Freckle Math Can Help Address Learning Loss: Avoiding the "COVID Slide"

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Abstract:

Students participating in this study are a subset of the national sample used for the How Kids Are Performing study (Renaissance Learning, 2020a) that documented impacts of the pandemic on achievement. The national How Kids Are Performing study involved more than 2 million students in the US. The dataset for this study included nearly two hundred thousand (n = 197,160) who were entering grades 2-8 at the start of the 2020-2021 school year. They came from 891 schools, within 95 school districts, across 31 states.

On average, students with any amount of Freckle Math usage experienced smaller deficits than other students in the same districts who did not use the program. There was a positive relationship between the duration of Freckle use and outcomes; the longer students used Freckle, the stronger their growth. Those using Freckle Math for a relatively short duration (<100 days during a ~200-day spring to fall period) experienced deficits, though those deficits were smaller than non-users. Those using the program for a longer duration (100 days or more during the same spring to fall period), beginning in the spring and continuing to the summer or fall, had a deficit of nearly zero Scaled Score points, meaning they began the school year approximately where they would have been expected to be, pre-pandemic. In other words, students using Freckle Math for more than a three-month period avoided the COVID slide.

The full report is available online.

Publication Date:
03/12/2021