Education Week - September 2, 2020 - 10

QUALITY COUNTS 2020: Grading the States

COVID-19 Learning Loss Index
Reveals Big Equity Problems

By Alex Harwin & Yukiko Furuya

tudents in Southern and Midwestern states appear to be at
greater academic risk in key areas than those in other parts
of the country as a result of pandemic-driven school shutdowns, concludes an analysis of U.S. Census Bureau data by the
EdWeek Research Center.
The Research Center's new Coronavirus Learning Loss Risk
Index examined time spent learning and interacting with teachers and family members during this spring's physical closures of
K-12 schools, and the availability of devices and internet access
that enable remote learning. The Index is designed to provide a
relative-not absolute-sense of how the states compare when
it comes to factors that might put students at risk of learning loss
during the pandemic.
Students in Vermont were found to be the least susceptible to
learning loss based on those factors, while Hawaii was the most
prone to academic risks during the coronavirus outbreak, based

Coronavirus
Learning Loss
Risk Index
The EdWeek Research Center's
Coronavirus Learning Loss Risk
Index combines results for the four
overall indicators shown below with
an evaluation of equity based on
socioeconomic disparities across
those same metrics.

Weekly hours

Educational resources

Home internet
always available

Devices always
available at
home

household
members spent
on all teaching
activities with
children

students spent
in contact with
teachers

National
Median

72.4%
Percent of
U.S. families

70.6%
Percent of
U.S. families

on the analysis, which tracks the impact on public school student
learning from May 14 through May 19.
The data show students in all states, even Vermont, are at
some risk, and that nearly half of states (23) are at "higher risk"
or "much higher risk" of students not having access to the tools
and conditions crucial for learning. The bottom nine out of 10
states flagged in the risk index are in the Midwest and the South,
as defined by the Census Bureau. The data show technology
gaps in the South and disparities in access to both teachers and
parental support in the Midwest.
Aside from Vermont, states showing a lower risk of learning
loss include Idaho, Maine, New Hampshire, New York, and
Rhode Island. Hawaii ranks as the most at-risk, alongside other
higher-risk states, such as Kentucky, Louisiana, and Missouri.
Throughout the nation, the gaps in educational access between
households where at least one person has a college degree or higher
versus families with no post-high school degrees was wide-reaching
across all measures. Forty states were found to be either at higher
or much higher risk in providing education equitably to all students
based on the Census data.

The Picture Before COVID-19
The pandemic aside, there are underlying conditions that impact the infrastructure of states' K-12 systems and how state and
local officials respond to the needs of teachers and students alike.
States that were doing poorly before the pandemic based on the
measures used in Education Week's overall Quality Counts summative grades and scores continue to perform poorly on the new
COVID risk index.
Louisiana, which scores near the bottom on the Quality
Counts index in terms of educational outcomes (K-12 Index) and
cradle-to-career pathways (Chance for Success Index), ranks last
when examining the percentage of weekly hours at or above the
national median that household members spent on all teaching
activities with children. Louisiana also ranks in the bottom five
in terms of always having access to the internet and devices for
educational purposes.
Louisiana's struggles are not unique, though. Students across
the country are having issues accessing technology and the internet. Roughly 3 out of 10 households with public school students
did not have home internet or devices always available for educational purposes as late as a couple of months after the virus
outbreak began. Most states in the bottom 10 for always having
access to the internet and devices are located in the South.
Mississippi ranks last when it comes to internet access always
being available for educational purposes. West Virginia ranks at
the bottom when it comes to devices. And both states score near
the bottom on EdWeek's overall Quality Counts measures with a
grade of C-minus each.
There also are gaps in access to technology devices and the
internet nationally when comparing households based on educational attainment levels, especially for states that have been
having difficulties trying to reopen school buildings. Virginia
has the biggest difference, with children from less-educated
homes seeing a nearly 40 percentage point gap in access to
technological devices than their peers from more-educated
households. Georgia, which has faced problems in opening
school buildings amid the coronavirus spread, ranks near the
bottom (49th) in terms of gaps in access to internet availability
for doing schoolwork.

Big Gaps Based on Family Education Levels

Images: Isovector/iStock
SOURCE: EdWeek Research Center analysis of data from U.S. Census Bureau, May 14-19, 2020

10 | EDUCATION WEEK | September 2, 2020 | www.edweek.org

For most states, the number of weekly hours students spent in
contact with teachers at or above the national median corresponds
with the percentage at or above the median spent learning at home
with family members.
This association is amplified for households where no one has
a college degree. In most states, 25 and the District of Columbia,

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Education Week - September 2, 2020

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