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The Effect Of School Closures On Standardized Test Scores: Evidence From A Zero-Covid Environment

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  • Christian Gillitzer
  • Nalini Prasad

Abstract

Pandemic school closures were widespread but occurred together with COVID-19 health effects. Australia’s successful COVID-19 elimination policies provide a unique setting to study the effect of school closures on learning loss absent significant health effects. We exploit variation in the duration of school closures across Australian regions of 9-157 school days and student-level test score data from a national standardized test with high participation to estimate learning loss. Learning loss was substantially smaller than comparable estimates from the literature, including for disadvantaged socioeconomic groups.

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  • Christian Gillitzer & Nalini Prasad, 2023. "The Effect Of School Closures On Standardized Test Scores: Evidence From A Zero-Covid Environment," Working Papers 2023-09, University of Sydney, School of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:syd:wpaper:2023-09
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    File URL: http://econ-wpseries.com/2023/202309.pdf
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    1. Edouard Mathieu & Hannah Ritchie & Esteban Ortiz-Ospina & Max Roser & Joe Hasell & Cameron Appel & Charlie Giattino & Lucas Rodés-Guirao, 2021. "A global database of COVID-19 vaccinations," Nature Human Behaviour, Nature, vol. 5(7), pages 947-953, July.
    2. Clark, Andrew E. & Nong, Huifu & Zhu, Hongjia & Zhu, Rong, 2021. "Compensating for academic loss: Online learning and student performance during the COVID-19 pandemic," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    3. Michèle Belot & Dinand Webbink, 2010. "Do Teacher Strikes Harm Educational Attainment of Students?," LABOUR, CEIS, vol. 24(4), pages 391-406, December.
    4. Fitzpatrick, Maria D. & Grissmer, David & Hastedt, Sarah, 2011. "What a difference a day makes: Estimating daily learning gains during kindergarten and first grade using a natural experiment," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 30(2), pages 269-279, April.
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    1. Su, Yaqin (Joyce) & Xia, Anping & Gong, Da & Yan, Andong, 2024. "The impact of zero-COVID policies on academic performance: Evidence from primary and secondary students in China," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 93(C).

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