Background

The combination of family disruptions, school closures, and a quick transition to remote learning because of the COVID-19 pandemic substantially reduced achievement growth for many students, particularly students experiencing vulnerabilities.

What is not currently known, however, is why some students fared better than others in remote learning and the impact on student outcomes of recovery strategies implemented by school districts.

This project is utilizing parent/guardian and principal surveys and rich longitudinal data about students and teachers in three Metro Atlanta school districts—which collectively serve nearly 250,000 students—to examine the factors associated with

• higher achievement growth in remote instruction and
• the relationship between specific recovery efforts and multiple student outcomes.

Research Study

The findings from this project will provide short-term benefits to education agencies working to accelerate student learning in the wake of the pandemic. In addition, this project will provide important insights to guide future research and practice as remote learning becomes a more common instructional technique in the post pandemic educational landscape.

This project will be conducted in two phases. Phase 1 of the project will focus on the 2020–21 school year and will analyze a variety of moderating factors, including:

• home environment
• student characteristics (e.g., race/ethnicity, gender, English learner status, identified disability status, household income
• teacher characteristics (e.g., experience, licensure status, educational attainment, prior use of remote instruction).

The researchers will also investigate mediating factors that may explain the variation in student outcomes associated with remote learning, such as changes in peer group composition, simultaneous versus sequential instruction of in-person and remote learners, refugee status, and parental preferences for remote learning.

Phase 2 will focus on the 2021–22, 2022–23, and 2023–24 school years to analyze the relationships between a multitude of district recovery/acceleration initiatives and both short-term outcomes (like student achievement) and long-term outcomes (like high school completion and college attendance).