Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on education in the United States

[1] The effects of widespread school shut-downs were felt nationwide, and aggravated several social inequalities in gender, technology, educational achievement, and mental health.

[2] In the interest of public health, school closures for the COVID-19 pandemic were used to curb transmission of the disease and encourage social distancing, much like in the past with Swine Flu and MRSA outbreaks.

The Department of Education in South Carolina announced in March 2020 that they would be instituting "Grab-n-Go" meal sites throughout the states that would be open five days a week.

[6] However, even amid the widespread implementation of meal waivers, certain school districts identified problems with getting students and families to access food resources.

[8] Potential reasons for this drop in school meal usage were lack of parental availability (as they could not visit food sites due to work conflicts) and public health concerns.

[10] The overwhelming majority of schools shifted to online instruction starting in March 2020, implementing either completely virtual or hybrid learning.

[11] In addition to students not logging on to complete their assignments, schools around the world have reported noticeably higher rates of academic dishonesty since the transition to online learning.

In a study conducted by the Economic Policy Institute, it was found that about 1/3 of teachers reported not receiving any training in the past 12 months on how to use computers for educational instruction.

[15] Inequities in digital technologies were known and present before the spread of COVID-19, but they have been exacerbated now that remote learning has assumed a more prominent role as parents are facilitating the education of their children.

[17] Numerous sources also found that students, especially those in rural and low-income areas, struggle to maintain consistent access to the technology needed for virtual learning.

[16] This means that a considerable number of students lack access to technology, which presented a problem as education shifted to an overwhelming virtual mode of delivery.

Students in low-income communities quickly lost several skills and forgot key concepts they had learned before the pandemic, but students in affluent communities did not experience severe learning loss, assuming that more affluent parents possess the resources to dedicate to their children's virtual education, while low-income parents do not have the same access to resources.

[22] During the COVID-19 pandemic, several school districts struggled to create virtual programming for their special needs students, who were often at an increased risk of learning loss.

[23] A shift to virtual learning situates parents as the primary implementer of their child's educations, which can be hard on families who do not have the knowledge or infrastructure to take this on.

[22] In several cases, parents cannot replace the skills and expertise of special education teachers, which impacts a student's development (particularly those with Down Syndrome and Specific Learning Disabilities).

When the COVID-19 pandemic forced schools to shut down for in-person learning, many families lost free childcare, which many depended on to be able to work.

[9] As a result, many parents, primarily mothers, left the workforce, creating a gendered departure from traditional working conditions.

According to a study conducted by the American Journal of Qualitative Research, the biggest concern for parents navigating virtual learning with their children was balancing responsibilities to address the needs of their student learners while also keeping up with their job.

[32] Because of this, parents, educators, and policymakers have grown increasingly concerned about a potential learning gap that may arise following the year-long period of online instruction.

There were also several concerns regarding the interruption of learning when initial shut-downs were occurring and the subsequent transition to online platforms that resulted in days of instruction being lost.

[35] Also, students may not feel motivated to complete school work for other reasons like the widespread implementation of lax grading policies or lack of student-teacher relationships.

[23] In 2023, a report by the Center on Reinventing Public Education from Arizona State University said 56% of students in grade 4 were adedquately performing in math, a 13 point drop from 2019.

Co-author Fabrizio Zilibotti, of Yale, expressed that data indicates that "the pandemic is widening educational inequality and that the learning gaps created by the crisis will persist.

[41] Many mental health professionals are concerned with the impacts of COVID-19 on a younger generation which has already reported staggering levels of depression, anxiety, and suicide even before the pandemic.

One long-term effect of the pandemic was a significant increase, after in-person instruction had resumed, in the number of students who were absent from school.

[48][51] Similar results have been seen not only in all US states but also around the world, including in countries with very different approaches to pandemic lockdowns, so absenteeism is unlikely to be due to any unique decisions or policies in the US.