An examination of the association between learning modality and academic achievement during the Covid-19 pandemic

ABSTRACT

This causal-comparative ex-post-facto study examined the association between learning modality and academic achievement during the COVID-19 pandemic. The COVID-19 pandemic created an environment in which multiple modalities of learning, including blended and remote classrooms, were occurring simultaneously, challenging the existing practices of the in-person model, around which most K-12 education is organized. This study analyzed a total of 3,182 public and charter K-8 schools in Illinois to determine how school-level teacher assessments of Ambitious Instruction, as measured by the 5Essentials, and student performance on the Illinois Assessment of Readiness (IAR) math and reading assessments changed from 2019, prior to the pandemic, to 2021 by learning modality. The study also examined the impact of socioeconomic status and building enrollment on these changes. Although Ambitious Instruction ratings and IAR math and reading proficiency decreased across all learning modalities from 2019 to 2021, significantly greater decreases were observed among schools that chose remote learning, while in-person schools experienced the least decline. No statistically significant differences based on the socioeconomic status or size of the schools were observed, although a significant association between socioeconomic status and modality was observed, with poorer schools more likely to opt for remote learning than richer schools, suggesting that challenges to implementation may have negatively impacted the potential effectiveness of this modality. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)