The effect of school closures on standardised student test outcomes

Maldonado, Joana Elisa; Witte, Kristof De

doi:10.1002/berj.3754

Cited by 258 publications

(249 citation statements)

References 21 publications

(41 reference statements)

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“…Other studies relying on longitudinal data on standardized tests find learning losses of similar magnitude in China (Clark et al 2021), Italy (Contini et al 2021), and the United States (Kuhfeld et al 2020;Pier et al 2021). Studies relying on cross-sectional comparisons generally find similar results (Blainey et al 2020;Kogan and Lavertu 2021;Maldonado and De Witte 2021;Rose et al 2021;Schult et al 2021), although some find little or mixed evidence of a learning loss (Gore et al 2021;Depping et al 2021;Fälth et al 2021). However, cross-sectional data do not allow for proper analysis of biases from cohort effects or non-participation, both of which may have been substantial during the pandemic (Werner and Woessmann 2021).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 86%

No Evidence of a Major Learning Slide 14 Months into the COVID-19 Pandemic in Denmark

Birkelund¹,

Karlson²

2021

Preprint

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We study the long-term effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on children’s academic performance in Denmark 14 months into the pandemic using nationwide and exceptionally rich data on reading test scores and family background (N ≈ 200.000 per year). We find no evidence of any major learning slide. While pupils in grade 8 experienced a three percentile points loss in reading performance, pupils in grades 2 and 4 experienced a learning gain of about five percentile points, possibly resulting from school closures being significantly longer among older (22 weeks) than younger children (eight weeks). Importantly and in contrast to expectations, we find little evidence of widening learning gaps by family background. Still, in grade 8 we see a tendency for gaps by parental income and employment status to widen slightly. Further analyses point to that all of these patterns were already in place a few months into pandemic, suggesting that learning gaps did not widen during the subsequent year in which most of the total lockdown period occurred. We also find some indication that boys and low-performing pupils suffered more from school closures than girls and high-performing pupils, but these differences are minor.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 86%

No Evidence of a Major Learning Slide 14 Months into the COVID-19 Pandemic in Denmark

Birkelund¹,

Karlson²

2021

Preprint

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“…Currently, researchers working in high-income countries (HICs) and LMICs have adopted, at scale, digital technologies to accommodate the changes brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic (Maldonado & DeWitte, 2020;Rossi et al, 2020). This shift to virtual space has not left educational research untouched; education researchers have also participated in this global pivot.…”

Section: Existing Phone-based Remote Research Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This shift to virtual space has not left educational research untouched; education researchers have also participated in this global pivot. For example, researchers have adapted their research designs to incorporate online surveys or virtual interviews using platforms such as Skype or Zoom (Gonzalez et al, 2020;Maldonado & DeWitte, 2020). Digital technologies in education are not new; smartphone-and tablet-based methods in education have already been used to deliver education programming (e.g.…”

Section: Existing Phone-based Remote Research Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In March 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) a pandemic which triggered a global lockdown. The resulting widespread closures of educational institutions across almost every country resulted in massive disruption to children's educational access and learning (Maldonado & DeWitte, 2020; UNESCO Institute for Statistics, 2020). While school closures have caused massive disruptions to children's educational access and learning (Meyers et al, 2020;Rossi et al, 2020), school closures also disrupted in-person education research, threatening ongoing research programs that aim to understand and support children's development, learning and academic achievement, and improve education policy and practice (Gonzalez et al, 2020;Maldonado & DeWitte, 2020).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Is a Phone-Based Language and Literacy Assessment a Reliable and Valid Measure of Children’s Reading Skills in Low-Resource Settings?

Sobers¹,

Anicet²,

Tanoh³

et al. 2021

Preprint

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Technology-based remote research methods are increasingly widespread, including learning assessments in child development and education research. However, little is known about whether technology-based remote assessments remain as valid and reliable as in-person assessments. We developed a low-cost phone-based language and literacy assessment for primary-school children in low-resource communities in rural Côte d’Ivoire using voice calls and SMS. We compared the reliability and validity of this phone-based assessment to an established in-person assessment.679 5th grade children completed language (phonological awareness, vocabulary, language comprehension) and literacy (letter, word, pseudoword, passage reading and comprehension) tasks in-person and by phone. Reliability (internal consistency) and predictive validity was high across in-person and phone-based tasks. In-person and phone-based assessments were moderately to strongly correlated. Phonological awareness and vocabulary skills measured in-person and by phone significantly predicted in-person and phone-based letter, word and pseudoword reading. Oral language and decoding skills measured in-person and by phone also significantly predicted in-person and phone-based passage reading and comprehension scores.Our phone-based assessment was a reliable and valid measure of language and reading and feasible for low-resource settings. Low-cost technologies offer significant potential to measure children’s learning remotely, contributing to greater inclusion of remote and low-resource populations in education research.

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“…School closures have increased the existing achievement gap. Evidence from different studies around the world suggests children have made less academic progress compared with previous year groups and that there is a large attainment gap for disadvantaged students, which seems to be getting wider (Maldonado and De Witte, 2020;Domingue et al, 2021;Engzell et al, 2021;Kogan et al, 2021;Pier et al, 2021). This represents a once in a lifetime opportunity to unpack the lessons that can be learnt from the impact of this global emergency.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Parents’ Acceptance of Educational Technology: Lessons From Around the World

2021

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One of the long-term lessons from the school closures due to the global pandemic COVID 19, is that technology and parental engagement are the best levers to access education so as to bridge the achievement gap between socially disadvantaged children and their peers. However, using technology is not as simple as bringing equipment into the school and home and initiating its usage; these are just the first steps into a more complex and ambitious achievement of using technology as a catalyst for a shift toward new learning models in remote and hybrid settings. A theoretical framework based on the theory of acceptance and use of technology and social cognitive learning theory was used to analyse data from a survey completed by 4,600 parents from 19 countries during the national lockdowns in 2020. Regression models and thematic analysis of open-ended responses were employed to identify factors that contribute to parental acceptance and use of technology in support of their children’s learning. Our results show that parents are more engaged in children’s learning when well-structured technological tools are provided or suggested by schools, and when parents are socially influenced by the opinions of other parents, teachers, children, the general public, relatives, etc. Conversely, they are less engaged when they perceive the technological tools to be challenging and beyond their knowledge or skills. The study’s findings have practical implications for governments and school leaders, who need to be aware of the factors likely to determine the use of technology at home and take action to meet parents’ needs when using technology to support learning.

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The effect of school closures on standardised student test outcomes

Cited by 258 publications

References 21 publications

No Evidence of a Major Learning Slide 14 Months into the COVID-19 Pandemic in Denmark

No Evidence of a Major Learning Slide 14 Months into the COVID-19 Pandemic in Denmark

Is a Phone-Based Language and Literacy Assessment a Reliable and Valid Measure of Children’s Reading Skills in Low-Resource Settings?

Parents’ Acceptance of Educational Technology: Lessons From Around the World

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