COVID-19, school closures, and student learning outcomes: new global evidence from PISA

Author(s): Jakubowski, Maciej; Gajderowicz, Tomasz; Patrinos, Harry

Publisher(s): World Bank

Date: 2024

Pages: 30 p.

Serie: Policy research working paper

Series Volume: 10666

The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in significant disruption in schooling worldwide. This paper uses global test score data to estimate learning losses. It models the effect of school closures on achievement by predicting the deviation of the most recent results from a linear trend using data from all rounds of the Programme for International Student Assessment. Scores declined by an average of 14 percent of a standard deviation, roughly equal to seven months of learning. Losses were greater for students in schools that faced relatively longer closures, boys, immigrants, and disadvantaged students. Educational losses may translate into significant national income losses over time. This paper has been also published as IZA discussion paper no. 16731 by the IZA Institute of Labor Economics.

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