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Examining the Differential Impact of COVID-19 on English Learners’ Proficiency and Subgroup Disparities

Thu, April 11, 10:50am to 12:20pm, Pennsylvania Convention Center, Floor: Level 100, Room 112B

Abstract

We surface issues in the education of English Learners (ELs) - a federally-“protected”, yet marginalized and vulnerable subgroup of students. Applying a lens of intersectionality and an interrupted time series research design, we leverage a large-scale longitudinal dataset tracking EL’s language proficiency before and “after” the COVID-19 pandemic and provide evidence on its detrimental impact on these important outcomes. Precise estimates from multilevel models reveal substantial disparities in the academic outcomes within this highly diverse, growing, yet too-often neglected subgroup of students. Most troublingly, our results show that the pandemic has exacerbated the existing disparities between several EL subgroups. Hispanic students of all reported races, making up the majority of the EL population, have suffered the heaviest learning losses.

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