Data: School shutdowns negatively affected low-performing students

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It is well-established fact that shutting down schools during the coronavirus pandemic caused learning loss, but the question was if the existing learning gap would widen between different ethnic groups. Recent data confirmed the latter and its detrimental effect on low-performing students.

The 74 Million reported about the data and how the learning gap increased to 10% from 5%, meaning that low-performing students have fallen further behind high-performing students.

Overall, due to school shutdowns, students lost twenty years of academic growth and the shutdowns widened the gap between well- or high-performing students from wealthy districts and low-performing students who were either low-income children, English language learners or students with disabilities.

In the 2021-2022 school year, the top 10% of high-performing students progressed in their academic studies while low-performing students struggled. For example, the data showed that there were negative percent changes among low-performing students, which meant that low-performing students regressed in their learning and academic studies.

The research also noted that Hispanic, black, and American Indian students were disproportionately affected by the school shutdowns, while white and Asian students have recovered (academically speaking) from the shutdowns. These ethnic groups were “harder hit” during the pandemic and resulted in “greater unfinished learning for students who were already struggling before the pandemic.”