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Cited by 220Education during COVID-19 pandemicSchool Choice and PerformanceCOVID-19 epidemiological studies

The DOI matches its Crossref record; 35 of the 35 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.

Large socio-economic, geographic and demographic disparities exist in exposure to school closures

Open access
Parolin, Zachary, Lee, Emma K.·2021·Nature Human Behaviour
DOI 10.1038/s41562-021-01087-8PMC PMC8060162

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Abstract

The coronovirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has prompted many school districts to turn to distance or at-home learning. Studies are emerging on the negative effects of distance learning on educational performance, but less is known about the socio-economic, geographic and demographic characteristics of students exposed to distance learning. We introduce a U.S. School Closure and Distance Learning Database that tracks in-person visits across more than 100,000 schools throughout 2020. The database, which we make publicly accessible and update monthly, describes year-over-year change in in-person visits to each school throughout 2020 to estimate whether the school is engaged in distance learning. Our findings reveal that school closures from September to December 2020 were more common in schools with lower third-grade math scores and higher shares of students from racial/ethnic minorities, who experience homelessness, have limited English proficiency and are eligible for free/reduced-price school lunches. The findings portend rising inequalities in learning outcomes.

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Crossref · 10.1038/s41562-021-01087-8

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Fig. 1 Share of schools closed or mostly closed. A school is ‘closed’ or ‘mostly closed’ if it experiences a year-over-year decline in in-person visits of at least 50% for a specific month. The sample includes 80,785 public schools per month in 2020.
Fig. 1 Share of schools closed or mostly closed. A school is ‘closed’ or ‘mostly closed’ if it experiences a year-over-year decline in in-person visits of at least 50% for a specific month. The sample includes 80,785 public schools per month in 2020.CC BY · PubMed Central
Fig. 2 Share of students exposed to distance learning. A school is ‘closed’ or ‘mostly closed’ if it experiences a year-over-year decline in in-person visits of at least 50% for a specific month. The sample includes students attending a sample of 80,785 public schools in 2020. FRPL, free/reduced-price lunches.
Fig. 2 Share of students exposed to distance learning. A school is ‘closed’ or ‘mostly closed’ if it experiences a year-over-year decline in in-person visits of at least 50% for a specific month. The sample includes students attending a sample of 80,785 public schools in 2020. FRPL, free/reduced-price lunches.CC BY · PubMed Central
Fig. 3 Share of schools closed or mostly closed by decile rank of given characteristic. Binned scatterplots where of the share of schools that are closed (50%+ year-over-year decline in in-person visits) among all schools in the specified decile. Average values from September to December 2020 for 80,785 public schools. FRPL, free/reduced-price lunches; SD, standard deviation.
Fig. 3 Share of schools closed or mostly closed by decile rank of given characteristic. Binned scatterplots where of the share of schools that are closed (50%+ year-over-year decline in in-person visits) among all schools in the specified decile. Average values from September to December 2020 for 80,785 public schools. FRPL, free/reduced-price lunches; SD, standard deviation.CC BY · PubMed Central
Fig. 4 Mean year-over-year decline in in-person attendance among students per county. The sample includes 80,785 public schools with values averaged over September through December 2020.
Fig. 4 Mean year-over-year decline in in-person attendance among students per county. The sample includes 80,785 public schools with values averaged over September through December 2020.CC BY · PubMed Central

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Metadata

Authors
Parolin, Z., & Lee, E. K.
Affiliations
  • Bocconi University (IT)
  • Columbia University (US)
Corresponding author
Parolin, Zachary
ORCID
Venue
Nature Human Behaviour
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Published
2021-03-18
Volume
5
Issue
4
Pages
522-528
ISSN
2397-3374 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.1038/s41562-021-01087-8
PMC
PMC8060162
OpenAlex
W3138870524
Cited by
217
References
35
Citations by year
2026: 26 · 2025: 27 · 2024: 42 · 2023: 54 · 2022: 44 · 2021: 23
FWCI
71.66
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • Nature Human Behaviour (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
  • Archivio istituzionale della Ricerca - Bocconi (submittedVersion)
  • OSF Preprints (OSF Preprints) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
  • OSF Preprints (OSF Preprints) (submittedVersion)
Funders
Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (017972)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Education › Education during COVID-19 pandemic
  • Social Sciences › Education › School Choice and Performance
  • Physical Sciences › Mathematics › Modeling and Simulation › COVID-19 epidemiological studies
Keywords
school closures, distance education, COVID-19 pandemic, educational inequality, socioeconomic disparities, racial and ethnic disparities, homelessness, limited English proficiency, learning outcomes
MeSH terms
Academic Performance, Limited English Proficiency, COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, Adolescent, Child, Communicable Disease Control, Ethnicity, Ill-Housed Persons, Humans, Income, Minority Groups, Public Policy, Schools, Socioeconomic Factors, United States, Databases, Factual, Education, Distance

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