Remote learning harmed high school students, new research says

High school students who were in distance learning during the Covid-19 pandemic suffered socially, emotionally and academically, according to research published this week by the Educational Research Association.

“Many news stories have reported on individual stories of teenagers who have suffered from anxiety, depression, and other mental health challenges during the pandemic,” said Angela L. Duckworth, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania and lead author of the study. “This study gives some of the first empirical evidence of how learning remotely has affected adolescent well-being.”

The study compared students who took classes remotely and their counterparts who studied in person. Students who studied at home scored lower on the “thriving index” than students who went to school in person.

The differences were not great, but even small effects are noteworthy when they impact millions of people, according to a press release on the report.