Template-type: ReDif-Paper 1.0
Author-Name: Haelermans, Carla
Author-workplace-name: ROA / Education and transition to work, RS: GSBE Studio Europa Maastricht, RS: GSBE Theme Learning and Work
Author-Name: Jacobs, Madelon
Author-workplace-name: ROA / Education and transition to work, RS: GSBE other - not theme-related research
Author-Name: van Vugt, Lynn
Author-workplace-name: ROA / Health, skills and inequality, RS: GSBE Theme Learning and Work
Author-Name: Aarts, Bas 
Author-workplace-name: RS: GSBE other - not theme-related research, ROA / Human capital in the region
Author-Name: Abbink, Henry
Author-workplace-name: RS: GSBE other - not theme-related research, ROA / Labour market and training
Author-Name: Smeets, Chayenne
Author-Name: van der Velden, Rolf
Author-workplace-name: ROA / Education and transition to work, RS: GSBE Theme Learning and Work
Author-Name: van Wetten, Sanne
Author-workplace-name: RS: GSBE other - not theme-related research, ROA / Education and transition to work
Title: A full year COVID-19 crisis with interrupted learning and two school closures: The effects on learning growth and inequality in primary education
Abstract: After more than a year of COVID-19 crisis and the school closures that followed<br/>all around the world, the concerns about lower learning growth and exacerbated<br/>inequalities are larger than ever. In this paper, we use unique data to analyse how one full year of COVID-19 crisis in Dutch primary education has affected learning growth and pre-existing inequalities. We draw on a dataset that includes around 330,000 Dutch primary school students from about 1,600 schools, with standardized test scores for reading, spelling and mathematics, as well as rich (family) background information of the students. The results show a lower learning growth over a full year for all three domains, varying from 0.06 standard deviations for spelling to 0.12 for maths and 0.17 standard deviations for reading. Furthermore, we find that the lower learning growth is (much) larger for vulnerable students with a low socioeconomic background. This implies that pre-existing inequalities between students from different backgrounds have increased. These results are quite alarming and suggest that distance learning<br/>could not compensate for classroom teaching, although it prevented some <br/>damage that would have occurred if students had not enjoyed any formal education at all.
Classification-JEL: i24,i20,i21,c90
Series: ROA Research Memoranda
Creation-Date: 20211214
Number: 009
File-URL: https://cris.maastrichtuniversity.nl/ws/files/76028733/ROA_RM_2021_9.pdf
File-Format: application/pdf
File-Size: 1206691
Handle: Repec:unm:umaror:2021009
DOI: 10.26481/umaror.2021009