Student Experiences through the COVID-19 Pandemic: Attendance, Online Learning Platform Use, and Annual Survey Reports

The COVID-19 pandemic created an unprecedented disruption in schooling for teachers, students, and their families. Chicago Public Schools (CPS), like many districts around the nation, shifted to fully remote learning in spring 2020, and most of its schools remained closed during fall 2020. Given the challenges brought on by the pandemic, coupled with the shift to remote learning, we would not expect students’ experiences with school and learning to be the same during the pandemic as in pre-pandemic years. But there has been little systematic evidence available about what changed during the remote learning period, and what did not. In this study, we provide evidence about the experiences of CPS students in grades K-12 during the remote/hybrid school year (2020-21) and the two subsequent years (through 2022-23).