Skip to main content

ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Educ.
Sec. Higher Education
Volume 9 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/feduc.2024.1356730

Who are we receiving at the university? The impact of COVID-19 on mathematics and reading learning in high school

Provisionally accepted
Claudia F. Ortega-Barba Claudia F. Ortega-Barba 1*Héctor X. Ramírez-Pérez Héctor X. Ramírez-Pérez 2Santiago Méndez Padilla-Andrade Santiago Méndez Padilla-Andrade 2
  • 1 Universidad Panamericana, Escuela de Pedagogía, Ciudad de México, Mexico
  • 2 Universidad Panamericana, Facultad de Ciencias Económicas y Empresariales, Ciudad de México, Mexico

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    We investigated how the transition to remote instruction during the COVID-19 pandemic affected the development of mathematical thinking and reading comprehension skills of High School students, based on the analysis of the results of a standardized test for entry into Higher Education. The participants were a total of N= 17942 where N1=10611 pre-pandemic applicants and N2=7331 postpandemic applicants. The pre-pandemic group considers exam results from September 2016 to June 2020. The post-pandemic group takes exam results from September 2020 up to May 2023. We conclude that emergency remote teaching decreased the average mathematical competence of entering university students by 12.8%. Similarly, emergency remote teaching decreased the average reading achievement of students entering university by 8%. Therefore, the impact of emergency remote teaching was greater on mathematics skills than on reading achievements.

    Keywords: higher education, COVID-19, Learning, mathematical thinking, reading comprehension

    Received: 16 Dec 2023; Accepted: 20 May 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Ortega-Barba, Ramírez-Pérez and Méndez Padilla-Andrade. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Claudia F. Ortega-Barba, Universidad Panamericana, Escuela de Pedagogía, Ciudad de México, Mexico

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.