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The lost foundations: Projected trajectories linking COVID-19-related school readiness losses to later academic
Meliza González1,2, Giuliana Tórtora1,3, Alejandro Vásquez-Echeverría1,4
1Centro Interdisciplinario en Cognición para la Enseñanza y el Aprendizaje (CICEA-EI), Universidad de la República (UdelaR), Montevideo, Uruguay.
Insights
The COVID-19 pandemic impacted children's development, potentially lowering future academic achievement. However, this study found these effects were small and did not worsen socioeconomic disparities.
Area of Science:
- Child Development
- Educational Psychology
- Public Health
Background:
- The COVID-19 pandemic caused widespread disruptions, raising concerns about its impact on early childhood development.
- Understanding the long-term academic consequences of pandemic-related developmental changes is crucial for educational interventions.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate if developmental delays experienced by children during the COVID-19 pandemic predicted their later academic performance.
- To quantify the impact of pandemic-related developmental changes on mathematics and reading scores.
Main Methods:
- Longitudinal study of 3,760 Uruguayan preschoolers assessed at ages 4-5 (2019-2020) using the Child Development Inventory.
- Academic performance measured by the national third-grade assessment in 2023.
- Statistical modeling simulated outcomes without pandemic-related developmental effects.
Main Results:
- Simulated higher mathematics and reading scores if cognitive and motor development had not been affected by the pandemic.
- Observed small but statistically significant negative effects of pandemic-related developmental losses on academic performance (<0.10 SD).
- No evidence indicated that the pandemic widened existing socioeconomic gaps in academic achievement.
Conclusions:
- Pandemic-related developmental changes had a measurable, albeit small, negative impact on subsequent academic performance.
- Early childhood development is a significant predictor of later academic success.
- Educational policies should consider the lasting effects of public health crises on child development and academic trajectories.
Abstract:
This study examined whether developmental losses due to the COVID-19 pandemic predicted later academic performance. Participants were 3,760 children enrolled in public preschools in Uruguay, assessed with the Child Development Inventory at ages 4 and 5 (2019-2020) and later with the national third-grade assessment (2023). The sample was 51.5% female, 48.5% male, 83.6% White, with the remainder identifying as other racial/ethnic groups, mean age 8.53 years (SD = 0.50). Simulating what would have occurred if the pandemic had not affected development, results suggested that children would have achieved higher mathematics and reading scores if their cognitive and motor development had not been affected. Effects were small (<0.10 SD) but statistically significant, with no evidence of widening socioeconomic gaps.
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