As the nation works to collectively get students back on track after pandemic-era learning disruptions, new research provides promising evidence that learning acceleration can help all students catch up and move forward in math.

Powered by two years of pandemic-era math-learning data, researchers found when a student is consistently accelerated, they complete twice the amount of grade-level lessons and struggle less in their math learning.

“We decided to conduct this research as a way to deepen our support for teachers who are contending with more than two years of disruptions and are forced to make intervention decisions for each student, each time they struggle,” said Shalinee Sharma, Zearn’s CEO and co-founder. “This research gives us hope that with the right learning strategies students can catch-up and move forward with their math learning.”

Key findings in the report, Catching Up and Moving Forward: Accelerating Math Learning for Every Student, include:

a student that experienced consistent learning acceleration completed twice as many grade-level lessons over the course of the year compared to a student who was frequently remediated.
a student struggled 17 percent less when they experienced learning acceleration versus when they were remediated.
a student enrolled in a majority Black, Latino or low-income school was more likely to be remediated when compared with their peers in a majority white or high-income school.
a student enrolled in a majority Black, Latino or low-income school struggled 19 percent less when they experienced learning acceleration versus when they were remediated.