ATLANTA— Georgia State University’s Georgia Policy Labs will be studying the effects of remote learning on K-12 student outcomes with $1.85 million in federal funding.

The study, funded by the U.S. Department of Education’s Institute of Education Sciences, will look into why some students fared better than others in remote learning environments during the pandemic. The study will also assess how recovery strategies implemented by school districts may have impacted student outcomes.

“The COVID-19 pandemic and its aftermath provide an unprecedented opportunity to study the impact and effects of school closures and remote learning on students,” said GSU Professor Tim Sass, principal investigator for the study. “The combination of family disruptions, closures of schools and rapid transition to remote learning resulting from the pandemic substantially reduced achievement growth for many students, particularly those experiencing vulnerabilities.”

In October 2022, The Education Recovery Scorecard, a collaboration with researchers at the Center for Education Policy Research at Harvard University and Stanford University’s Educational Opportunity Project, released data comparing district-level learning loss during the pandemic.

The project reported changes in test scores from 2019 to 2022 in grade equivalents. Metrics used included National Assessment of Educational Progress data and districts’ reported data on proficiency rates on spring 2022 assessments.

According to the scorecard, Georgia lost more than four months (-0.48 grade equivalents) of learning in math between 2019 and 2022 and nearly two months (-0.21) in reading. Some districts had an estimated one year in losses in math.

Statewide, Alabama lost about a month (-0.15 grade equivalents) of learning in math between 2019 and 2022 and had nearly no loss (-0.01) in reading, according to the scorecard. The project also notes that some districts’ achievement losses amount to almost a year.

Overall, the Education Recovery Scorecard reports that the average U.S. public school student in grades 3-8 lost the equivalent of a half year of learning in math and a quarter of a year in reading.

An estimated 6 percent of students were in districts that lost more than a year of learning in math, while three percent were in districts where math achievement rose.

The report notes that the pandemic heightened disparities in achievement between high and low poverty schools.

The quarter of schools with highest shares of students receiving federal lunch subsides missed 2/3 of a year of math learning, while the quarter of schools with the fewest low-income students lost 2/5 of a year.

“School districts are the first line of action to help children catch up. The better they know about the patterns of learning loss, the more they’re going to be able to target their resources effectively to reduce educational inequality of opportunity and help children and communities thrive,” said Sean Reardon, professor of Poverty and Inequality at Stanford Graduate School of Education.

The $1.85 million Georgia State University project will use surveys and data to examine the factors associated with higher achievement growth in remote learning and the relationship between specific recovery efforts and multiple student outcomes.

The projects aims to provide short-term benefits to education agencies working to advance student learning and insights to guide future research and practice as remote learning becomes a more common element in education.