The Impacts of COVID-induced School Closures on Inequality in Education Outcomes
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.47611/jsrhs.v11i1.2312Keywords:
COVID-19, Education inequality, Online learning, School closuresAbstract
I use online math participation and student math progress data from online learning platform Zearn to study the impacts of COVID-induced school closures on inequality in education outcomes using an event study approach. There were sharp declines in online math participation and progress following school closures but both outcomes were back to the pre-COVID levels in 2021 May. The pandemic widened socioeconomic inequalities in education outcomes transitorily, where most of the post-COVID socioeconomic gaps had vanished by 2021 May. Areas with lower income, more students in rural schools, worse computer and Internet access, and less higher education completion (measured by the percent of adults having a B.A.) saw more learning losses but only in the remaining 2020 spring semester.
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