Building Blocks: How One State is Working to Measure and Improve Schools’ Contributions to Early Learning

The early grades lay an important foundation for students’ future academic success. Yet not a single state systematically measures how well its schools support students’ academic growth in the earliest grades, from kindergarten through grade 3. Making student growth in early elementary grades more visible could powerfully inform educational investments, policies, and practices. To better understand its schools’ contributions to students’ learning in the first four grades, the Maryland State Department of Education partnered with the Regional Educational Laboratory Mid-Atlantic to explore constructing a school-level growth measure for kindergarten to grade 3. The study measured students’ growth in reading and math using the KRA and grade 3 Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) assessment.