Uneven Progress: Recent Trends in Academic Performance Among U.S. School Districts

Abstract

We use data from the Stanford Education Data Archive to describe district-level trends in average academic achievement between 2009 and 2019. Although on average school districts’ test scores improved very modestly (by about 0.001 standard deviations per year), there is significant variation among districts. Moreover, we find that average test score disparities between nonpoor and poor students and between White and Black students are growing; those between White and Hispanic students are shrinking. We find no evidence of achievement-equity synergies or trade-offs: Improvements in overall achievement are uncorrelated with trends in achievement disparities. Finally, we find that the strongest predictors of achievement disparity trends are the levels and trends in within-district racial and socioeconomic segregation and changes in differential access to certified teachers.

A seat at the table: Lessons from Tennessee’s rapid achievement and equity gains

“…Finally, by explicating the case of Tennessee, this study identifies features of state policy contexts that may facilitate achievement growth while narrowing achievement disparities. Identifying places with these achievement patterns is an important area for future work (see Atteberry et al, 2021;Matheny et al, 2023). Although this analysis may offer lessons for education policy implementation broadly, it may be particularly meaningful in the present moment; over the last few years, decades of national achievement gains have come to a grinding halt (U.S. Department of Education, 2019b).…”

“…However, recent work from Tennessee argues assigning teachers a high number of evaluations-a result of Tennessee's teacher evaluation reforms-results in lower first evaluation scores, particularly for early-career teachers (Hunter, 2020). This has implications for teacher morale and retention and could lead to teacher turnover (Paufler, 2018), which is negatively associated with achievement trends and trends in disparities (Matheny et al, 2023). Rodriguez et al (2020) find that in Tennessee, teacher evaluation reforms did indeed cause turnover; however, most of this turnover was concentrated among less effective teachers, improving the overall effectiveness of the teacher workforce.…”

“…The parameter of interest is the slope across years, indicating how much students learn, in standard deviations, each year. This modeling strategy follows other approaches using SEDA (see Jang & Reardon, 2019;Matheny et al, 2023;Reardon, 2019). For this model, see Appendix A.…”

Segregating Gotham’s Youngest: Racial/Ethnic Sorting and the Choice Architecture of New York City’s Pre-K for All

“…Recent empirical studies using nationally representative data report negative associations between the isolation of historically marginalized children and literacy development in kindergarten and first grade, and mathematics learning in first grade, even accounting for children’s own sociodemographic backgrounds (Dumont & Ready, 2020). Longitudinal analyses further suggest that over time, school districts with increasing levels of segregation also experience increasing levels of racial/ethnic inequality in student outcomes (Matheny et al, 2021).…”

Leveraging Co-Teaching as a Social Justice Pedagogy: What School Leaders Need to Know

“…Students of color and emerging multilingual students, both neurotypical and those with exceptionalities, often experience low expectations from teachers and are often segregated and disproportionately assigned to low-level instructional tracks regardless of interest or demonstrated ability; both groups are more likely to be identified as disabled without substantiation or overlooked for Gifted and Talented programs. Students of color, particularly in high poverty schools, are more frequently taught by teachers who are unqualified in key content areas (Ahram & Fergus, 2011; Garver, 2020; Gershenson et al, 2016; Copur-Gencturk et al, 2020; Fernandez & Inserra, 2013; Matheny et al, 2023; McCardle, 2020; National Council on Disability, 2018; Szymanski & Lynch, 2020). Emerging multilingual learners frequently spend significant portions of their days segregated from their English-speaking peers, often taught by teachers who lack training in language acquisition and who sometimes provide instruction more suited to students with language disabilities (Fernandez & Inserra, 2013; Frattura & Capper, 2006; Hammond, 2015; Quintera et al, 2017).…”