COVID-19-related school closures in spring 2020 had a negative overall effect on student achievement (median −0.08 SD across eleven studies)¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · quant-synthesis r2 · q3 · i0 negligible
Currency · newest study 2021 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person · recheck by 2026: baselines and conditions change

Subclaims¶

q3 i0 Across eleven included studies, effects of school closures on achievement ranged from −0.37 SD to +0.25 SD with a median of −0.08 SD, and most studies found negative effects. → Hammerstein Svenja 2021

Evidence¶

Hammerstein Svenja 2021¶

Hammerstein Svenja, König Christoph, Dreisörner Thomas, Frey Andreas. (2021). Effects of COVID-19-Related School Closures on Student Achievement-A Systematic Review. Frontiers in Psychology. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.746289

q3 · i0 · quant-synthesis · r2

Systematic review synthesis of eleven studies meeting inclusion criteria (data collected before and during/after closures, statistical analyses with effect sizes). The review reports "effects ranging from−0.37 SD to +0.25 SD (Mdn = −0.08 SD)"; the median effect size Mdn = −0.08 SD is negligible by the d scale. No meta-analytic pooling was feasible given the small number of studies.

"The studies on the effect of COVID-19-related school closures on student achievement selected for our review reported mixed findings, with effects ranging from−0.37 SD to +0.25 SD (Mdn = −0.08 SD)."

Discussion¶

Related Claims¶

• Social sciences scores showed no significant decrease after the 2020 school closures — a narrower finding that bears on this claim
• Median achievement losses from spring 2020 school closures were similar for mathematics (−0.10 SD) and reading (−0.09 SD), though individual studies found subject-specific differences — a narrower finding that bears on this claim
• Younger children were more negatively affected by COVID-19 school closures than older children (−0.37 SD vs. −0.10 SD) — a narrower finding that bears on this claim
• Remote learning implemented during the spring 2020 closures achieved effects similar to no teaching at all during summer vacation — a narrower finding that bears on this claim
• The 2020 COVID-19 school closures caused a decrease in Flemish grade 6 school-average mathematics scores of roughly 0.19 standard deviations relative to previous cohorts — related
• Education leaders had little data on the impacts of school closures on learning at the time of the COVID-19 spring 2020 closures — related
• Students in The Netherlands lost on average 3.16 percentile points (0.08 SD) in achievement during the 8-week COVID-19 lockdown — a narrower finding that bears on this claim
• Science and French scores also decreased significantly after the 2020 school closures, by roughly 0.22-0.33 and 0.19-0.30 standard deviations respectively — related
• Schools reported that about 40 percent of their students experienced considerable or major academic losses since March 2020 — related
• Low-performing students were more affected by closures in mathematics while high-performing students were more affected in reading, and low-performing students benefited more from systematic online learning — related
• Achievement declines from 2019 to 2022 were larger for students in high-poverty schools than in low-poverty schools in grades 1–2 — related
• Covid-19 school closures depressed student achievement on average by about 0.19 standard deviations — related
• One year or more after the first lockdown, students had not recovered the learning deficits caused by Covid-19 school closures — related
• The COVID cohort scored significantly lower than the control cohort across the whole study duration — a narrower finding that bears on this claim
• Meta-analytic evidence attributes average COVID learning losses of roughly -0.09 to -0.18 SD, larger in mathematics than reading — related