REPORT: COVID-19 lockdown resulted in lower grades, campus initiative finds
A Missouri University of Science and Technology advising program foun that failing grades correlated with COVID-19 isolation.
Approximately 25% of program participants cited mental health problems as a reason for lackluster grades.
A Missouri University of Science and Technology advising program collected data suggesting that the COVID-19 lockdowns and remote learning caused a decline in students’ grades and mental health, according to a new report.
Associate Teaching Professor Jossalyn Larson and Assistant Teaching Professor Elizabeth Roberson developed the program in response to widespread academic problems on campus.
”[S]tudents weren’t ready for business as usual because they were dealing with all of the effects of being isolated for that year,” Larson told Santa Barbara News-Press.
Both scholars work in the English and Technical Communication department.
The study also found that students’ mental health has suffered. Approximately 25% of program participants cited mental health problems as a reason for lackluster grades.
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The study’s findings were consistent with other data trends surrounding the pandemic isolation.
A 2021 Pennsylvania State University study analyzed 43,098 clients seeking mental health services.
Approximately 72% of participants claimed that the pandemic had negatively affected their mental health, and 66% stated that it had been detrimental for their academic studies.
Missouri University of Science and Technology, Pennsylvania State University, Larson, and Roberson were all contacted for comment. This article will be updated accordingly.
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