Heterogeneity in the educational impacts of natural disasters: Evidence from Hurricane Florence

Abstract

In September 2018, Hurricane Florence caused widespread and extended school closures throughout North Carolina. Leveraging variation within schools over time, we explore heterogeneity in the impact of hurricane-related schooling disruption on students’ end-of-grade test scores. Impacts were not concentrated on students performing at the lowest levels in the prior year nor on those from the most disadvantaged backgrounds. Rather, the estimates suggest that most students experienced small declines in test performance irrespective of baseline human capital or demographic group.