IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/eti/dpaper/22075.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Impact of COVID-19 School Closures on the Cognitive and Non-cognitive Skills of Elementary School Students

Author

Listed:
  • ASAKAWA Shinsuke
  • OHTAKE Fumio

Abstract

This study examines the dynamic effects of school closures caused by COVID-19 on the cognitive and non-cognitive skills of fourth and fifth-grade students in Nara City, Japan. We use triannual math tests and concurrent surveys about students’ motivation to learn math. Using Event Study and Difference-in-Differences methods, we compare cohorts with and without the experience of school closure and find that it reduced cognitive skills (math scores) in the short term. But on average, the scores significantly recovered within six months of schools fully reopening. However, some students with disadvantaged living conditions during and after the closure, and some students in fourth grade, did not fully recover. We also find that non-cognitive skills (student attitudes toward proactive learning in math) were higher than in cohorts which did not experience school closure. Furthermore, the lower the students' achievements in math, the greater the impact of living conditions on students’ mathematical cognitive and non-cognitive skills.

Suggested Citation

  • ASAKAWA Shinsuke & OHTAKE Fumio, 2022. "Impact of COVID-19 School Closures on the Cognitive and Non-cognitive Skills of Elementary School Students," Discussion papers 22075, Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI).
    • Handle: RePEc:eti:dpaper:22075
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.rieti.go.jp/jp/publications/dp/22e075.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Liu, Jing & Lee, Monica & Gershenson, Seth, 2021. "The short- and long-run impacts of secondary school absences," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 199(C).
    2. Mathias Huebener & Sevrin Waights & C. Katharina Spiess & Nico A. Siegel & Gert G. Wagner, 2021. "Parental well-being in times of Covid-19 in Germany," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 19(1), pages 91-122, March.
    3. Agostinelli, Francesco & Doepke, Matthias & Sorrenti, Giuseppe & Zilibotti, Fabrizio, 2022. "When the great equalizer shuts down: Schools, peers, and parents in pandemic times," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 206(C).
    4. Kawaguchi, Daiji, 2016. "Fewer school days, more inequality," Journal of the Japanese and International Economies, Elsevier, vol. 39(C), pages 35-52.
    5. Dave E. Marcotte & Steven W. Hemelt, 2008. "Unscheduled School Closings and Student Performance," Education Finance and Policy, MIT Press, vol. 3(3), pages 316-338, July.
    6. Jason Abrevaya & Yu-Chin Hsu & Robert P. Lieli, 2015. "Estimating Conditional Average Treatment Effects," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 33(4), pages 485-505, October.
    7. Motegi, Hiroyuki & Oikawa, Masato, 2019. "The effect of instructional quality on student achievement: Evidence from Japan," Japan and the World Economy, Elsevier, vol. 52(C).
    8. Clare Halloran & Rebecca Jack & James C. Okun & Emily Oster, 2021. "Pandemic Schooling Mode and Student Test Scores: Evidence from US States," NBER Working Papers 29497, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    9. Eiji Yamamura & Yoshiro Tsustsui, 2021. "School closures and mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic in Japan," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 34(4), pages 1261-1298, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Nishihata, Masaya & Kobayashi, Yohei, 2024. "Inequalities in student learning and screen time due to COVID-19: Evidence from Japan," Journal of the Japanese and International Economies, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Shinsuke Asakawa & Fumio Ohtake, 2021. "Impact of Temporary School Closure Due to COVID-19 on the Academic Achievement of Elementary School Students," Discussion Papers in Economics and Business 21-14, Osaka University, Graduate School of Economics.
    2. Winfree, Paul, 2023. "The long-run effects of temporarily closing schools: Evidence from Virginia, 1870s-1910s," QUCEH Working Paper Series 23-02, Queen's University Belfast, Queen's University Centre for Economic History.
    3. Huebener, Mathias & Kuger, Susanne & Marcus, Jan, 2017. "Increased instruction hours and the widening gap in student performance," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 47, pages 15-34.
    4. David R. Agrawal & Aline Bütikofer, 2022. "Public finance in the era of the COVID-19 crisis," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 29(6), pages 1349-1372, December.
    5. Niki, Minae, 2024. "Does the reduction in instruction time affect student achievement and motivation? Evidence from Japan," Japan and the World Economy, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).
    6. Monroy-Gómez-Franco, Luis & Vélez-Grajales, Roberto & López-Calva, Luis F., 2022. "The potential effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on learnings," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).
    7. Seth Freedman & Kelli Marquardt & Dario Salcedo & Kosali Simon & Coady Wing, 2023. "Societal Disruptions and Child Mental Health: Evidence from ADHD Diagnosis During the Covid-19 Pandemic," Working Paper Series WP 2023-04, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago.
    8. Ham,Andres & Vazquez,Emmanuel Jose & Yanez Pagans,Monica, 2023. "The Effects of Differential Exposure to COVID-19 on Educational Outcomes in Guatemala," Policy Research Working Paper Series 10308, The World Bank.
    9. Schüller, Simone & Steinberg, Hannah S., 2022. "Parents under stress: Evaluating emergency childcare policies during the first COVID-19 lockdown in Germany," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    10. Oikawa, Masato & Tanaka, Ryuichi & Bessho, Shun-ichiro & Kawamura, Akira & Noguchi, Haruko, 2022. "Do Class Closures Affect Students' Achievements? Heterogeneous Effects of Students' Socioeconomic Backgrounds," IZA Discussion Papers 15751, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    11. Naoi, Michio & Akabayashi, Hideo & Nakamura, Ryosuke & Nozaki, Kayo & Sano, Shinpei & Senoh, Wataru & Shikishima, Chizuru, 2021. "Causal effects of family income on educational investment and child outcomes: Evidence from a policy reform in Japan," Journal of the Japanese and International Economies, Elsevier, vol. 60(C).
    12. Tsubasa Ito & Michio Naoi & Kazuto Sumita & Qing Ye, 2024. "The Impact of Daycare Closures Owing to COVID-19 on Parental Stress: The Case of Japan," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 45(3), pages 579-595, September.
    13. Oikawa, Masato & Tanaka, Ryuichi & Bessho, Shun-ichiro & Noguchi, Haruko, 2020. "Do Class Size Reductions Protect Students from Infectious Disease? Lessons for COVID-19 Policy from Flu Epidemic in Tokyo Metropolitan Area," IZA Discussion Papers 13432, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    14. Alejo, Anna & Jenkins, Robert & Reuge, Nicolas & Yao, Haogen, 2023. "Understanding and addressing the post-pandemic learning disparities," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 102(C).
    15. Lechner, Michael, 2018. "Modified Causal Forests for Estimating Heterogeneous Causal Effects," IZA Discussion Papers 12040, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    16. Emanuele Amodio & Michele Battisti & Antonio Francesco Gravina & Andrea Mario Lavezzi & Giuseppe Maggio, 2023. "School‐age vaccination, school openings and Covid‐19 diffusion," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 32(5), pages 1084-1100, May.
    17. Nicola Fuchs-Schündeln & Dirk Krueger & André Kurmann & Etienne Lalé & Alexander Ludwig & Irina Popova, 2023. "The Fiscal and Welfare Effects of Policy Responses to the Covid-19 School Closures," IMF Economic Review, Palgrave Macmillan;International Monetary Fund, vol. 71(1), pages 35-98, March.
    18. Eiji Yamamura & Fumio Ohtake, 2023. "Family Structure, Gender and Subjective Well-being: Effect of Child ren before and after COVID 19 in Japan," Papers 2312.04411, arXiv.org.
    19. Yekaterina Chzhen & Jennifer Symonds & Dympna Devine & Júlia Mikolai & Susan Harkness & Seaneen Sloan & Gabriela Martinez Sainz, 2022. "Learning in a Pandemic: Primary School children’s Emotional Engagement with Remote Schooling during the spring 2020 Covid-19 Lockdown in Ireland," Child Indicators Research, Springer;The International Society of Child Indicators (ISCI), vol. 15(4), pages 1517-1538, August.
    20. Adamopoulou, Effrosyni & Greenwood, Jeremy & Guner, Nezih & Kopecky, Karen, 2024. "The Role of Friends in the Opioid Epidemic," CEPR Discussion Papers 18803, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.

    More about this item

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eti:dpaper:22075. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: TANIMOTO, Toko (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/rietijp.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.