COVID-19 Disruptions: Attainment Gaps and Primary School Responses. Research Report

ABSTRACT

The study uses data from five assessment points for reading and maths. It focuses on a constant sample of students, all of whom completed a Rising Stars assessment in 2019 prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. The study also administered three teacher surveys the first focused on the initial period of lockdown, the second focused on the autumn 2020 term when students returned to face-to-face instruction, the third focused on the second period of school closures from January to March 2021. This descriptive, longitudinal study focuses on primary schools in England. It has three aims: (1) to quantify changes in attainment gaps since the onset of COVID-19 the focus is on gaps between economically disadvantaged pupils and their peers in Years 2 to 6, (2) to describe how teachers and schools responded to the challenges of COVID-19, and (3) to explore associations between school responses to COVID and changes in attainment gaps. [The report was published with FFT and Teacher Tapp.]