How did students perform during the COVID-19 pandemic relative to historical school-year averages prior to the COVID-19 school shutdown?

This study looks at CogAT and Iowa Assessments data from two school districts from both before and after the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent shutdowns took place.  Through the course of the research, three questions emerged:

• How did students perform during the COVID-19 pandemic relative to historical school-year averages prior to the COVID-19 school shutdown?
• How did growth patterns change for students who experienced the school shutdown during the COVID-19 pandemic compared to a cohort of students prior to the pandemic?
• Are there distinct subgroups (classes) of students with different growth patterns identified using growth mixture modeling?