A systematic review and meta-analysis of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on learning

Abstract

How has the COVID-19 pandemic affected learning progress among school-age children? Two years after the onset of the pandemic, a growing number of studies have addressed this question, but findings vary depending on context. We conduct a pre-registered systematic review, quality appraisal and meta-analysis of 34 studies across 12 countries to assess the magnitude of the effect of the pandemic on learning and the role of different factors in moderating this effect. We find a significant overall learning deficit early in the pandemic (Cohen’s d = -0.17, 95 c.i. [-0.22, -0.13]), which persists over time. Forgone learning was particularly large among children from low socio-economic backgrounds and in contexts with high excess mortality, longer school closures, and less-developed digital learning infrastructures. Future research should assess the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic in low- and middle-income countries, as existing studies mainly focus on high-income countries.

COVID-19 and inequalities in educational achievement in Italy

“…We contribute to the emerging literature on the educational consequences of the pandemic [see ( Thorn & Vincent-Lancrin, 2021 ) and ( Hammerstein et al, 2021 ) for reviews and ( Betthäuser et al, 2022 ) for a meta-analysis of previous studies] by investigating the case of Italy, one of the countries that were hit first and were hit the hardest by COVID ( Johns Hopkins, 2022 ) and where schooling was severely disrupted ( World Bank et al, 2021 ). We examine differences in the academic achievement of primary and secondary school students who experienced pandemic-related disruptions during the first two waves of the pandemic (between March 2020 and May 2021) and the achievement of those who completed primary and secondary school just before the pandemic hit using longitudinal population data from the Italian National Institute for the Evaluation of the Education System (INVALSI).…”

The Effect of COVID on Oral Reading Fluency During the 2020–2021 Academic Year

“…We would additionally argue that the asynchronous data collection makes identification of ORF levels at a unique point in time challenging. We view our evidence as an excellent complement to research on COVID's impact that focuses on levels, as it allows for a view on this topic of critical importance but with an alternative set of assumptions (e.g., our analysis of within-person change may be robust to forms of missingness that may lead to interpretative challenges in other datasets) and also includes effect sizes that allow for direct comparisons to results based on alternative analytic strategies (e.g., Betthäuser et al, 2022).…”

Schulschließungen als ethische Herausforderung

“…( 2021 ), Betthäuser et al. ( 2022 ), Hammerstein et al. ( 2021 ), König und Frey ( 2022 ), Patrinos und Donnelly ( 2021 ) und Zierer ( 2021 ) geben einen Überblick über Leistungsstudien, die die Frage nach Lerneinbußen und neuer Bildungsungleichheit aufgrund der pandemiebedingten Schulschließungen im Frühjahr 2020 zu beantworten versuchen.…”