Role of COVID-19 Impact on Academic Outcomes of

Primary Grade Level Students

Nikki Foster
School of Education and Human Services, University of St. Thomas, Houston
Educational Research Design (EDUC 6327 KL4Y OA LEC)
Dr. Anne Gichuri
April 27th, 2022
 Introduction
Topic: Role of COVID-19 Impact on Academic Outcomes of Primary Grade Level
Students
Study Purpose: The purpose of the study is to explore the role of Covid-19 on
student academic outcomes among primary grade level students in southeast
Texas.
Study Significance: The significance of this study is Covid-19 has greatly affected
schools and the quality of education that students receive. The primary grade
levels are the academic foundation upon which other grade levels build on.
Study Background: The background context to this study revolves around how
student academic outcomes have changed since the Covid-19 pandemic. Before
Covid-19, schools were open and classes were full, however, since the pandemic,
attendance has dropped drastically as fewer students are in class learning.Gichuri,A.012022_2
©
Academic performance of K-12 students in an online-learning environment for mathematics
increased during the shutdown of schools in wake of the COVID-19 pandemic (Spitzer &
Musslick, 2021).

Purpose of the Study: The purpose of the study was to determine if the school shutdown
had a positive impact on student academic outcomes.
Research Approach: The research approach used was quantitative.
Research Question: Has Covid-19 affected student outcomes in terms of math scores?
Hypothesis: There was no hypothesis stated by the authors.
Participants: Total of 2,500 K-12 students who computed over 124,000 mathematical
problems both before and after the shutdown.

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Academic performance of K-12 students in an online-learning
environment for mathematics increased during the shutdown of schools
in wake of the COVID-19 pandemic (Spitzer & Musslick, 2021).
Validity and Reliability: The study used students in grades Kindergarten to 12th grade.
There was a total of 2,500 students who were sampled and data was collected from
computations both before and after the shutdown.
Ethical Considerations Adopted: The study used both high-achieving students and low-
achieving students.
Key Findings: Low-achieving students showed higher growth than high-achieving students.
Conclusion: Therefore, this study reveals the shutdown from Covid-19 had a positive impact
on student achievement in math.
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Education in the age of COVID-19: Educational responses from four
Southeast Asian countries (Balakrishnan, 2020)
Purpose of the Study: The purpose of the study was to determine whether the educational
responses to Covid-19 in four Southeast Asian countries affected student achievement.

Research Approach: The research approach used was quantitative. The author used a
document analysis technique to conduct research.

Research Question: Did the country’s initial educational response to the Covid-19 pandemic
affect their attempt to minimize learning loss?

Hypothesis: If countries responded effectively, then learning loss would be minimized and
student achievement would increase.

Participants: The study participants were from four countries: Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore,
Thailand. ©Gichuri,A.012022_3
 Education in the age of COVID-19: Educational responses from four
Southeast Asian countries (Balakrishnan, 2020)
Validity and Reliability: The study used government documents from each country to ensure
validity of the data by ensuring that each entity was represented.
Ethical Considerations Adopted: The study used documents from local governments to ensure
that the data from each country was analyzed.
Key Findings: The study found that technology in low income and rural areas posed a challenge
due to insufficient infrastructure. Study hypothesis was supported. Balakrishnan (2020) also
found that Thailand was preparing to alter the allocated funds within the school budgets to
improve remote learning curriculum.
Conclusion: Therefore, this study reveals children that reside in rural areas are further
disadvantaged and learning gaps are increasing drastically.
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Education inequality during COVID-19: How remote learning is widening the
achievement gap and spurring the need for judicial intervention.... (Crow,
2022)
Purpose of the Study: The purpose of the study was to determine the correlation
between remote learning and the achievement gap.
Research Approach: The research approach used was qualitative.
Research Question: Should legal action be taken for educational inequalities due to
Covid-19?
Hypothesis: None, because this was a qualitative study.
Participants: The study participants were students of a Los Angeles School District.
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Education inequality during COVID-19: How remote learning is widening the
achievement gap and spurring the need for judicial intervention.... (Crow,
2022)
Validity and Reliability: The study used court cases to ensure validity of data and statistics.
Ethical Considerations Adopted: The study used past and present court cases to ensure
that facts were utilized in the findings. First and last names were used as shown in court
documentation.
Key Findings: The study found that two different coalitions filed class action lawsuits: the first
was a group of parents, the second was a group of students.
Conclusion: Therefore, this study reveals race and socio-economic status play a major factor in
educational inequalities.

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Sharp increase in inequality in education in times of the COVID-19
pandemic.... (Haelermans et al., 2022)
Purpose of the Study: The purpose of the study was to determine the amount of educational
inequalities since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Research Approach: The research approach used was quantitative.

Research Question: Are there disparities between students, that affect their learning
outcomes.
Hypothesis: If an academic delay is already presented, then the academic delay will
increase.
Participants: The study participants were primary grade level students who are enrolled in
schools in The Netherlands. ©Gichuri,A.012022_3
Sharp increase in inequality in education in times of the COVID-19
pandemic.... (Haelermans et al., 2022)
Validity and Reliability: The study used students enrolled in the Netherlands to ensure validity
of the data by using all primary grade level students.
Ethical Considerations Adopted: The study used 300,000 students from the Netherlands to
ensure that accurate data is collected and represented.
Key Findings: The study found that there were significant delays in learning. In Reading, there
was an average of 5.5 weeks delay. Study hypothesis was proven true. Haelermans et al (2022)
also found that there was an average of three weeks delay in both spelling and mathematics.
Conclusion: Therefore, this study reveals that on top of pre-existing inequalities, there are large
disparities shown, based on parent income and parent level of education.

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Literature Review Synthesis
Balakrishnan (2020) noted that technology in rural and low-income areas were hard to come by.Their
conclusion was that rural children are more likely to be at a disadvantage during remote learning. Similarly,
Crow (2022) found that race and socioeconomic status plays a factor in educational inequalities. Therefore,
both studies are in agreeance, in terms of their findings. In addition. Haelermans et al. (2022) study on
educational inequalities also concluded that there are large disparities in education. This implies that students
that come from a low-income family are more likely to fall behind academically.

On the contrary, Spitzer and Musslick( 2021) found that the Covid-19 pandemic affected student academic outcomes,
but in a positive manner. They also found that the level of academic achievement did not matter; students who
typically were low-achievers were able to perform better than students who were typically higher-achievers. Their
conclusions suggest that there was not a negative relation between student academic outcomes and Covid-19.
Comparatively, these four studies suggest that Covid-19 has played a factor in student achievement.
Specifically, as relates to the current MMAR study, Covid-19 plays a role in student academic outcomes in
primary grade levels.
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Self-Reflection Summary
In completing this MMAR literature review section, I made a connection between
socioeconomic status and education. Therefore, this leads me to conclude that even when
taking proper steps, there will still be an academic gap in student education; even more now
since the Covid-19 pandemic.
I knew that there was a role between class status and education, however, I did not realize
how exacerbated these disparities are. Our district provided chromebooks to all families;
however, many students did not know how to effectively use a chromebook, and families also
did not have access to internet.
All of these factors combined played a huge factor in academic learning, and contributed to
increasing the achievement gap.

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Ethical Considerations
First: Informed consent will be given in the form of a survey question. It will be
the first question that participants see.
Second: All participants and their responses will remain protected and
confidential.
Third: Participant responses will not be fabricated or altered in any way.
Fourth: There will not be a conflict of interest.

©Gichuri,A.012022_4
Methods Section: University of St. Thomas, Educational
Research Design
Research Setting: Online Survey through Google Forms
Participants: Educational Research Design class Quantitative Strand Participants: Is
there a learning gap due to the Covid-19 pandemic?
Qualitative Strand Participants: How has Covid-19 affected the mental health of
students?

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 Quantitative Strand Research Question

Quantitative Research Question: What is the relationship between students and student
achievement after exposure to Covid-19.

Hypothesis: There is a relationship between student achievement after exposure to Covid-

19 among primary students.

Participants: Staff members within primary campuses that teach students in

grades Early Childhood to Kindergarten.

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Quantitative Design, Measurement, and Accuracy
Quantitative Design: The quantitative design for this research would be experimental
research. I will be examining the cause and effect relationship between student achievement
and covid-19.
Quantitative Measurement: I will be using testing data from students pre-Covid and post-
Covid.
Measurement Reliability: The research results could be replicated. You would
need to use data from students pre-Covid and post-Covid in order to do so.

Measurement Validity: The validity will be my ability to determine if there is a

relationship between Covid-19 and student achievement.

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Quantitative Strand: Data
Data Collection Steps: Scores will be taken from students in previous years (before
Covid-19). I will look at the district literacy and math scores for Pre-Kindergarten
and Kindergarten from the 2017-2018 and 2018-2019 school years. I will then look
at the district literacy and math scores for Pre-Kindergarten and Kindergarten
since Covid-19 struck. I will look at the data from years 2019-2020, 2020-2021, and
2021-2022.

Data Analysis Procedures: In looking at the data, are there any significant
differences from data pre-covid and data post-covid? Was there a specific year that
the students performed better? What could have affected the student performance?

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 Qualitative Strand Research Question
Qualitative Research Question: What role does Covid-19 play in student achievement
among primary grade level Students?
Participants: Staff members of Primary Campuses

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Qualitative Design, Measurement, and Accuracy
Qualitative Design: The qualitative design for this research would be based on survey and interviews of
staff members. In the surveys, I will ask the qualitative questions. I will also interview the staff members
so that I can get more in-depth responses to the qualitative questions.

Qualitative Measurement: Survey results and interview responses

Measurement Reliability: The research and results could be replicated if you survey and interview
staff members that worked in primary grade level schools before Covid-19 and after Covid-19.
Measurement Validity: The validity will be my ability to determine if there is a relationship
between Covid-19 and student achievement.

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Qualitative Data
Data Collection Steps: I will send a survey to all staff members of primary
campuses who taught before and after Covid-19 and ask them to complete the
survey. I will then analyze the results. After I have analyzed the results, I will
interview staff members to gain a more in-depth response.
Data Analysis Procedures and Accuracy: I will use the results from the survey
and the interviews and take a qualitative exemplify approach.

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Integration of the Strands

Value of Quantitative strand: The quantitative strand adds value because it is concrete.
There is no room to add emotions or feelings into the data; its strictly numbers about how
covid-19 has affected student achievement.

Value of Qualitative strand: The qualitative strand adds value because it allows participants
to state how they feel about the effect that covid-19 has had on student achievement. It gives
them a chance to have a voice in the research and have it tied to the analysis.
Benefits of using the mixed methods AR approach: Utilizing a mixed methods approach
is important because it ensures that the data is accurate and not biased. It looks at all aspects
of the issue at hand and it does so from a neutral standpoint.

©Gichuri,A.012022_11
 References
American Psychological Association. (2021). Concise guide, 7th edition student paper checklist.
https://apastyle.apa.org/instructional-aids/concise-guide-formatting-checklist.pdf
Balakrishnan, P. (2020). Education in the Age of COVID-19: Educational Responses From Four Southeast
Asian Countries. International Studies in Educational Administration (Commonwealth Council for
Educational Administration & Management (CCEAM)), 48(3), 102–108.
https://www.unicef.org/eap/reports/covid-19-education-situation-analysis-
southeast-asia

Crow, O. (2022). Education Inequality during Covid-19: How Remote Learning Is Widening the
Achievement Gap and Spurring the Need for Judicial Intervention. Boston College Law Review, 63(2),
713–752. https://lawdigitalcommons.bc.edu/bclr/vol63/iss2/7
Gichuri-Echessa, N. A. (2022). Instructional guide and scholarly presentation slide-structure exemplar:
Introduction section of mixed-method action research plan [PowerPoint Slides]. Blackboard@UST.
https://blackboard.stthom.edu/
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 References
Haelermans, C., Korthals, R., Jacobs, M., de Leeuw, S., Vermeulen, S., van Vugt, L., Aarts, B., Prokic-Breuer,
T., van der Velden, R., van Wetten, S., & de Wolf, I.(2022). Sharp increase in inequality in education
in times of the COVID-19 pandemic. PLoS ONE, 17(2), 1–37.
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0261114
Jakavonytė-Staškuvienė, D. (2021). A Study of Language and Cognitive Aspects in Primary School Pupils’
and Teachers’ Activities Through Cooperative Learning. Educational Sciences: Theory &
Practice, 21(3), 88–106. https://jestp.com/index.php/estp/article/download/1464/806
Spitzer, M. W. H., & Musslick, S. (2021). Academic performance of K-12 students in an online-learning
environment for mathematics increased during the shutdown of schools in wake of the COVID-19
pandemic. PLoS ONE, 16(8), 5-11. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0255629

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Self-Reflection Summary
In completing this MMAR methods section, I found that Mixed Methods Action
Research is probably the best way to conduct research. Mixed Methods allows
you to view the whole picture and really get all aspects and then tie them
together.

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Facilitation Questions

1. Is it too late to reverse the effects that Covid-19 had on education?

2. What can teachers do to boost student achievement?
3. How long would it take to get students back on track?

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