Understanding the lasting impact of COVID-19 learning formats on children’s school performance

Dr. Jessica Omand is an Assistant Professor in the School of Nutrition at Toronto Metropolitan University, a paediatric researcher, and a registered dietitian with the College of Dietitians of Ontario. She holds an MSc and PhD in Nutritional Sciences from the University of Toronto and completed a three-year postdoctoral fellowship in the Department of Child Health Evaluative Sciences at the Hospital for Sick Children. In this update, she shares findings from her Ontario-based study examining the association between learning formats during the COVID-19 pandemic and children’s school performance.

How We Did This Study

The research team analyzed data from over 1,200 children aged 4-18 years who participated in four Ontario studies: TARGet Kids!, Spit for Science, the Province of Ontario Neurodevelopmental Disorders (POND) Network, and SickKids Psychiatry. Parents completed repeated questionnaires between November 2020 and April 2022, reporting on their children’s learning format (in-person, virtual, or mixed) and school performance. The team also explored whether household income or mental-health symptoms explained any differences in school performance.

What We Found

Virtual learning had an impact on younger children’s school performance. Kindergarteners in virtual learning compared to in-person or mixed learning format, had lower overall report-card scores, especially in areas like self-regulation and well-being, as well as belonging and contributing - two of the four key learning domains assessed in Ontario’s kindergarten program.

For students in grades 1-12, the impact of virtual learning appeared limited. Compared to children who attended school in-person or mixed learning format, children in grade 1-12 in virtual learning had lower scores in health and physical education. Otherwise, performance in language, math, science and technology, social studies, the arts, and French was comparable across learning formats. However, other studies suggest that teachers may have marked differently during virtual learning, which could have contributed to grade inflation, potentially masking learning gaps. Interestingly, the study found that family income and mental-health symptoms did not explain the observed differences.

Why This Matters

“Understanding how learning format affected school performance helps us identify who needs extra support and how to design it,” says Dr. Omand “Our findings suggest that the youngest learners may have been the most vulnerable to school closures during COVID-19 but more research is needed”. These results also highlight the importance of targeted recovery strategies. As schools and policymakers plan for future public-health emergencies or natural disasters, this research offers important evidence to guide how education systems can adapt to ensure no child is left behind.

What’s Next?

This study relied on parent-reported school performance, which may introduce recall or social desirability bias, and teachers may have marked differently depending on learning format. Thus, future research could include standardized testing data to provide a more objective measure of school performance. The “Association Between Learning Format During the COVID-19 Pandemic, Mental Health Symptoms, and Parent-Reported School Performance in Kindergarten and Grades 1-12” manuscript, which builds on this work, is currently under review.