Private School Students Fared Better During COVID-19 School Lockdowns: Cardus Report

Personal protection equipment is seen on the teacher's desk in classroom in preparation for the new school year at the Willingdon Elementary School in Montreal, on Aug. 26, 2020. (Paul Chiasson/The Canadian Press)

A new report examining the “education disruption” caused by COVID-19 pandemic school closures found that private school students saw less “learning loss” when compared to public school students.

Pandemic Fallout: Learning Loss, Collateral Damage, and Recovery in Canada’s Schools accumulated research, information, and data from various sources to tell the story of how students fared academically and socially during the pandemic restrictions.

The Cardus report says that four years after pandemic lockdowns shut down schools, students have suffered “measurable learning loss, stunted social development, and mental-health side effects.”

“Learning loss is real, and the latest research confirms that a substantial learning deficit arose early in the pandemic and has persisted over time,” report author Paul Bennett said.

“It is widespread, affecting students from elementary grades through high school, and is more pronounced in mathematics than in reading.”

Mr. Bennett said that children from less affluent families suffered the most.

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“Lower-income families were disproportionately affected, increasing the knowledge gap between students from affluent households and those from disadvantaged households,” he wrote.

A significant hurdle for lower-income students, according to the report, was a lack of resources, such as laptops or internet access, available for at-home learning.

The report says that 5.7 million Canadian students were impacted by school closures, with an estimated 200,000 that were not involved in any schooling at all during the lockdowns.

Regular assessments were suspended or had low participation rates, which leaves a lack of research into how students fared during the pandemic, according to the report.

Mr. Bennett said that while no school system adjusted perfectly, private school students saw less disruption to learning.

“Smaller and more autonomous schools fared better and provided more consistent, mostly uninterrupted, learning,” he wrote, adding, “No one emerged unscathed.”

Private School Success

Based on research of a network of private schools in Ontario, the report notes that private schools fared better when it came to pivoting to online learning, with nearly half of schools not missing a single day of instruction.

“These schools missed less than four days of instruction during the transition to emergency remote learning. In addition, for the remainder of the school year, the majority of schools exceeded the government’s recommended daily instructional time.”

Mr. Bennett said that while students in all sectors experienced disruptions to social connections caused by school shutdowns, “those in the Edvance schools continued to participate in community online gatherings, including weekly chapel services. Graduation ceremonies were not cancelled for most students, and the majority of schools ended the year with unique drive-by or virtual graduation and learning celebrations.”

These schools also made decisions that helped them financially support families during the pandemic, such as staff layoffs.

“Some 83 percent of the schools provided financial assistance to those in need.”

As parents sought a more continuous learning environment, enrollment in private schools increased during the pandemic, Mr. Bennett said.

“Most of the evidence suggests that students received more teacher instruction, experienced fewer cancellations, and private schools used video conferencing more effectively to maintain a sense of shared community compared to public schools in Canada.”

Rise in Homeschooling

During the pandemic, the number of children who were homeschooled increased by about 69 percent, Mr. Bennett said.

Based on research from seven provinces, including Alberta, BC, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, PEI, and New Brunswick, the report says 47,800 students were homeschooled prior to the pandemic. That number rose to 82,400 in 2020–2021, which is 4.3 percent of all school-aged children. While the number has dropped to 72,700 or 3.8 percent of school-aged children, it was still above pre-pandemic numbers.

“Out of the 33,600 families of children newly exposed to home education, the study estimates that some 23,900 or 71 percent, almost three-quarters, stuck with their plans to homeschool their children.”

Special Needs Students Struggle

Mr. Bennett said it was not just the lack of in-class instruction that led to learning loss, but it was also how schools changed in response to COVID-19.

“Social distancing and other health directives wrought fundamental changes in the so-called grammar of schooling, including smaller cohorts, spaced classroom seating, and masking in halls and classrooms. Changes were also made in the ways in which the curriculum was delivered from province to province.”

The report noted that children with special education needs, such as those diagnosed with dyslexia, autism spectrum disorder, or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, were “hardest hit” by the lockdowns.

Mr. Bennett said that some studies found the school shutdowns made it worse for these students, “such as student-behaviour difficulties for students with ADHD, and increased anti-social behaviour among those with autism spectrum disorder. Online schooling and video-conferencing platforms presented additional difficulties for children with pre-existing attentional or perceptual impairments.”

He wrote that public schools were slow at providing educational resources to these students while schools were shut down.

Mr. Bennett called for more consistent research into learning loss during the pandemic to help students get back on track.

“Consistent, reliable, and evidence-based data is needed if we are to effectively respond to the full range of the pandemic’s longer-term impacts on children, teachers, and families,” he said.

“Tackling pandemic learning loss, tracking student progress, and getting students back on track are of vital and immediate strategic importance because we are still engaged in a recovery mission, with no room for complacency.”