TY - JOUR
T1 - Learning Loss During the COVID-19 Pandemic and the Impact of Emergency Remote Instruction on First Grade Students’ Writing
T2 - A Natural Experiment
AU - Skar, Gustaf Bernhard Uno
AU - Graham, Steve
AU - Huebner, Alan
N1 - Funding Information:
This study was made possible by funding from the Norwegian Research Council (Grant 288795)
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 American Psychological Association 2022
PY - 2021/10/21
Y1 - 2021/10/21
N2 - The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and the sudden cancellation of in-class instruction for many students around the world presented an unprecedented disruption in children’s education. As the COVID-19 pandemic took form, multiple concerns were raised about the potential negative impact on students’ learning. The current study examined this proposition for children’s writing. We compared the quality of writing, handwriting fluency, and attitude toward writing of first grade Norwegian students during the COVID-19 pandemic (421 girls, 396 boys), which included emergency remote instruction for almost 7 weeks, with first grade students in the same schools a year before the pandemic began (835 girls, 801 boys). After controlling for variance due to national test scores, school size, proportion of certified teachers, students per special education teacher, school hours per student, student gender, and native language, we found that students attending first grade during the pandemic had lower scores for writing quality, handwriting fluency, and attitude toward writing than their first grade peers tested a year earlier before the COVID-19 pandemic emerged. Implications for policy and instruction as well as future research are presented.
AB - The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and the sudden cancellation of in-class instruction for many students around the world presented an unprecedented disruption in children’s education. As the COVID-19 pandemic took form, multiple concerns were raised about the potential negative impact on students’ learning. The current study examined this proposition for children’s writing. We compared the quality of writing, handwriting fluency, and attitude toward writing of first grade Norwegian students during the COVID-19 pandemic (421 girls, 396 boys), which included emergency remote instruction for almost 7 weeks, with first grade students in the same schools a year before the pandemic began (835 girls, 801 boys). After controlling for variance due to national test scores, school size, proportion of certified teachers, students per special education teacher, school hours per student, student gender, and native language, we found that students attending first grade during the pandemic had lower scores for writing quality, handwriting fluency, and attitude toward writing than their first grade peers tested a year earlier before the COVID-19 pandemic emerged. Implications for policy and instruction as well as future research are presented.
KW - Covid-19
KW - First grade
KW - Handwriting
KW - Motivation
KW - Writing
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U2 - 10.1037/edu0000701
DO - 10.1037/edu0000701
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85119254509
SN - 0022-0663
VL - 114
SP - 1553
EP - 1566
JO - Journal of Educational Psychology
JF - Journal of Educational Psychology
IS - 7
ER -