Academic performance of K-12 students in an online-learning environment for mathematics increased during the shutdown of schools in wake of the Covid-19 pandemic

Abstract

The shutdown of schools in response to the rapid spread of COVID-19 poses risks to the education of young children, including a widening education gap. In the present article, we investigate how school closures in 2020 influenced the performance of German students in a curriculum-based online learning software for mathematics. We analyzed data from more than 30,000 K-12 students who computed over 800,000 mathematical problem sets before and during the shutdown, and found that students’ performance increased during the shutdown of schools in 2020 relative to the year before. Our analyses also revealed that low-achieving students showed greater improvements in performance than high-achieving students, suggesting a narrowing education gap. We conclude that online learning environments may be effective in preventing educational losses associated with current and future shutdowns of schools.

Effects of COVID-19-Related School Closures on Student Achievement—A Systematic Review

“…This indicates that most remote learning measures implemented during the first school closures in spring 2020 were not effective for student learning; there was no difference between them and the absence of systematic teaching during summer vacation. Taking a closer look at studies that reported positive effects of school closures on student achievement, three of these studies (Meeter, 2021;Spitzer & Musslick, 2020;van der Velde et al, 2021) used some kind of online learning software to assess student achievement. Students in the studies of both Meeter (2021) and Spitzer and Musslick (2020) worked with online learning software for mathematics, and students in the study of van der Velde et al (2021) worked on online learning software for language learning (i.e., for French).…”

“…Taking a closer look at studies that reported positive effects of school closures on student achievement, three of these studies (Meeter, 2021;Spitzer & Musslick, 2020;van der Velde et al, 2021) used some kind of online learning software to assess student achievement. Students in the studies of both Meeter (2021) and Spitzer and Musslick (2020) worked with online learning software for mathematics, and students in the study of van der Velde et al (2021) worked on online learning software for language learning (i.e., for French). Hence, the positive effects of COVID-19-related school closures on performance in such online learning programs may have occurred due to the increased use of software during school closures.…”

“…Hence, the positive effects of COVID-19-related school closures on performance in such online learning programs may have occurred due to the increased use of software during school closures. Additionally, Spitzer and Musslick (2020) reported that low-performing students benefited even more than high-performing students regarding their performance during COVID-19-related school closures from using the learning software. The authors explained this finding by considering that low-performing students were potentially less distracted by other students in a home-learning setting.…”

“…The studies on the effect of COVID-19-related school closures on student achievement selected for our review reported mixed findings, with effects ranging from -0.37 SD to +0.20 SD (Mdn = -0.10 SD). For mathematics, effects varied between +0.20 SD and -0.19 SD (Mdn = -0.12 SD), with seven studies reporting a negative effect (Clark et al, 2020;Depping et al, 2021;Engzell et al, 2021;Maldonado & De Witte, 2020;Schult et al, 2021;Tomasik et al, 2020) and three studies reporting a positive effect (Gore et al, 2021;Meeter, 2021;Spitzer & Musslick, 2020) of COVID-19-related school closures on student achievement in mathematics. For reading, the effects found varied between -0.29 SD and +0.04 SD (Mdn = -0.14 SD), with six studies reporting a negative effect (Clark et al, 2020;Depping et al, 2021;Engzell et al, 2021;Maldonado & De Witte, 2020;Schult et al, 2021;Tomasik et al, 2020) and one study reporting a positive effect (Gore et al, 2021) of COVID-19-related school closures on student achievement in reading.…”

Did Students Learn Less During the COVID-19 Pandemic? Reading and Mathematics Competencies Before and After the First Pandemic Wave

“…Formative online assessment seems to be a promising tool to engage students while schools are closed. Empirical studies of formative assessments during the first COVID-19 wave showed a performance increase compared to the regular classes in previous years (Meeter, 2021; for older students see Spitzer & Musslick, 2020). Still, the exact causal links remain unclear, because the samples were self-selected and the interventions were at the same time the competence assessment used as outcome (which facilitates method effects).…”