A Working Paper From EPIC

Literacy Instruction in K-3 Classrooms During COVID-19

May 2023

In this paper, we present findings from a study examining literacy instruction in K-3 classrooms in Michigan during the pandemic-affected 2020-2021 school year. To do so, we combine results from statewide surveys of K-3 teachers before and during the 2020-2021 academic year with videos of classroom instruction across a range of in-person, virtual, and hybrid modalities to describe the ways that literacy instruction was enacted during the COVID-19 pandemic. We believe Michigan is a particularly noteworthy case given substantive pre-pandemic efforts to support research-based early literacy instruction across the state.

Specifically, we sought to understand:

1. how teachers described their literacy instruction before and during the pandemic-impacted 2020-2021 school year;
2. the literacy instructional practices teachers implemented across modalities; and
3. how teachers’ implementation of these practices aligns with research on early grades literacy instruction. We also consider how the amount of instructional time teachers provided and the modalities in which they delivered instruction may have influenced our results.