Covid, Virtual Instruction and Course Completion – A 6.7 percentage point decrease driven by increases in both course withdrawal and failure in Virginia Community Colleges

The COVID-19 pandemic led to an abrupt shift from in-person to virtual instruction in Spring 2020. Using a difference-in-differences framework that leverages within-course variation on whether students started their Spring 2020 courses in person or online, we estimate the impact of this shift on the academic performance of Virginia’s community college students. We find that the shift to virtual instruction resulted in a 6.7 percentage point decrease in course completion, driven by increases in both course withdrawal and failure. Faculty experience teaching a course online did not mitigate the negative effects of moving to virtual instruction.

Chosen excerpts by Job Market Monitor. Read the whole story @  Negative impacts from the shift to online learning during the COVID-19 crisis: evidence from a statewide community college system