Covid-19, four years after the closure of schools, research in Italy and the USA confirms the academic decline

Data on children’s academic performance and the spread of Covid19 have led to greater awareness of the problem: today many public health and education experts recognize that the prolonged closure of schools has not significantly stopped the spread of Covid, while the academic damage to children has been great and long-lasting.

Although poverty and other factors have also played a role, research carried out in various North American areas, several of which have been made public in recent days, have shown that theDistance learning was a key factor in the average drop in math scores, from third to eighth grade (middle school in Italy). Score changes were measured from 2019 to 2022.

According to a New York Times analysis of school closure data and outcomes of National Assessment of Educational Progressan exam administered to a national sample of fourth- through eighth-grade students in the 2020-21 school year, showed that a greater amount of time spent in remote or hybrid instruction was associated with a greater decline in test scores.

Even at the school district level this result seems to be confirmed, based on an analysis of test scores conducted by researchers from Stanford and Harvard.

As for discipline issues, it’s emerging that New York schools are grappling with a surge in disciplinary problems among children, demonstrating that the hardships caused by the pandemic are having persistent effects, according to educators and experts.

A second factor associated with academic decline during the pandemic was the level of poverty in the communityIn fact, the poorest districts recorded larger losses.

According to research by Stanford and Harvard, other factors have also been associated with poorer outcomes for students, including increased anxiety and depression among adults in children’s lives and overall restriction of social activity in a community.

Italy

INDIRE has carried out various research on the effects of the pandemic, in the same period of time as those carried out in the USA, involving primary and secondary school teachers.

The most recent survey, carried out by INDIRE through a survey administered during the period March-June 2021 that involved 2,546 teachers of primary, first and second level state schools, confirmed that in Italy, the prolonged closure of schools due to the pandemic it had a highly negative impact on students, widening the gaps already present in the Italian school system.

The phenomenon of learning lossi.e. the loss of skill levels in students due to the interruption of learning paths for a prolonged period of time, has revealed a territorial divide already existing. In Italy, the Invalsi results were the point of reference and a systematic effect of learning loss due to the pandemic emerges, while an increase in social inequalities does not appear to be detected. In the 2023 Invalsi tests, although there was an average improvement compared to the data in the full pandemic phase, it emerged as social and territorial gaps remain problematic.

First of all, the inequalities between students: it has exploded disparity between those who had a family behind them capable of supporting the work of the school and those who did not; the availability of a quiet place to study and digital devices also made a difference.