Student Learning Changes During the COVID-19 Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted the education of students in Illinois and around the nation. Leaders at the Illinois State Board of Education and in Illinois public school districts wanted to better understand how student learning changed during the pandemic.  A new study conducted by REL Midwest examined data from 17 Illinois school districts over five years, including four years prior to the pandemic, to measure how student learning changed in fall 2020 relative to fall terms prior to the pandemic. The study demonstrates how learning changed in both mathematics and reading for students in grades 3–8, as well as how these changes varied across student characteristics and district size.  Key findings include the following— In fall 2020, following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, students in grades 4–8 scored lower than expected in mathematics after adjusting for other factors. The study did not find significant changes in learning in mathematics in grade 3 or in reading in any grade level.  The magnitude of changes in learning in mathematics varied by grade level, with larger estimated changes in learning in grades 6–8 than in grades 4 and 5. Student characteristics, such as eligibility for the National School Lunch Program, special education status, English learner status, and race/ethnicity, were associated with changes in learning in mathematics in some grade levels to varying degrees.  District size was not related to changes in learning in mathematics, after adjusting for other factors. Details  Leaders at the Illinois State Board of Education and in Illinois public school districts want to better understand how student learning changed during the pandemic. This study examines data from 17 Illinois districts over five years, including four years prior to the pandemic, to measure how student learning changed in fall 2020 relative to fall terms prior to the pandemic. The study demonstrates how learning changed in both mathematics and reading for students in grades 3–8, as well as how these changes varied across student characteristics and district size. The study found that students in grades 4–8 scored lower than expected in mathematics following the onset of the pandemic, after adjusting for other factors. The magnitude varied by grade level. Larger estimated changes in learning occurred in grades 6–8 than in grades 4 and 5. Students in grades 3–8 did not experience any statistically significant changes in learning in reading. A further analysis of learning in mathematics showed that changes in learning varied across students with different characteristics but were unrelated to district size. The study findings should be interpreted with caution, especially when generalizing to the population of Illinois districts and students. The study includes a small number of districts, and th