Measuring Growth in 2021: What State Leaders Need to Know

Student academic growth data is the most comprehensive and equitable way to measure student progress and school quality. As states and districts work to reopen for the 2020-21 school year, measuring student growth should remain a priority, especially given anticipated widespread learning losses due to COVID-19. States can and should continue to measure student growth in 2021; to do so, state leaders should start preparing now. This resource from the Data Quality Campaign, Alliance for Excellent Education and Collaborative for Student Success outlines considerations for measuring growth when missing annual assessment data for the prior year, discusses uses of this data, and lays out actions states can take right now to measure growth in 2021.