Did students learn less during the COVID-19 pandemic? Reading and mathematics competencies before and after the first pandemic wave

The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted classes in spring 2020. Temporary school closures supposedly led to a considerable learning loss, particularly for low-achieving students. Teachers faced challenges of remote learning environments. Students spent less time learning. The present study investigates the...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:School effectiveness and school improvement Vol. 33; no. 4; pp. 544 - 563
Main Authors: Schult, Johannes, Mahler, Nicole, Fauth, Benjamin, Lindner, Marlit A.
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: Abingdon Routledge 02.10.2022
Taylor & Francis Ltd
Subjects:
Achievement Gains
Barriers
Competence
COVID-19
Distance Education
Foreign Countries
Grade 5
Institutional Characteristics
large-scale assessments
Low Achievement
Mathematics
mathematics competencies
Mathematics Skills
Pandemics
reading competencies
Reading Comprehension
School Closing
school closures
Student Characteristics
Germany
ISSN:0924-3453, 1744-5124
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted classes in spring 2020. Temporary school closures supposedly led to a considerable learning loss, particularly for low-achieving students. Teachers faced challenges of remote learning environments. Students spent less time learning. The present study investigates the competencies of fifth graders in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, using large-scale assessments in reading and mathematics from annual mandatory tests in September (each n > 80,000). Competence scores were slightly lower in 2020 (after 2 months of school closures) compared with the three previous years (-0.07 SD for reading comprehension, -0.09 for operations, and -0.03 for numbers). Regarding mathematics, low-achieving students seem to have a learning backlog that deserves attention in future education. School characteristics such as the average sociocultural capital and the proportion of students with a migration background played a minor role in mediating the schools' learning loss. Still, lower sociocultural capital was positively associated with larger learning loss in mathematics.
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ISSN:0924-3453
1744-5124
DOI:10.1080/09243453.2022.2061014