The Efficacy of an Online Learning and Assessment Tool for COVID-19 Recovery Intervention

Abstract

Many school districts are leveraging personalized learning platforms as part of COVID-19 recovery efforts. We examined the extent to which one such platform – i-Ready – was associated with improved student achievement growth in a Southeastern district. We find that students performed better on math and reading standardized assessments when using i-Ready, and this is especially true for students who receive FRPM, identify as Black, and/or identify as male. Additionally, students whose teachers assigned at least one lesson in addition to automatically assigned lessons benefited even more from i-Ready use. Our findings suggest that platforms such as i-Ready are useful recovery tools that can help school districts enhance student learning, particularly for students belonging to marginalized groups.