Learning inequality during the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

During the pandemic-induced lockdown in 2020, schools in many countries were forced to close for extended periods. It is of great policy interest to know whether students are able to have their educational needs met in these cir- cumstances, and identify groups at special risk. In this pre-analysis plan, we outline our data and research questions for a study on learning loss during the pandemic. The data comprise anonymized test scores from Dutch primary school students that we obtain through a partnership with the provider of a digital platform service to schools. We propose a difference-in-differences design to test whether educational performance declines during lockdown relative to previous years, and whether socioeconomically disadvantaged students are particularly affected. We also plan to test for differences by previous performance, gender and subject domain. We expect losses to be concentrated among disadvantaged students and boys, and to be greater in mathematics than spelling or reading.