A Policy Brief From EPIC

The Path of Student Learning Delay During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Evidence from Michigan

May 2023

This policy brief highlights findings from EPIC’s recent working paper with the same title. This study uses student achievement measures from Michigan’s summative end-of-year tests (the Michigan Student Test of Educational Progress, M-STEP) and formative fall and spring NWEA MAP Growth and Curriculum Associates i-Ready benchmark assessments to assess achievement growth and trajectories during the COVID-19 pandemic. By combining these two data sources, we are able to examine both the total effect of the COVID-19 pandemic through spring 2022 and how achievement progressed during the pandemic-affected school years. We also examine
heterogeneity in performance across students with different demographic characteristics and those who participated in different modes of instruction (e.g., fully in-person, fully remote, or hybrid instruction).

Findings include:

1. Students in the COVID-19 pandemic cohort had significantly lower math gains than those in the pre-pandemic cohort
2. Growth disparities between non-White and White students, as well as economically disadvantaged students and their wealthier peers, intensified during the COVID-19 pandemic
3. Students in districts that offered in-person instruction for some or none of the 2020-21 school year exhibited lower math achievement growth during the COVID-19 pandemic
4. Student achievement declined substantially during the 2020-21 school year with some recovery in 2021-22