Post-pandemic learning trajectories in oral reading proficiency: Results from twelve Chilean schools

Abstract

By drawing data from first-to sixth-grade students of 12 Chilean schools, we examined the evolution of COVID-19 pandemic-driven losses in two components of oral reading proficiency: reading decoding skills and reading speed. Our dataset spans from 2018 to 2022, enabling us to compare students’ results after the fully remote 2020, the incomplete resumption of in-person learning in 2021 and the massive return in 2022. We used multivariate regression models corrected for sample selection bias. Reading proficiency losses were more significant and persistent in reading speed, and they were higher among socially disadvantaged students entering first grade in 2020–2022. These findings uphold that school disruption affected the reading proficiency of cohorts beginning school during the pandemic more significantly and long-lastingly.