into these conflicting findings, Curriculum Associates extended the analysis completed in last years’ publication “Student Growth in the Post-COVID Era” to trace three years of academic growth post-pandemic for two middle school cohorts: the first from Grades 5–7 and the second from Grades 6–8. Utilizing longitudinal growth modeling, we compared three-year growth trajectories in reading and mathematics to those of pre-COVID cohorts in the same grades. Results show middle school students are keeping pace with historical growth rates in reading and show signs of recovery in mathematics. As of the latest full school year, in 2023–2024, both cohorts appear on par with, or close to, historical growth trends in both reading and mathematics. Similar to elementary cohorts, these patterns differed depending on student and school-level factors, with historically underserved communities the furthest from pre-COVID trends. Although more work is needed, these results help provide insight into a mixed landscape of academic recovery post-pandemic.
  • Subject:Mathematics, Literacy
  • Demographic:Black, Economically Disadvantaged, Latino, White
  • Grades:5–8
  • Topic:Academic Achievement
  • Study Year:2021–2024

Meet the Authors

Profile photo of Kelsey Young

Kelsey Young

Kelsey Young, Ph.D., leads the Research Insights and Analytics team at Curriculum Associates, 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 edtech companies. Young graduated with a B.S. in Child Psychology and a Ph.D. in Educational Psychology, both from the University of Minnesota. While there, Young's research focused on identifying and supporting students with disabilities.
Profile photo of Ethan Young

Ethan Young

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 from the University of Minnesota. Before Curriculum Associates, Young was a postdoctoral researcher at Utrecht University in the Netherlands, examining how people develop cognitive skills in the face of childhood adversity.