Literature Review

Authors Year Title Type of Study Literature Respondents Key Findings Recommendations/ Conclusions
Category
Opportunities
Megan Kuhfeld, Jim 2020 How is COVID-19 Quantitative Impact of Grades 3-8 In some ways, our findings show an optimistic In this study, we limited our analyses to
Soland, Beth affecting student covid-19 to pupils/student picture: In reading, on average, the achievement a consistent set of schools between fall
Tarasawa, Angela learning? students s percentiles of students in fall 2020 were similar to 2019 and fall 2020. However,
Johnson, Erik Ruzek, those of same-grade students in fall 2019, and in approximately one in four students who
and Karyn almost all grades, most students made some tested within these schools in fall 2019
LewisThursday learning gains since the COVID-19 pandemic are no longer in our sample in fall 2020.
started. In math, however, the results tell a less This is a sizeable increase from the 15%
rosy story: Student achievement was lower than attrition from fall 2018 to fall 2019. One
the pre-COVID-19 performance by same-grade possible explanation is that some
students in fall 2019, and students showed lower students lacked reliable technology. A
growth in math across grades 3 to 8 relative to second is that they disengaged from
peers in the previous, more typical year. Schools school due to economic, health, or other
will need clear local data to understand if these factors. More coordinated efforts are
national trends are reflective of their students. required to establish communication
Additional resources and supports should be with students who are not attending
deployed in math specifically to get students back school or disengaging from instruction
on track. to get them back on track, especially our
most vulnerable students.

Finally, we are only scratching the

surface in quantifying the short-term
and long-term academic and non-
academic impacts of COVID-19. While
more students are back in schools now
and educators have more experience
with remote instruction than when the
pandemic forced schools to close in
spring 2020, the collective shock we are
experiencing is ongoing. We will
continue to examine students’ academic
progress throughout the 2020-21 school
year to understand how recovery and
growth unfold amid an ongoing
Authors Year Title Type of Study Literature Respondents Key Findings Recommendations/ Conclusions
Category
pandemic.
Paul Drijvers 2020 Math at distance Quantitative Opportunities Volunteer Teachers like working with technology Worldwide, math teachers engaged in
webinar Teachers and distance teaching practices, with video
Students in Some believe distance learning supports teaching conferencing getting popular. This may
Flanders, algorithms have caused us to forget the math tools
Germany, and math didactic approaches. So, now
Netherlands Some believe distance learning provides means to that we’ve learned a lot, let’s go for
make students discover mathematics on their own more rich, didactic and interactive
distance teaching practices.

Svenja Hammerstein, 2021 Effects of COVID- Literature Positive and Students Most studies found negative effects of COVID-19
Christoph König, 19-Related School research negative related school closures on student achievement.
Thomas Dreisörner Closures on Student effects Seven studies reported a negative effect on
and Andreas Frey Achievement-A mathematics
This is in line with expected learning losses due to
Systematic Review
COVID-19 related school closures and the
assumption that, in spring 2020, the ad hoc
implementation of online teaching gave students,
teachers, schools, and parents little time to
prepare for or adapt to measures of remote
learning.
Three studies reported positive effects of COVID-19
related school closures on student achievement.
Meeter (2021) and Spitzer and Musslick (2021)
showed students to improve their mathematics
achievement when learning with an online-learning
software during the COVID-related school closures.
Similarly, van der Velde et al. (2021) reported an
increase in correct solutions on open questions
within a French learning program. Interestingly,
these three studies focused on online-learning
software. Thus, the positive effects may be
explained by the students under investigation
being familiar working with the corresponding
online-learning software prior to school closures.
The first COVID-19-related school
closures in spring 2020 were followed by
similar measures in the fall and winter of
2020/2021. Due to the cumulative
nature of learning processes and
student achievement, additional
learning losses are likely. Nevertheless,
school closures do not seem to be
initiated as quickly now as they were at
the beginning of the pandemic, which is
positive for learning. To counter the
learning losses, on a micro level,
educational policy makers should
determine potential supportive
measures that increase the active
learning time on task. On a macro level,
national policy makers should determine
potential compensatory measures to
support students in their learning and to
avoid failed educational careers. In this
regard, systematic online material and
software have been found to
compensate for learning losses,
specifically in high-risk children. Hence,
educational policy makers and educators
Authors Year Title Type of Study Literature Respondents Key Findings Recommendations/ Conclusions
Category
should be aware of the importance of
providing children with systematic
material and ensuring that high-risk
children, in particular, have access to
adequate learning environments in
order to circumvent learning losses and
widening learning gaps that may be
caused by subsequent school closures.
We expect future studies focusing on
the subsequent school closures to
provide a more differentiated picture of
the effects of COVID-19 related school
closures on student achievement.

Challenges
Sarah D. Sparks 2020 Pandemic Learning Learning loss Grades 3-8 Early test results this fall confirm that the To keep math learning somewhat on
Loss Heavier in in math pupils/student pandemic has taken a toll on students’ course, teachers are trimming
Math Than Reading during s academic growth, particularly in math. But a standards, ditching answer-getting
This Fall, But pandemic new study from the Northwest Evaluation tests, and using games and apps to
Questions Remain Association suggests we still lack a clear supplement instruction. They’re also
picture of the most vulnerable students. finding ways to engage students
In a new study released today, NWEA over screens, including with lessons
researchers found more than 4.4 million about how math and social justice
students in grades 3-8 who participated in intersect. And they’re leaning on
NWEA’s MAP Growth test this fall performed parents perhaps more than ever
about on par in reading, but 5 to 10 percentile
points lower in math, compared to their peers
in fall 2019. That means a student who
performed at the average in 2019, or the 50th
percentile, could have performed a year later
Authors Year Title Type of Study Literature Respondents Key Findings Recommendations/ Conclusions
Category
at the level of someone ranked only at the
40th percentile in 2019.

Distance Education