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Persistent and Gender-Unequal Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Student Outcomes in Italy

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  • Léonard Moulin
  • Mara Soncin

Abstract

The learning loss caused by the COVID-19 pandemic on students’ outcomes is likely to have lasting effects on which evidence is lacking. Using a differencein-differences design through a triple difference estimator, we identify the evolution of the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on Italian students’ test scores in the two years following the COVID-19 outbreak. Our findings indicate a persistently negative effect on mathematics and reading scores for grade 5 and grade 8 students in 2021–22, two years after the pandemic began, despite a statistically significant recovery compared to the previous school year. Our analysis highlights the pandemic’s disproportionate impact on girls, leading to a decrease in their academic performance and an intensification of gender-based inequalities (with the exception of grade 8 reading). Our results also show that the pandemic had a greater adverse impact on the academic achievement of students who experienced more prolonged classroom closures.

Suggested Citation

  • Léonard Moulin & Mara Soncin, 2023. "Persistent and Gender-Unequal Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Student Outcomes in Italy," Working Papers 277, French Institute for Demographic Studies.
    • Handle: RePEc:idg:wpaper:fvwbhosbll62ri5ntztc
    DOI: 10.48756/ined-dt-277.1023
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    References listed on IDEAS

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