Building back better to avert a learning catastrophe: Estimating learning loss from COVID-19 school shutdowns in Africa and facilitating short-term and long-term learning recovery

By Noam Angrist, Andreas de Barros, Radhika Bhula, Shiraz Chakera, C. Cummiskey, J. DeStefano, J. Floretta, Michelle Kaffenberger, B. Piper, John Stern. International Journal of Educational Development, 2021

111 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Abstract We model learning losses due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the potential for cost-effective strategies to build back better. Data from Early Grade Reading Assessments in Ethiopia, Kenya, Liberia, Tanzania, and Uganda suggest half to over a year’s worth of learning loss. In modeling losses over time, we found that learning deficits for a child in grade 3 could lead to 2.8 years of lost learning by grade 10. While COVID-19 has stymied learning, bold, learning-focused reform consistent with the literature reviewed in this paper—specifically reform on targeted instruction and structured pedagogy—could improve learning even beyond pre-COVID-19 levels.

Subfields: Education, Safety Research

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/f9086e8db8a9812ae22943812c399e6b990a561f

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Citations in the corpus

• COVID-19 learning losses: early grade reading in South Africa (2021, background): “Andrabi et al (2020), Kaffenberger (2020) and Angrist et al (2021) warn that shortterm losses are likely to be a lower bound if pedagogy continues as usual in line with curriculum demands.”