Reading and math skills development among Finnish primary school children before and after COVID-19 school closure
Lerkkanen, M.-K., Pakarinen, E., Salminen, J., & Torppa, M. (2023). Reading and math skills development among Finnish primary school children before and after COVID-19 school closure. Reading and Writing, 36(2), 263-288. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11145-022-10358-3
Published in
Reading and WritingDate
2023Discipline
KasvatustiedeResurssiviisausyhteisöVarhaiskasvatusKasvatuspsykologiaEducationSchool of Resource WisdomEarly Childhood EducationKasvatuspsykologiaCopyright
© The Author(s) 2022
2022:16 | 2023:123 | 2024:73 | 2025:1
This study quantified the possible learning losses in reading and math skills among a sample of Finnish Grade 3 children (n = 198) who spent 8 weeks in distance learning during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in spring 2020. We compared their reading and math skill development trajectories across Grades 1, 2, and 4 to a pre-COVID sample (N = 378). We also examined if gender, parental education, maternal homework involvement, and child’s task-avoidant behavior predict children’s academic skills at Grade 4 differently in the pre-COVID sample compared with the COVID sample. Children’s reading and math skills were tested, mothers reported their education and homework involvement, and teachers rated children’s task-avoidant behavior. The results showed, on average, lower reading skills in the COVID sample than in the pre-COVID sample but there were no differences in math skills. Although the COVID sample had lower levels in reading, their developmental trajectories in reading and math skills were not different from the pre-COVID sample before the pandemic in Grades 1 and 2. From Grade 2 to 4, however, the development was slower in reading fluency and comprehension in the COVID sample, but not in math. The predictors of change from Grade 2 to 4 in reading and math skills were not different in the samples. The results showed that the development of reading skills in particular may have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
...
Publisher
SpringerISSN Search the Publication Forum
0922-4777Keywords
Publication in research information system
https://converis.jyu.fi/converis/portal/detail/Publication/156827799
Metadata
Show full item recordCollections
Related funder(s)
Research Council of FinlandFunding program(s)
Strategic research programmes, AoF; Others, AoF; Academy Project, AoFAdditional information about funding
This study is a part of the project EduRESCUE—the resilient schools and education system, which is funded by the Strategic Research Council (SRC) established within the Academy of Finland (#345196). Both data collections have been funded by the Academy of Finland (First Steps study #213486; and TESSI projects ETSIC #317610 and CONE #335635). Open Access funding provided by University of Jyväskylä (JYU). ...License
Related items
Showing items with similar title or keywords.
-
Parental homework-help profiles throughout grades 6 – 9 : Relations to motivation and mathematics skills
Kikas, Eve; Mädamürk, Kaja; Silinskas, Gintautas (Frontiers Media SA, 2022)This study aimed to examine how parental profiles during homework help (supportive versus controlling) for children in Grades 6 and 9 change over time and relate to children’s motivation and math skills. Participants ... -
Math homework : Parental help and children’s academic outcomes
Silinskas, Gintautas; Kikas, Eve (Academic Press, 2019)In the present study, we examined the longitudinal relations between child-perceived parental help with math homework (i.e., support and control), children's math skills, and mother-reported task persistent behavior in ... -
Maternal parenting styles, homework help, and children’s literacy development in language minority and Finnish-speaking families
Sikiö, Riitta; Siekkinen, Martti; Holopainen, Leena; Silinskas, Gintautas; Lerkkanen, Marja-Kristiina; Nurmi, Jari-Erik (Springer; Instituto Superior de Psicologia Aplicada (ISPA), 2018)The aim of this study was to examine the role of mothers’ (language minority mothers, LM, n = 49, and Finnish-speaking mothers, MP, n = 368) parenting styles and maternal help with their children’s homework in the children’s ... -
Mathematics Skills of Kosovar Primary School Children: A Special View on Children with Mathematical Learning Difficulties
Salihu, Linda; Räsänen, Pekka (T&K Academic, 2018)The present study examined the development of mathematics skills of Kosovar primary school children in terms of their gender, living area, socio-economic status, and achievement level. A special emphasis was placed on ... -
Comorbid Word Reading and Mathematics Computation Difficulty at Start of First Grade
Fuchs, Lynn S.; Fuchs, Douglas; Cho, Eunsoo; Barnes, Marcia, A.; Koponen, Tuire; Espinas, Daniel, R. (SAGE Publications, 2024)The purpose of this analysis was to describe cognitive processes associated with comorbid difficulty between word reading (WR) and mathematics computation (MC) at the start of first grade among children selected for WR and ...