Thread by @tannahillglen

Impact of COVID-related educational disruption on children and adolescents:
Long thread on our paper, which is out this week--will repost with live link later. Summary of the ten takeaways below!
@drmollycolvin and @jenreesman made this a pleasure to write up.

Even brief educational disruption shown to have neg effects. PROLONGED disruption assoc'd with negative impact on academic achievement, exacerbated by loss of school services/economic strain/disruption of healthcare & tx--*disproportionately worse impact on marginalized groups*

Schools pivoted to remote instruction rapidly...BUT the scale and duration of this techology had not been attempted or studied before; early studies already showed problems with access to tech & low engagement for those with disabilities and low income families

Currently hard to study remote programs bc programs vary widely; models may be hybrid, on-off days, remote in a classroom, synchronous/asynchronous...and school "opening" VERY broadly defined, from normal operations to ONE DAY/WK IN ONE GRADE

We note that the full impact of prolonged educational disruption is not yet known: studies typically cover data through 2020 & into Winter 2021. And as we now know, 2021-22 is shaping up to be rather concerning as well.

We focus on child/adolescent population given the rapid development especially early, and bidirectional relationship between academics and cognitive development.... but there are other publications on college student impacts.

1) Consistently across states, districts, and countries, prolonged educational disruption has resulted in attenuation of expected learning gains, especially math, with greatest declines associated with longer remote learning......

....and negative impact has been greatest for already-marginalized students, including those of color, students from economically disadvantaged households, emerging English learners, and students with disabilities.🚨🚨

2) Chronic absenteeism, delayed school entry and students lost in the system have significantly increased compared to 2019, with potential long-term implications
for mental and physical health, vocational achievement and development of cognitive and social skills.

3) Students of color, students with disabilities and students from low income households less likely to have access to reliable educational technology or learning
enhancing environments during remote classes......

AND....Schools with greater pre-pandemic
educational and economic disparities were more likely to offer remote-only classes during the pandemic.

4) : Plans for recovery from educational disruption vary widely across districts and face severe challenges related to **budgetary demands and scale.** Policies on grade retention versus accelerated learning, and altered grading systems, also vary across schools and states

5) Although public school districts remain legally obligated to provide special education services and accommodations to students with disabilities, some students may not have received needed services and accommodations....

....and schools have been given discretion to modify implementation for remote learning without empirical
evidence to support validity or efficacy, especially concerning for services requiring in-person instruction.

6) Evaluations to determine eligibility for early intervention or special education services were postponed in many school districts, resulting in delayed identification of, and intervention for children with, neurodevelopmental conditions. .....and to top that:

Challenge for dx of ADHD, autism spectrum disorder, & LD >> increased risk of failing to identify and provide services to children with learning disabilities in the future because *educational disruption is an exclusionary criterion for special education service eligibility*

7)Mental health & medical concerns significantly increased during pandemic for children and adolescents, especially for those who have psychiatric or neurodevelopmental conditions and/or are affected by health disparities--may influence performance on neuropsychological measures.

8) Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) risk factors have increased, especially for children of color and with fewer financial resources. Pandemic-related ACE factors should be included in current pediatric evaluations, and future neuropsychological
evaluations for adults.

9) Despite evidence for some remote testing, potential limitations of assessments conducted remotely or using masks/distancing haven't been extensively studied for younger children, those with language or
sensory disabilities, or youth with behavl, social, or emotional challenges

10) Normative data collected prior to the COVID-19 pandemic may have decreased utility for children and adolescents who have experienced significant educational disruption. Qs for interaction between disrupted academic exposure and cognitive/social development.....and....

....complicating matters further, potential selection bias associated with state-administered standardized testing
may underestimate learning losses and result in inadequate funding and support to meet student needs.

These early findings present major challenges for the clinical and empirical work in the field and also highlight unacceptable disproportionate impacts. There is huge need for neuropsychological advocacy and research right now, and we describe potential opportunities

Here are the details; will post link to abstract this week:

@threadreaderapp unroll please