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ERIC Number: ED627667
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 2022-Sep
Pages: 11
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
Available Date: N/A
Post-Pandemic Onset Public School Student Test-Based Performance in Virginia. COVID-19 Impacts Research Brief Series No. 2
Luke C. Miller; Beth E. Schueler
Grantee Submission
COVID-19 significantly impacted the educational and home environments for students throughout the Commonwealth of Virginia in ways that may have impacted student learning, as measured by standardized exams. We analyze statewide, student-level administrative and assessment data on the Standards of Learning (SOL) reading and math tests for the 2011-12 through 2020-21 school years among students enrolled in grades 3 through 8. We examine the change in the number of tests taken, the test-taking rate among enrolled students, and student performance on the tests, in the first post-pandemic onset year in which students were tested (2020-21) relative to last full pre-pandemic year (2018-19). Our key findings include the following: (1) There was a substantial reduction-a 29% decrease--in the number of 3rd through 8th grade students who took an SOL test in math and reading in the first post-pandemic onset year for which testing data are available (2020- 21); (2) Declines occurred across all grade levels and regardless of student race or ethnicity or their status as economically disadvantaged, a student with disability, or an English Learner. However, the largest declines were among Black students in both subjects and the smallest declines among English Learners in reading; (3) The decline in the number of tests taken was due primarily to a decline in the test-taking rate among students enrolled in the public schools, but about one-third of the drop was due to a substantial decrease in the number of students enrolled in the public schools post-pandemic; (4) Among test-takers, pass rates declined by 32% in math between the last full pre-pandemic year (2018-19) and the first post- pandemic onset year (2020-21), and by 4% in reading. However, interpreting the pre-post pandemic-onset change in reading performance is complicated by the fact that the state introduced a new reading test in 2020-21; (5) Pass rates declined in both math and reading for students in all grades 3 through 8 and for all race and ethnicity student groups and student groups defined by their status as economically disadvantaged, a student with disability, or an English Learner; (6) Scaled scores decreased on all math tests. The decline in scaled scores was greater among the lower scoring students on the elementary end-of- grade tests (grades 3-5), but greater among the higher scoring students on the middle school end-of-grade tests (grades 6-8); (7) While we do not find evidence performance declines were due to changes to the composition of the student population in the aftermath of the pandemic based on observable student characteristics, we cannot fully rule out the possibility that a portion of these performance shifts were due to systematic compositional shifts based on factors that we do not observe in our data.
Publication Type: Reports - Research
Education Level: Elementary Education; Secondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: Institute of Education Sciences (ED)
Authoring Institution: University of Virginia, EdPolicyWorks (EPW); Virginia Department of Education (VDOE)
Identifiers - Location: Virginia
IES Funded: Yes
Grant or Contract Numbers: R305S210009
Author Affiliations: N/A