What the Pandemic Taught Educators

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The COVID-19 pandemic was a historic shock to education systems and "dramatically set back learning levels" in many low- and middle-income countries.
Even before the pandemic, educators described a global "learning crisis"; for example, in Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda, three-quarters of grade 3 students cannot read a sentence such as "The name of the dog is Puppy," according to Uwezo.
Enrollment has risen substantially over decades but learning outcomes have lagged: the average adult had completed "7.6 years of school in 2010," more than double the average of "3.2 years in 1950," based on an analysis of data from "164 countries."
Primary school enrollment in sub-Saharan Africa rose from "80 percent to 92.3 percent" in the past decade, yet learning levels often did not improve correspondingly.
School closures at the height of the pandemic affected "more than 1.6 billion children across 180 countries."
Historical disruptions imply long-term costs: in Pakistan a 2005 earthquake disrupted schooling for "14 weeks"; "four years later, young children most affected ... performed significantly worse on learning assessments" (Andrabi, Daniels, and Das 2021).
Some countries experienced school disruptions nearly as long as two years—e.g., Uganda and the Philippines.

Multiple studies reported substantial learning losses during COVID-19 in Brazil, India, The Netherlands, and South Africa; in some cases losses were so large "it appears that very little was learned during school closures."
Randomized evaluations in Kenya and Sierra Leone found limited effects of various remote learning interventions.
Botswana experiment:
- Intervention: weekly phone call tutorials plus text messages to parents and primary school children, covering foundational numeracy with "weekly 20-minute tutorials over the course of eight weeks."
- Outcome: improved learning while schools were shut down.
- Cost-effectiveness: yielded "the equivalent of over one year of high-quality instruction for every $100 spent."
- Critical design elements: one-on-one phone call tutorials (text messages alone were not effective) and targeting instruction to each child's learning level via weekly diagnostic problems.
Scaling and replication:
- Similar approaches tested and shown effective in Bangladesh and Nepal.
- An ongoing randomized trial across "five countries (India, Kenya, Nepal, Philippines, Uganda)" is testing adaptability and scalability, including delivery by NGOs and government teachers.
Pedagogical background:
- "Teaching at the right level" (TaRL) model pioneered by Pratham and evaluated by J-PAL has been adapted for "over 60 million children."
- In Botswana a coalition had delivered TaRL to "more than 20 percent of primary schools" before the pandemic.

Keep schools fully open—identified as "the most important" cost-effective approach to improving learning.
Assess student learning frequently to guide and track progress and to enable "teaching at the right level."
Implement structured pedagogy and provide additional instructional support, such as tutors.
Leverage appropriate technology:
- Where internet-based infrastructure exists, use adaptive software to target instruction.
- Where internet access is limited, leverage high-access mobile-phone-based instruction.
Engage parents directly in instruction, focusing on foundational skills and keeping interventions brief to enable high engagement and avoid crowding out employment.
Avoid returning to "business as usual"; use the crisis to reform education systems to prioritize and enable learning for all.

Technology access constraints: in low- and middle-income countries "70 to 90 percent of households own at least one mobile phone," while only "15 to 60 percent of households have internet access"; thus low-tech approaches can reach the most marginalized at scale.
Targeted instruction principle:
- Diagnostic assessment to determine whether a child can perform tasks (example problems: single-digit addition "4+5", subtraction "7–3", two-digit division expectation by grade 5).
- Regroup children by learning level rather than strictly by grade to avoid automatic promotion that perpetuates behind-grade competence (Botswana data show "fewer than 10 percent of grade 5 students have mastered two-digit division").
Tutoring insights:
- One-on-one interaction increases effectiveness; traditional tutoring literature often focuses on high-income settings and can be expensive.
- The Botswana model demonstrates an inexpensive tutoring approach at scale suitable for low- and middle-income settings.
Parent engagement:
- During the pandemic parents became frontline instructors; effective parental-support interventions focused on foundational skills and brevity to ensure uptake.

"Three-quarters" of grade 3 students in Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda cannot read the example sentence.
Average adult school completion: "7.6 years of school in 2010" vs "3.2 years in 1950" (data from "164 countries").
Primary enrollment in sub-Saharan Africa: from "80 percent to 92.3 percent" in the past decade.
School closures affected "more than 1.6 billion children across 180 countries."
Pakistan earthquake disruption: "14 weeks" in 2005; effects observed "four years later."
Uganda and the Philippines: school disruptions lasted "nearly a full two years."
Botswana intervention: "weekly 20-minute tutorials over the course of eight weeks."
Cost-effectiveness: "the equivalent of over one year of high-quality instruction for every $100 spent."
Technology access: "70 to 90 percent" mobile phone ownership; "15 to 60 percent" internet access in low- and middle-income countries.
Mastery example: "fewer than 10 percent of grade 5 students" in Botswana have mastered two-digit division.
TaRL adaptation: "over 60 million children" reached globally.
Botswana TaRL coverage pre-pandemic: "more than 20 percent of primary schools."
Multicountry randomized trial across "five countries (India, Kenya, Nepal, Philippines, Uganda)."

F&D Magazine article "What the Pandemic Taught Educators" by Noam Angrist, June 2022.

What the Pandemic Taught Educators
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