Opinion: New study reveals the long-term harm to children of COVID-era school closures

National academic studies are revealing just how deep that harm to Washington’s children goes

Liv Finne
Washington Policy Center

Over the last few weeks new evidence has emerged about the disastrous impact the decision to shut down schools has had on students, and how to protect them in the future.

Here’s the background. On 13 March, 2020 Governor Inslee issued an Emergency Order closing all schools.* That summer, the state Department of Health said schools could re-open with certain guidelines. Private schools and independent public charter schools re-opened, yet Governor Inslee kept public schools closed. Over the winter of 2020-21, the governor favored teachers by allowing them to be first to get the new vaccine. Still, the teachers union pressed to keep public schools closed.

In March 2021 Governor Inslee said schools could partially reopen, due to mounting evidence that his shutdown was inflicting psychological harm and distress on children. Even then public schools were slow to re-open fully.

Now a new study reveals the harmful impact of these decisions on children. The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) announced results of the Long Term Trends Study, showing the largest decline in math and reading learning for 13-year-olds in decades.

As a scientific comparison, Catholic schools stayed open to in-person instruction during COVID, even though 17 percent of their teachers were ages 60 and older. The share of public school teachers age 60 and older is only eight percent. Yet Catholic school faculty did not appear to suffer adverse health outcomes compared to their peers in the public system. At the same time, NAEP results show Catholic school students outscored all other public schools in the nation during COVID, and there is no evidence these students at Catholic schools suffered mental distress during this period.

In fact, there is no evidence of COVID outbreaks in Catholic schools or public charter schools which opened to in-person instruction, as compared to closed public schools over the same period.

Separately, a new study of academic performance shows charter school students on average receive a better education than their peers in traditional public schools. Stanford University conducted the same CREDO study in 2009 and 2013. Results of the three surveys confirm consistent and significant improvement in the performance of charter schools over this 15-year period, especially for low-income and minority students.

Researchers at CREDO included these insights about their findings:

In the year 2023…students hit hardest by school closures during the coronavirus pandemic are precisely those whom this research illuminates as being able to benefit most from the charter school system. In this study, thousands of charter schools have proved that we can do better for our students.

Whether it be termed “charter school” or something else, the deduction from this data is that when both sides of the equation—flexibility and accountability—are working together for more schools, more students’ academic results will improve.

Governor Inslee made many mistakes that hurt Washington’s 1.1 million public school students. He kept the schools closed to full-time in-person instruction the entire academic year of 2020-21. He blocked bills to give parents access to the private schools that were open. He and legislative leaders blocked the opening of new charter schools, and instituted a policy of funding discrimination against charter school families, one that is still in place today.

In contrast, lawmakers in other states took a more understanding approach. They opened all schools, public and private, in the fall of 2020. They expanded child access to public charter schools. They expanded family access to school choice. These smart and caring policies protected millions of children in other states from the worst effects of the harmful policies imposed by the hardliners here in Washington state. Now, national academic studies are revealing just how deep that harm to Washington’s children goes.

*“PROCLAMATION BY THE GOVERNOR AMENDING PROCLAMATIONS 20-05, 20-06, 20-07, and 20-08, 20-09 Statewide K-12 School Closures,” at https://www.governor.wa.gov/sites/default/files/proclamations/20-09%20Coronavirus%20Schools%20Amendment%20%28tmp%29.pdf.

Liv Finne is the director of the Center for Education at the Washington Policy Center.