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Reposted by Ben Backes

CALDER Center @caldercenter.bsky.social · 07/05/2026

New CALDER paper tracks math achievement for Texas students from 3rd–9th grade, finding that the COVID-19 pandemic hit the lowest-achieving students hardest, and deepened racial & income divides even among kids who started at the same level. Read 👉 bit.ly/4wh6CNU

A Widening Chasm: The Divergent Paths of High- and Low-Achieving Students in Algebra I After the Pandemic

By Ben Backes, Michael DeArmond, Elise Dizon-Ross, Dan Goldhaber & Alejandra Salazar

CALDER Working Paper No. 339-0526

May 2026

Abstract

We follow four cohorts of students in Texas from grades 3 through 9 to identify which factors predict whether students pass the Algebra I end-of-course test by ninth grade. We find that early achievement accounts for most of the variation: racial and socioeconomic gaps in Algebra I completion trace back to differences in third-grade test scores. Because we follow students over time, we can see how the pandemic compounded existing inequalities. First, we find that the pandemic widened racial and socioeconomic gaps within each achievement level--students from disadvantaged groups who started third grade with the same test scores as their more advantaged peers fell further behind than those peers during COVID. Second, the pandemic amplified gaps between achievement levels. The lowest-scoring students in every group experienced steeper declines than their higher-scoring counterparts, with the sharpest losses concentrated among low-achieving students. In short, we find that algebra achievement gaps are rooted in early elementary school and became deeper during the pandemic. Our results underscore the importance of targeting resources to early elementary math instruction, especially for low-achieving students.

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Reposted by Ben Backes

CALDER Center @caldercenter.bsky.social · 06/11/2025

Heading to Seattle for #2025APPAM next week? Be sure to check out presentations from CALDER experts @roddy-theobald.bsky.social, @brbackes.bsky.social, & @cedr.bsky.social. Click here to learn more about the conference: www.appam.org/conference-e...

Presentations from CALDER experts at 2025 APPAM Fall Research Conference

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Reposted by Ben Backes

CALDER Center @caldercenter.bsky.social · 01/05/2025

New CALDER working paper by @zeyuxu.bsky.social & @brbackes.bsky.social finds that in 2-year colleges in KY, HS GPA is a stronger predictor of gateway course success than test scores-- though neither has very strong predictive power alone. Read the full paper to learn more: bit.ly/4iNTibV

Figure 4 from CALDER Working Paper 318-0525

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Ben Backes @brbackes.bsky.social · 07/04/2025

Signal boosting this as we are looking for 1-2 more papers. Please get in touch if you're thinking of submitting something on teacher/school VA to APPAM!

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Reposted by Ben Backes

CALDER Center @caldercenter.bsky.social · 31/03/2025

Does departmentalized instruction (DI) in elementary school actually help students better transition into middle school? Check out our new CALDER paper by @brbackes.bsky.social, James Cowan, & @cedr.bsky.social to learn about the impacts of DI on long-term achievement in MA. 👉 bit.ly/3FNAX0N

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Reposted by Ben Backes

Nick Huntington-Klein @nickchk.com · 25/02/2025

The thing that moves the needle is cleaning everyone's data, which leads to a narrowing in the effect distribution, even as modeling choices continue to differ. This makes sense - we don't teach or discuss standardized/best data-cleaning practices. So there's big variance in how we do it.

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Reposted by Ben Backes

Dan Goldhaber @cedr.bsky.social · 21/02/2025

Some thoughts in The74 (w/ Ashley, @rbnlake.bsky.social, & Andy) about the "shock and awe" at IES, the IES mission, and how we move forward more constructively. www.the74million.org/article/mend...

the74million.org

Mend, Don’t End, the Institute for Education Sciences

The nation needs more education research, not an end to it. Here are five ideas for a more strategic, agile, relevant and impact-driven federal agency

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