Achievement Growth in K-8 Catholic Schools Using NWEA Data

Using a national sample of kindergarten to eighth grade students from Catholic andpublic schools who took MAP Growth assessments, we examine achievement growth over timebetween sectors. Our findings suggest that while Catholic school students score higherin math and reading than public school students on average, they also enter each schoolyear at a higher level. Public school students close this gap to some degree during theschool year. Additionally, these patterns varied by age and subject. Catholic schoolstudents in the earlier grades show less growth in both reading and math during theacademic year compared to their public school peers, but in middle school growthpatterns in math were comparable across sectors.