The COVID-19 impact on reading achievement growth of Grade 3–5 students in a U.S. urban school district: variation across student characteristics and instructional modalities

Abstract

The current study aimed to explore the COVID-19 impact on reading achievement growth by Grade 3-5 students in a large urban school district in the U.S. and whether the impact differed by students' demographic characteristics and instructional modality. Specifically, using administrative data from the school district, we investigated to what extent students made gains in reading during the 2020-2021 school year relative to the pre-COVID-19 typical school year in 2018-2019. We further examined whether the effects of students' instructional modality on reading growth varied by demographic characteristics. Overall, students had lower average reading achievement gains over the 9-month 2020-2021 school year than the 2018-2019 school year with a learning loss effect size of 0.54, 0.27, and 0.28 standard deviation unit for Grade 3, 4, and 5, respectively. Substantially reduced reading gains were observed from Grade 3 students, students from high-poverty backgrounds, English learners, and students with disabilities. Additionally, findings indicate that among students with similar demographic characteristics, higherachieving students tended to choose the fully remote instruction option, while lowerachieving students appeared to opt for in-person instruction at the beginning of the 2020-2021 school year. However, students who received in-person instruction most likely demonstrated continuous growth in reading over the school year, whereas initially higher-achieving students who received remote instruction showed stagnation or decline, particularly in the spring 2021 semester. Our findings support the notion that in-person schooling during the pandemic may serve as an equalizer for lowerachieving students, particularly from historically marginalized or vulnerable student populations.

Back to normal? ESL Instructors' Post-Pandemic Perceptions of Virtual Learning

“…As further evidence of the devastating effects of a subpar adjustment to online virtual teaching during the pandemic years, recent reports also showed "the largest average score decline in reading since 1990, and the first ever score decline in mathematics" in the U.S. between 2020 and 2022 (U.S. Department of Education). This is further supported by Relyea et al (2023) in which the distance-learning reading growth of 52,525 students in grades 3-5 was analyzed and compared to inperson learning reading growth. The findings of that study not only showed that in-person learning was more effective for sustaining reading growth, but that it may be even more important for vulnerable learning populations, specifically ELs, in order to prevent drastic learning loss.…”

Effects of remote learning during COVID-19 lockdown on children’s learning abilities and school performance: A systematic review

“…Second, we grouped articles that examined emotional and behavioral impacts on academic performance, and those that focused on children’s, parents’, and teachers’ recollections regarding perceptions of learning ( Table 1 ). Twelve studies were conducted in Europe ( Álvarez-Guerrero et al, 2021 , Chambonnière et al, 2021 , Engzell et al, 2020 , Giménez-Dasí et al, 2020 , Haelermans et al, 2022 , Korzycka et al, 2021 , Maldonado and Witte, 2021 , Rose et al, 2021 , Scarpellini et al, 2021 , Spitzer and Musslick, 2021 , Tomasik et al, 2021 , Zagalaz-Sánchez et al, 2021 ), followed by four in Asia ( Cui et al, 2021 , Sakarneh, 2021 , Zhang et al, 2020 , Zhao et al, 2020 ), seven in North America ( Domingue et al, 2022 , Gaudreau et al, 2020 , Goldhaber et al, 2022 , Kuhfeld et al, 2022 , Kuhfeld et al, 2020 , Maulucci and Guffey, 2020 , Relyea et al, 2023 ), and one in South America ( González et al, 2022 ) ( Supplementary table ). Regarding evaluation methods, fifteen papers used standardized tests or formative assessment, eight studies used online questionnaires or surveys, and one study used an evaluation scale.…”

Implementing a scientifically based educational intervention in mainstream primary schools before and during COVID-19 era: Evidence from Greek-speaking children

“…In fact, recent systematic review and meta-analytic studies ( Betthäuser et al, 2022 , Georgiou and Parrila, 2023 , König and Frey, 2022 ), showed that COVID-19 pandemic has impacted children’s reading performance, particularly in early school grades. It is also indicated that students with reading disabilities seem to be affected more than students without reading disabilities ( Baschenis et al, 2021 , Relyea et al, 2023 ) as well as children from lower socioeconomic backgrounds in comparison with those from higher socioeconomic environments ( Segers et al, 2023 ). Therefore, relevant studies suggest that interventions targeting to diminish these negative effects should be developed in order to avoid the risk of poor school performance ( Baschenis et al, 2021 ).…”