Analyzing Student Engagement during the COVID-19 Pandemic: What We Have Learned about Data Use

This report highlights key takeaways from TERA’s work with six partner districts during the 2020-21 school year that demonstrate both the limitations of the data collected during a difficult year, and how we adapted our approach to make use of available data to learn more about student engagement in a year of immense change. We discuss three key recommendations for districts as they reflect on data use from the 2020-21 school year and make plans for future years.

Download Brief

Published:

October 2021

Authors:

S. Colby Woods

Susan K. Patrick

J. Edward Guthrie

Key Recommendations

Examine students' and families' choice of instructional model during the 2020-21 school year to learn about those students and families rather than to judge the success of in-person or virtual instruction.
Combine multiple data sources to identify which students are most and least engaged.
To better understand general trends, examine multiple years of data, consider differences by school tier or student characteristics, and probe for more information when new trends emerge.

Suggested Citation

Woods, S. C., Patrick, S. K., & Guthrie, J. E. (2021). Analyzing student engagement during the COVID-19 pandemic: What we have learned about data use. Tennessee Education Research Alliance.

S. Colby Woods

S. Colby Woods is a Senior Research Specialist at the Tennessee Education Research Alliance.

Visit Staff Page

Susan K. Patrick

Susan Kemper Patrick is a Senior Researcher on the Educator Quality team at the Learning Policy Institute.

Visit Staff Page

J. Edward Guthrie

J. Edward Guthrie is a Research Associate at the Tennessee Education Research Alliance.

Visit Staff Page