Melinda Morrill’s Study Examines How Natural Disaster Closures Impact Student Performance

Researchers have examined the impact of school closures due to natural disasters and found that these closures have similar impacts on student performance across economic groups. The researchers find white students and high-performing students are least affected, but nearly every group of students sees test scores decline.

“Schools can be closed due to a variety of natural disasters, from wildfires to hurricanes, and research suggests that the frequency of these disasters is only going to increase due to global climate change,” says Melinda Morrill, corresponding author of the study and Poole professor of economics. “As a result, it’s important for us to not only understand the extent to which these closures affect student learning, but whether certain groups of students are more affected than others. That latter question is what we focused on with this work.”

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This post was originally published in Poole Thought Leadership.