English-speaking and English learning students' early literacy performance before and during the COVID-19 pandemic

ABSTRACT

Student reading skills observed during the COVID-19 pandemic are significantly lower than reading skills observed in same-grade students pre-pandemic (Domingue et al., 2021), and particularly for students from historically marginalized backgrounds (Amplify, 2021). Research examining COVID-related differences in reading trajectories and outcomes for students identified English learning (EL) students in particular, who have historically demonstrated heightened risk for performing well below their non-EL peers (NCES, 2019), is lacking. This study utilizes DIBELS 8 curriculum-based measurement (CBM) data from one cohort of students enrolled in a large, diverse, urban school district during the 2019-20 and 2020-21 school years to examine differences in early literacy skill development before and after onset of COVID-19 related disruptions to instruction. Results from this study demonstrate learning loss in decoding, blending, and sight word reading for all students from the benchmarking periods immediately before to those immediately after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Relative to Non-EL students, ELs demonstrated less substantial learning loss in decoding and blending, but not sight word reading, followed by less accelerated growth in gaps between student groups relative to pre-pandemic trajectories. EL students with more advanced English language proficiency generally demonstrated higher levels of skills than their less-English proficient peers, however patterns of growth trajectories varied widely across language proficiency groups. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)