The academic impact of natural disasters: evidence from L’Aquila earthquake

Pietro, Giorgio Di

doi:10.1080/09645292.2017.1394984

Cited by 66 publications

(42 citation statements)

References 30 publications

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“…This pattern has heightened awareness of the need for effective policies designed to protect children and communities from the direct and indirect effects of such violent acts. 2 Accumulating evidence indicates that exposure to violent traumatic events, such as domestic violence, terrorism, random school shootings, and community traumatic events in general have deleterious impacts on the health and well-being of children, reflected by depression, aggressive behavior, anxiety and stress, social and emotional problems, and impaired cognitive development and academic achievement (Hoven et al, 2005;Fremont, 2004;Daniels and Haist, 2012;Carrell and Hoekstra, 2010;Danese et al, 2009;Wendling, 2009;Currie and Tekin, 2012;Di Pietro, 2015). 1 According to the FBI, "Active shooter is a term used by law enforcement to describe a situation in which a shooting is in progress and an aspect of the crime may affect the protocols used in responding to and reacting at the scene of the incident.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Effect of Community Traumatic Events on Student Achievement: Evidence from the Beltway Sniper Attacks

Gershenson¹,

Tekin²

2015

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Community traumatic events such as mass shootings, terrorist attacks, and natural or man-made disasters have the potential to disrupt student learning in numerous ways. For example, these events can reduce instructional time by causing teacher and student absences, school closures, and disturbances to usual classroom routines. Similarly, they might also disrupt home environments. This paper uses a quasi-experimental research design to identify the effects of the 2002 "Beltway Sniper" attacks on student achievement in Virginia's public elementary schools. In order to identify the causal impact of these events, the empirical analysis uses a difference-indifferences strategy that exploits geographic variation in schools' proximity to the attacks. The main results indicate that the attacks significantly reduced school-level proficiency rates in schools within five miles of an attack. Evidence of a causal effect is most robust for math proficiency rates in the third and fifth grades, and third grade reading proficiency, suggesting that the shootings caused a decline in school proficiency rates of about five to nine percentage points. Particularly concerning from an equity standpoint, these effects appear to be entirely driven by achievement declines in schools that serve higher proportions of racial minority and socioeconomically disadvantaged students. Finally, results from supplementary analyses suggest that these deleterious effects faded out in subsequent years.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Effect of Community Traumatic Events on Student Achievement: Evidence from the Beltway Sniper Attacks

Gershenson¹,

Tekin²

2015

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“…The available evidence indicates that early interruptions to the development of these cognitive skills can have adverse impacts on academic performance at primary, secondary, and university levels (Di Pietro, 2015;Pane, McCaffrey, Kalra, & Zhou, 2008;Peek & Richardson, 2010;P erez-Pereira, Tinajero, Rodr ıguez, Peralbo, & Sabucedo, 2012;Scott, Lapr e, Marsee, & Weems, 2014). In the disaster context such interruptions may arise from the development of a trauma-related mental health disorder, such as PTSD, or be due to ongoing stressors such as having to relocate to another school in another location as a result of the disaster (McFarlane, Policansky, & Irwin, 1987;Pane et al, 2008;Sacerdote, 2008;Scott et al, 2014).…”

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confidence: 99%

Delayed Disaster Impacts on Academic Performance of Primary School Children

Gibbs

Nursey

Cook³

et al. 2019

Child Development

101

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Social disruption caused by natural disasters often interrupts educational opportunities for children. However, little is known about children's learning in the following years. This study examined change in academic scores for children variably exposed to a major bushfire in Australia. Comparisons were made between children attending high, medium, and low disaster‐affected primary schools 2–4 years after the disaster (n = 24,642; 9–12 years). The results showed that in reading and numeracy expected gains from Year 3 to Year 5 scores were reduced in schools with higher levels of bushfire impact. The findings highlight the extended period of academic impact and identify important opportunities for intervention in the education system to enable children to achieve their academic potential.

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“…However, in contrast to the present study that analyses how this event has affected prospective students' enrolment decisions, Di Pietro (2015) looks at how the L'Aquila earthquake has impacted the subsequent educational performance of current students. He finds that while the natural disaster has reduced students' probability of graduating on time by 6.6 percentage points, it has had no statistically significant effect on drop-out.…”

mentioning

confidence: 83%

Natural disasters and university enrolment: evidence from L’Aquila earthquake

Cerqua¹,

Pietro

2016

Applied Economics

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Abstract:Although there are several studies looking at the effect of natural disasters on economic growth, less attention has been dedicated to their impact on educational outcomes, especially in more developed countries. We use the synthetic control method to examine how the L'Aquila earthquake affected subsequent enrolment at the local university. This issue has wide economic implications as the University of L'Aquila made a large contribution to the local economy before the earthquake. Our results indicate that the earthquake had no statistically significant effect on first-year enrolment at the University of L'Aquila in the three academic years after the disaster. This natural disaster, however, caused a compositional change in the first-year student population, with a substantial increase in the number of students aged 21 or above. This is likely to have been driven by post-disaster measures adopted in order to mitigate the expected negative effects on enrolment triggered by the earthquake.

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The academic impact of natural disasters: evidence from L’Aquila earthquake

Cited by 66 publications

References 30 publications

The Effect of Community Traumatic Events on Student Achievement: Evidence from the Beltway Sniper Attacks

The Effect of Community Traumatic Events on Student Achievement: Evidence from the Beltway Sniper Attacks

Delayed Disaster Impacts on Academic Performance of Primary School Children

Natural disasters and university enrolment: evidence from L’Aquila earthquake

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