The Long-Term Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Children’s Writing: a Follow-up Replication Study

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic and the move by governments worldwide to cancel in-class instruction and move to emergency remote instruction in March and April of 2020 created an unprecedented disruption in children’s education. As the COVID-19 pandemic took form and continued to impact education in the following 2020/2021 academic year, multiple concerns were raised about possible negative effects on students’ learning. The current longitudinal replication study examined this proposition for second-grade students in Norway. In a previous investigation (Skar et al. Journal of Educational Psychology 114:1553–1566, 2022), we found that scores for quality of writing, handwriting fluency, and attitude toward writing of first-grade children tested immediately after emergency remote instruction ended in the Spring of 2020 (During COVID-19 cohort) were lower than the scores of first-grade students from the same schools tested a year earlier before the start of the pandemic (Before COVID-19 cohort). In the present study, we compared the scores for the During COVID-19 cohort (333 girls, 308 boys) on these same writing measures 1 year later at the end of second grade to a During COVID-19 cohort of second-graders (888 girls, 780 boys) from the same schools tested 2 years earlier before the start of the pandemic. The initial negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on first-grade students’ writing observed by Skar et al. (Journal of Educational Psychology 114:1553–1566, 2022) was no longer evident 1 year later at the end of second grade in the current study.

A longitudinal intervention study of the effects of increasing amount of meaningful writing across grades 1 and 2

“…However, we were unable to obtain specific data on how the pandemic affected schools in the current investigation. One study that focused on the writing proficiency of second-grade students found no significant effects of measures taken to mitigate the spread of the pandemic (Skar et al, 2023 ). Another investigation examining national test results in English, reading, and mathematics revealed either small or positive effects of the pandemic.…”

Moving forward in the world: Outcomes and communication for effective reform

“…That is no longer a dubious claim. The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic alone have forced us to face undesirable realities and overwhelming challenges (Di Pietro, 2023;Hass et al, 2023;Okagbue et al, 2023;Skar et al, 2023). These challenges appear worldwide, albeit in different forms.…”