Pandemic Learning Loss and Remote and Hybrid Learning

What is it about?

Unlike most pandemic studies that examine the in-person learning opportunities of students, we study the student take-up of in-person learning. In Connecticut, take-up was very low at only about half of the days offered in person, and especially low in more disadvantaged school districts. Accordingly, our estimated effects of the benefits of in-person learning for offsetting pandemic learning loss are double the intent to treat estimates of earlier studies. Further, by comparing student who stayed remote when schools return to in-person, we show that a substantial portion of the benefits from returning to in-person arose due to relieving the strain of remote and hybrid teaching on schools and teachers. Finally, synchronous hybrid teaching, students in-person and on-line simultaneously, is shown to be a learning mode that contributed to substantial learning loss.

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Why is it important?

Simply because schools return to in-person learning does not imply that students will follow, especially students who face substantial economic disadvantages. As a result, most previous work has significantly understated the time that students spend learning remotely during the pandemic and the importance of schools returning to in-person to limit learning losses. Further, much of the discussion around pandemic learning loss revolves around the difficulty of students learning remotely. However, our paper suggests that a major driver of learning loss during the pandemic was the difficulty that schools and teachers faced delivering education remotely, especially when teachers had to teach in-person and remote students simultaneously.

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