The effect of school closures on standardised test scores

What is the effect of COVID-19 related school closures on student achievement? We provide causal evidence using variation in the duration of school closures across and within Australian states. School closures ranged from 4 to 112 days. We measure student achievement using test scores from a common compulsory standardised test with high participation rates. We find no evidence of large declines on standardised test scores. The variation in test scores we observe post school closures are similar to that observed in previous years. We also find no evidence of large declines across different socio-demographic groups.

Christian Gillitzer is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Economics at the University of Sydney and a Visiting Fellow at ANU's Tax and Transfer Policy Institute. His research covers public economics and macroeconomics. Current research projects include the effect of school closures on academic achievement, the effect of investor credit supply on housing prices and superannuation policy in Australia. He received is PhD in economics from the University of Michigan in 2013.