The Virginia Department of Education has received a three-year, $999,912 federal grant to study the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the commonwealth’s public schools, Superintendent of Public Instruction James Lane said.
The grant will support researchers from VDOE and the University of Virginia as they examine pre- and post-pandemic trends through the 2022-2023 school year in student absenteeism, grade-level retention, enrollment in advanced courses and career and technical education programs, identification of students with disabilities and English learners, student mobility, and teacher retention. Researchers will also examine the effectiveness of school reopening and recovery plans in addressing the impact of the pandemic on students and teachers.
The objective of the project, titled “Equity in Virginia’s Public Education System: A Longitudinal Examination Spanning the COVID-19 Shutdown,” is to provide a body of practically focused research to inform decision-making and policies at the state and local levels.
“The research funded through this grant will be critical as our schools move beyond the immediate concerns of reopening and shift their focus to addressing the short-term and long-term impacts of the pandemic and school closures on student outcomes and school operations,” Lane said. “Our goal is to provide a series of evidence-based policy briefs that will provide practical and actionable information, and help shape policies that prioritize and promote equity during what will be a multiyear recovery process.”
“There is a tremendous need for rigorous evidence to help students, teachers, and schools recover from the significant disruptions caused by the pandemic,” said Luke C. Miller, research associate professor and the project’s leader at UVA’s School of Education and Human Development. “Our ongoing collaboration with VDOE will be able to address that need thanks to the support of this grant.”
Data for the research will come from the Virginia Longitudinal Data System. VLDS allows researchers to connect data from several state agencies, including VDOE, the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia and the Virginia Community College System, while maintaining the privacy of students, teachers and other individuals.
The award is from the Institute of Education Sciences’ Using Longitudinal Data to Support State Policymaking grant program. The institute is the research arm of the U.S. Department of Education. The competitive grant program is designed to expand the use of state longitudinal data systems by state education agencies to inform policy development.
