The Impacts of Remote Learning in Secondary Education: Evidence from Brazil during the Pandemic

Abstract

The goal of this paper is to document the pedagogic impacts of the remote learning strategy used by an state department of education in Brazil during the pandemic. We found that dropout risk increased by 365% under remote learning. While risk increased with local disease activity, most of it can be attributed directly to the absence of in-person classes: we estimate that dropout risk increased by no less than 247% across the State, even at the low end of the distribution of per capita Covid-19 cases. Average standardized test scores decreased by 0.32 standard deviation, as if students had only learned 27.5% of the in-person equivalent under remote learning. Learning losses did not systematically increase with local disease activity, attesting that they are in fact the outcome of remote learning, rather than a consequence of other health or economic impacts of Covid-19. Authorizing schools to partially reopen for in-person classes increased high-school students test scores by 20% relative to the control group.

Educación pública en Lima Metropolitana en tiempos de pandemia 2020-2022

“…En otros países, sobre todo del Primer Mundo, ya se están evaluando las consecuencias del cese de clases presenciales. La conclusión preliminar es esta: A más tiempo de pérdida de clases presenciales, se pierden más aprendizajes (Engzell et al, 2021;Maldonado & De Witte, 2021;Tomasik et al, 2021;Lichand et al, 2021;Donnelly & Patrinos, 2021). Una observación es importante: estos estudios, realizados en Países Bajos, Suiza, Brasil, Estados Unidos, Alemania y Australia, se centran en el cese de clases por algunas semanas, después de las cuales, se retomaron las clases, con las debidas medidas de protección.…”

Education data needs and challenges for building back from COVID-19

“…Differences in policy content by subnational governments in Brazil, as well as variation in the implementation of policies, suggest that the COVID-19 pandemic will widen learning gaps in various student populations in the country. An analysis of learning loss in São Paulo state, for example, found that early in the pandemic, students studying remotely learned 27.5% on average of what they were expected to, using in-person learning as a reference (Lichand et. al 2021).…”

Learning losses during the COVID‐19 pandemic: Understanding and addressing increased learning disparities

“…A study in Uganda found that while older children aged 12-14 years showed some improvement in basic skills, the share of 8-year-old children who were non-readers increased from 33% in 2018 to 51% in 2021, and the share who were non-numerate increased from 22% to 31% (Uwezo Uganda, 2021). In rural Karnataka, India (Annual Status of Education Report, 2021), in São Paulo, Brazil (Lichand et al, 2021), and in Kenya (Whizz Education, 2021), larger losses were observed among students in earlier grades than in later grades.…”