The COVID-19 pandemic caused unprecedented disruptions to education globally, with widespread shifts to emergency remote instruction. Concerns arose about potential negative impacts on student learning. This study investigated this proposition specifically focusing on second-grade students in Norway. A prior study by the authors (Skar et al., 2022) revealed that first-grade students who experienced emergency remote instruction during the spring of 2020 showed lower scores on measures of writing quality, handwriting fluency, and attitude toward writing compared to a cohort tested before the pandemic. This current study aimed to determine if these negative impacts persisted one year later, at the end of second grade, for the same students (During COVID-19 cohort). It compared their performance on the three writing measures with a new cohort of second-graders tested before the pandemic (Before COVID-19 cohort). The study also investigated whether the effects were moderated by gender and primary language. The study is framed by the Writer(s)-within-Community model (WWC), which posits that writing development is shaped by the learning environment and individual cognitive resources. The WWC model influenced the choice of writing measures: writing quality (discursive writing task), handwriting fluency (copy task), and attitude toward writing (questionnaire). The authors predicted that the learning loss observed in the first-grade study would still be evident, but to a lesser degree, in second grade, considering the continuing impact of the pandemic on teachers, students, and families. However, several factors in Norway, such as the relatively short duration of remote instruction and a strong educational system, could potentially mitigate these effects.

Existing research on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on student learning has primarily focused on mathematics and reading. Two systematic reviews found that remote instruction led to a median drop in mathematics and reading scores. Younger students and those from low-income families were more severely affected. While these reviews indicated a potential decrease in impact over time, the effects on writing were under-researched. Besides the authors' previous work with Norwegian first-graders, only one other study on the effects of the pandemic on writing was found, showing a drop in spelling performance in Dutch primary grade students. The importance of addressing writing outcomes is highlighted because of writing's role in communication and learning. Early grade writing difficulties, if not addressed promptly, can exacerbate over time.

This study employed a quasi-experimental longitudinal design. Participants were 2309 Norwegian second-grade students from 59 schools in four municipalities (two urban, two rural). The Before COVID-19 cohort (n=1668) was tested in May/June 2019, while the During COVID-19 cohort (n=641) was tested in May/June 2021. The During COVID-19 cohort had participated in the earlier first-grade study. Data were collected through three tasks: a copy task (handwriting fluency), a discursive writing task (writing quality), and a questionnaire (attitude toward writing). Eight covariates were included in the analysis: school-level variables (national test results, school size, proportion of certified teachers, students per special education teacher, school hours per student), and student-level variables (gender, primary language [L1, L2, bilingual]). Multilevel linear regression analysis was used to account for the nested structure of the data (students within classrooms within schools). Each writing measure was analyzed separately, with models first examining intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs) to quantify the correlation structure of the data and then including the covariates to estimate the relative contributions of each predictor and the between group differences. Students with missing data on any of the three writing measures were excluded from analysis. A many-facet Rasch model (MFRM) was employed for rating the quality of written texts, accounting for rater variability and ensuring equitable scoring across raters.

The results indicated that text quality had the highest ICCs, implying the strongest correlation within classes and schools. The ICCs for handwriting fluency were lower, while those for attitude were much lower. The cohort variable (Before vs. During COVID-19) did not significantly predict any of the three writing measures. There was minimal difference in R-squared values between models with and without the cohort variable. The effect size (f2) was small for all measures. Girls consistently outperformed boys on all three measures. While there was a slightly lower average score of 1.707 points for the During COVID-19 cohort on handwriting fluency compared to the Before COVID-19 cohort, this was not statistically significant at the 5% level. National test scores were statistically significant only for text quality, not handwriting fluency or attitude. School size was significantly associated with handwriting fluency. Students with Norwegian as their primary language (L1) had statistically similar writing performance on all measures when compared to bilingual students or students whose primary language was not Norwegian (L2).

Contrary to the prediction, the study found no significant long-term effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the writing of second-grade Norwegian students. The initial writing losses observed in first grade following emergency remote instruction had dissipated by the end of second grade. Possible explanations include the relatively short duration of remote instruction in Norway, the strength of the Norwegian educational system and teacher autonomy in adapting instruction, and potential adaptation by both teachers and students to the challenges of the pandemic over time. The finding that school size predicted handwriting fluency requires further investigation.

This study suggests that the initial negative impact of COVID-19 related school closures on young children's writing may be temporary and mitigated by a combination of factors. However, the lack of generalizability to other contexts and other subjects highlights the need for further research across countries, grade levels, and subject areas to comprehensively understand the lasting effects of educational disruption. Future studies should incorporate investigation of writing instructional practices and parental involvement during and after periods of remote learning.

The study's limitations include the inability to randomly assign students to COVID and non-COVID conditions; the unequal sample sizes between the Before and During COVID-19 cohorts and the potential bias of excluding students from schools receiving a writing intervention; the focus on second-graders only; the limited assessment of writing constructs; and the lack of data on writing instruction practices during remote and in-person schooling, as well as parental involvement in writing instruction.