Potential Socioeconomic Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Neural Development, Mental Health, and K-12 Educational Achievement.

Grace George,Ryan Herringa,Janean Dilworth-Bart

doi:10.1177/23727322211032248

Abstract

The Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic can affect more than a child's biological health. Lack of in-person schooling and increased stress can affect neurodevelopment, mental health, and later life outcomes, especially for students who are from low socioeconomic status (SES) households. Insights from neuroscience on child development reveal potential neural mechanisms and educational outcomes likely disrupted by the pandemic-and how this will disproportionally affect low-SES children. Three policies can combat these educational and emotional effects: increased access to online resources, investments in social-emotional health, and increased access to summer/out-of-school learning. Integrating the traditionally separate fields of neuroscience and educational research will be critical for developing and assessing the most impactful policies to improve the well-being and educational achievement of our most disadvantaged children.

Highlights

The pandemic likely affected educational outcomes due to stress, especially for low-socioeconomic status (SES) students
Stress caused by poverty and the pandemic may interfere with healthy brain development including executive functioning, memory systems, and emotion regulation
COVID-19 infiltrated every state in the United States, and at its peak, averaged around 250,000 cases with just over 3,000 deaths a day (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2020)

Summary

Introduction

The pandemic likely affected educational outcomes due to stress, especially for low-SES students. Insights from neuroscience indicate three high-yield mitigating policies: access to online resources, investments in social-emotional health, and increased summer learning. Policies can combat educational effects: increased access to online resources, investments in social-emotional health, and increased access to summer/out-ofschool learning.

Results

Conclusion