Course grades of students in grades 4-8 declined during remote and hybrid learning relative to pre-pandemic years¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · associational r2 · q2
Currency · newest study 2022 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person · recheck by 2027: baselines and conditions change

Subclaims¶

q2 i? Among students in grades 4-8, the share of As fell from 50 percent pre-pandemic to 44 percent in spring 2020 and 45 percent in spring 2021, and the share of Ds or Fs rose from about 6 percent to 15 percent in spring 2021. → Gwynne 2022

Evidence¶

Gwynne 2022¶

Gwynne, J.A., Allensworth, E.M., & Liang, Y. (2022). Student engagement in learning during COVID-19: Students' course grades in Chicago Public Schools. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Consortium on School Research. https://www.cps.edu/about/departments/office-of-equity/

q2 · i? · associational · r2

Descriptive analysis of fourth-quarter course grades for grades 4-8 students in district-run CPS schools, comparing spring 2020 and spring 2021 to the three pre-pandemic spring terms. The report states "a 10-point decline in the percentage of grades that were either As or Bs, from 77 percent of all grades pre-pandemic to 67 percent in spring 2021."

"There was also a decline in the percentage of Bs, relative to pre-pandemic years, from 27 percent to 22 percent of all grades. This represented a 10-point decline in the percentage of grades that were either As or Bs, from 77 percent of all grades pre-pandemic to 67 percent in spring 2021."

Discussion¶

Related Claims¶

• High school course grades improved in spring 2020 and remained higher than pre-pandemic levels through spring 2021, with a slight rise in Fs — related
• Students in grades 4-8 were much more likely to receive no-credit grades during remote learning, with 41 percent receiving at least one Incomplete in spring 2020 — related
• No-credit rates during the pandemic varied considerably across elementary schools, including among schools serving similar student populations — related
• Remote learning exacerbated pre-pandemic disparities in no-credit grades for low-income students and students of color in grades 4-8, but within-school differences were small — related
• Post-pandemic course grades rose while test scores and attendance fell, raising questions about what grades signal — reports the opposite
• Local leaders supported student learning in similar and different ways across in-person, hybrid, and remote instructional modalities — related
• Attendance and online platform participation remained predictive of students' course grades during remote learning, with relationships as large or larger than pre-pandemic — related