Racial differences in parent response to COVID schooling policies.
Open accessAbstract
This paper examines whether school COVID-19 policies influenced enrollment differently by student age and race/ethnicity. Unlike much prior research, we i) analyze enrollments for virtually the entire U.S. public school population for both the 2020-2021 and 2021-2022 school years, ii) compare enrollment trends within districts in order to isolate subgroup heterogeneity from district characteristics, and iii) account for district selection into preferred learning modes. Analyzing data on over 9,000 districts that serve more than 90% of public school students in the United States, we find enrollment responses to COVID policies differed notably. We find that White enrollments declined more than Black, Hispanic, and Asian enrollments in districts that started the 2020-2021 school year virtually, but in districts that started in-person the reverse was true: Non-White enrollments declined more than White enrollments. Moreover, Black, Hispanic, and Asian families responded more than White families to higher COVID-19 death rates in the months preceding the start of the 2021 school year. In 2021-2022, enrollment differences by the previous year's learning mode persisted. Racial/ethnic differences did not vary by whether the district required masking in classrooms. These findings are consistent with the greater risk faced by communities of color during the pandemic and demonstrate an additional source of disparate impact from COVID policies.
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The movement away from in-person instruction during the 2020-2021 school year reduced student achievement, worsened children's mental health, and decreased school enrollment.
“There is a growing body of literature suggesting that the movement away from in-person instruction during the 2020-2021 school year reduced student achievement,8,10,11,12 worsened children’s mental health,13,14,15,16 and decreased school enrollment.17,18”
From Virtual Learning in Kindergarten Through Grade 12 During the COVID-19 Pandemic and Chronic Absenteeism (2024) · cites this paper as [18]
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Cites
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Research works printed but not linked: 1
- [16]B. Kobin, Gov. Andy Beshear: Kentucky schools should wait to start in-person classes until Sept. 28. Louisville Courier Journal (2020). https://www.courier-journal.com/story/news/education/2020/08/10/beshear-kentucky-school-superintendents-talk-covid-19-updates/3324357001/. Accessed 5 March 2023.
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Evans, W. N., Muchnick, K., & Rosenlund, O. (2024) · JAMA Network Open · doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2024.29569 · Cited by 7 · see citing works
- Authors
- Baum, M. Y., & Jacob, B. A.
- Affiliations
- University of Michigan (US)
- National Bureau of Economic Research (US)
- Corresponding author
- Jacob, Brian A.
- Venue
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
- Publisher
- National Academy of Sciences
- Published
- 2024-01-08
- Volume
- 121
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- e2307308120-e2307308120
- ISSN
- 0027-8424 (ISSN-L)
- 1091-6490
- PMC
- PMC10801896
- OpenAlex
- W4390659246
- Cited by
- 7
- References
- 17
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 3 · 2024: 3
- FWCI
- 8.75
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- Doctoral Fellowship, National Science Foundation (DGE1841052)
- Doctoral Fellowship, Institute for Education Sciences (R305B150012)
- 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
- COVID-19 pandemic, school closures, student enrollment, racial disparities, ethnic disparities, virtual learning, in-person learning, public school districts, COVID-19 mortality, mask mandates, communities of color, student age
- MeSH terms
- Race Factors, COVID-19, Educational Status, Humans, Parents, Policy
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