Pandemic Schooling Mode and Student Test Scores: Evidence from US School Districtst

We estimate the impact of district-level schooling mode (in-person versus hybrid or virtual learning) in the 2020-2021 school year on students' pass rates on standardized tests in grades 3-8 across 11 states. Pass rates declined from 2019 to 2021: an aver-age of 12.8 percentage points in math and 6.8 in English lan-guage arts (ELA). Focusing on within-state, within-commuting zone variation in schooling mode, we estimate that districts with full in-person learning had significantly smaller declines (13.4 pp in math, 8.3 in ELA). The value to in-person learning was larger for districts with larger populations of Black students. (JEL H75, I12, I18, I21, I28, J15)