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Impacts on Learning Due to the Pandemic

Preliminary Findings on the Impacts on Learning Due to the Pandemic

Preliminary findings were presented at the ³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏÍø’s Program and School Services Committee on March 31, 2021. These findings focus on potential impacts on learning outcomes in Kindergarten to Grade 12 that have occurred as a result of the disruption to public education in the ³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏÍø (³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏÍø) and many parts of the world due to COVID-19. Two important data sets have been used to begin this conversation: secondary school report card data and Grade 1 reading data.
 

Average Marks of All Grade 9 to 12 Credit Courses Taken by ³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏÍø Students
 

Average Marks Gr 9-12

Differing from some jurisdictions reported at the outset, ³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏÍø secondary school report card marks have gone up by four percentage points since the pandemic began. Additionally, this average rise in marks has been sustained throughout Quadmester 1 and 2.


Percentage of Students Meeting Grade Level Expectations in Grade 1 Reading Assessments in a Quarter of the Schools
 

Graph of the Percentage of Students Meeting Grade Level Expectations in Grade 1 Reading Assessments in a Quarter of the Schools

The percentage of students meeting grade level expectations is illustrated through the use of two different assessment tools: the Developmental Reading Assessment (DRA) and Prince Milburn (PM) Benchmarks, at two different times of the year (October and January), for the same sample of a quarter of ³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏÍø schools. The reading data drawn from 2018-19 for these schools serves two purposes in this analysis:

  1. It provides a pre-pandemic comparison at two different instances a half school year apart.

  2. It provides an example of a percentage point change in proportions of students meeting grade level expectations before and during the pandemic in order to consider a preliminary system growth rate in reading achievement for Grade 1 students.


Factors Contributing to the Differences in Grade Averages and Mark Ranges

  • The ³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏÍø has set assessment policies during the pandemic that may have affected how teachers approach summative assessments and grading in general.

  • Assessment and learning in the virtual environment are different than in person. While there are less available social inputs in virtual learning, there are also a variety of different virtual platforms and opportunities to demonstrate learning.

  • It may be more challenging for students to engage in virtual classroom spaces. Students across Grades 6-12 in the ³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏÍø report significantly lower levels of classroom engagement in the virtual space compared to pre-pandemic questions on classroom engagement.

  • In secondary schools, culminating activities designed to provide opportunities for students to demonstrate understanding of course content now include a broader range of possibilities. In the ³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏÍø, final exams have been reduced to very few or none during the pandemic.