Provide targeted compensation for accumulated learning loss, prioritising basic numeracy for young and low-SES students¶

Strategy · All strategies
Evidence · 8 claims (7 for, 1 mixed) · 5 studies (2 causal, 1 quant-synthesis, 1 associational, 1 theoretical), q2–q3 · 3 of 5 report an effect size · 8 claims rest on one study

Description¶

The article recommends compensating accumulated COVID learning loss with targeted, methodologically well-planned instruction aimed at the most affected groups and domains. It concludes that "teachers in Grade 1 need to use different teaching material to compensate for the lack of school readiness skills" and that most 5–6-year-olds need extra instruction, especially in basic numeracy and counting. It also cites recommendations for school-based summer programmes, formative online assessment, and high-quality learning tasks with effective feedback.

Design Implications¶

Context¶

Requirements¶

• Compensation must be targeted and methodologically well-planned to overcome accumulated learning loss and avoid dropout

Constraints¶

• The article warns that despite mostly normal teaching from autumn 2021, low-SES lower graders' loss may accumulate further without intervention

Target Learners¶

• Kindergarten and Grade 1–4 students, especially those in low-SES schools

Target Learning Goals¶

• School readiness skills, basic counting and numeracy, reading, mathematics and science catch-up after COVID-related learning loss

Claims¶

• First graders who missed kindergarten during COVID closures showed the greatest school-readiness loss in basic counting and numeracy skills against pre-pandemic cohorts: d = 0.16 after three months of closures and d = 0.23 for the cohort entering school a year later [+W]
• Kindergarten closures hit children in low-SES schools hardest in basic counting and numeracy skills (d = 0.2 in 2020; d = 0.3 in 2021), widening inequalities [+W]
• The negative effect of COVID remote learning was largest among lower primary low-SES students, reaching 25, 20 and 33 points (d = 0.25, 0.20, 0.33) in mathematics, reading and science by autumn 2021 [+W]
• No SES difference was found in kindergarten children's learning loss for reading precursors and inductive reasoning [~W]
• Children from low-SES families were more negatively affected by COVID-19 school closures than children from high-SES families [+W]
• Achievement gaps between low-poverty and high-poverty elementary schools grew by .10–.20 SD, primarily during 2020–2021 [+W]
• Adverse impacts of school closures are most pronounced for younger school-age children, driven by self-productivity and dynamic complementarity in human capital production [+W]
• Students in The Netherlands lost on average 3.16 percentile points (0.08 SD) in achievement during the 8-week COVID-19 lockdown [+W]

Related Strategies¶

Examples¶

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Key Sources¶

• Gyöngyvér Molnár & Zoltán Hermann. (2023). Short- and long-term effects of COVID-related kindergarten and school closures on first- to eighth-grade students' school readiness skills and mathematics, reading and science learning. Learning and Instruction, 83, 101706. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.learninstruc.2022.101706