Alabama Districts and COVID-19: Exploring the Impact of Pandemic-Related Disruptions on K-12 Student Achievement

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic presented several challenges to U.S. public school districts, particularly those characterized as low-income or high-poverty, that negatively impacted academic achievement in English Language Arts (ELA) and mathematics (math). This pre-post study, aimed to investigate the extent to which socioeconomic inequalities, district characteristics, and pandemic-induced changes in instruction and financial support influenced the change in academic proficiency scores before and after the pandemic by conducting two separate multiple regressions, one per subject area, while also incorporating an ANCOVA methodology. In the ELA model, results indicated that predictors for the pre/post change included the amount of Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief or ESSER funding awarded per student and pre-COVID proficiency scores. For the math model, a two-way interaction between the proportion of districts serving students receiving free and reduced lunch and pre-COVID proficiency scores, emerged as important for explaining the same pre/post change.