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How did COVID affect your school?
How did COVID affect your school?
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Overview
In March 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic upended public education. Schools shut down across the nation, and students, teachers, and parents struggled to navigate the new challenges. In-person classroom learning was replaced by computer screens, with remote learning, mask wearing, and curriculum adjustments becoming new norms. Students became increasingly isolated from each other. Technology and online access at home were must-haves for remote learning. Social interactions were virtual and infrequent. Extracurricular activities were largely done away with. At the pandemic’s peak, it is estimated that nearly 1.6 billion learners in over 190 countries – 94 percent of the world’s student population – were impacted by closures at educational institutions (UNESCO, 2020).
These disruptions to education during the COVID-19 pandemic have resulted in several long-term, wide-ranging impacts on student learning. One of the most damaging long-term impacts has been the decline in student mental health. Students reported feeling more anxious, depressed, fatigued, and distressed during the pandemic than before it started (Elharake et. al, 2023). The risk of negative mental health outcomes was heightened for students who live in rural areas, are from low socioeconomic families, or have a family member or friend who is a healthcare worker (Elharake et. al, 2023).
Learning loss, or the disruption of students’ academic development, is another major impact. During COVID, students experienced significant learning loss across subjects, grade levels, and geographic regions (Donnelly & Patrinos, 2022). By Spring 2022, the average student in the U.S. was half a year behind in math and a third of a year behind in reading (Kane & Reardon, 2023). These gaps were much larger in school districts serving students from poorer and minority families (Fahle et. al, 2024). Further research has found that the pandemic widened academic achievement gaps between students, especially in early grades where growth in math and reading ability tends to be the highest (Wyse et. al, 2020).
Among the places hit most severely by educational impacts of the pandemic was St. Louis, Missouri. In 2019, the average student in St. Louis City (St. Louis Public Schools district) was 3.3 years below the national test score averages in math, reading, and history compared to millions of other same-age students from 41 different states (Kane & Reardon, 2023). By 2022, these students had fallen another 1.6 years behind national averages in some subjects (Kane & Reardon, 2023). It was one of the biggest declines in the U.S. These losses are measured in terms of standardized test scores, such as those reported in the interactive data visualization tools I created. Studies show that differences in standardized test scores are associated with differences in income later in life (Kane et. al, 2022), suggesting that COVID-related learning loss might make it harder for some children to escape poverty.
March 2025 marked five years since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. As we reflect on a post-pandemic world, it can be easy to view these trends as just numbers, percentages, or data. However, they reflect real-life outcomes for students, families, and communities across St. Louis. I wanted to better understand and address these disparities in education, so I created this project to research and explore how the pandemic affected student learning, attendance, and discipline across school districts in the St. Louis metropolitan area.
The title of this project, Mapping Educational Inequality, reflects one of the main goals of this research: to document the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on student outcomes in St. Louis across different school districts. The interactive data visualization tools and interactive maps in this report will help users see these outcomes as they change from pre-, to during, to post-pandemic. I hope this project can help document where (i.e., which districts) resources and support are most needed to help students recover.
Making these data more accessible and digestible for parents, families, educators, school administrators, policymakers and others can help start conversations about what equitable education looks like post-pandemic. I encourage readers to share this report with others to spark dialogue, initiate meaningful change, and help work towards a quality, equal education for all students in St. Louis. If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions to improve this project, please do not hesitate to reach out to me at ckreuter@oxy.edu.
Thank you.
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