Pandemic School Closures May Increase Inequality in Test Scores

Schools have been closed across the country and will remain closed until September in most provinces. The decision to reopen should take into account current inequalities in cognitive skills across the country and the impact of school interruptions on knowledge accumulation. In this article, we use information from a companion article to estimate the socioeconomic achievement gaps of 15-year-olds across Canada and assess the impact of the pandemic on inequalities in education. Using estimates from the literature on the impact of school closures, we find that the socioeconomic skills gap measured using Programme for International Student Assessment data could increase by more than 30 percent.