An Investigation of the Effects of Gender, Socioeconomic Status, and Age on Mathematics Outcomes of In-Person and Online Learning

The coronavirus pandemic created a unique situation where a rural school district in western Ohio gave students a choice to attend school in-person with face-to-face teachers or take courses online through an asynchronous online platform. The state mathematics grade level and end-of-course test scores were taken by both groups of students in the spring of 2021. An analysis of the state grade level test scores for grades 3-8 revealed significant predictors of instructional mode, socioeconomic status, and gender. Taking courses online predicted a lower score by 23 points, the socioeconomically disadvantaged scored 20 points lower, and females were behind by more than 9 points. An analysis of the state end-of-course test scores revealed one significant predictor, that of instructional mode, with online students behind by nearly 14 points. Further analyses revealed the mean test scores of online students were significantly lower than that of in-person students in each age group and test type. There were no significant interactions revealed between any of the analyzed predictors. Online students were consistently lower in each test type and age group; this gap was not significantly different among any of the subgroups of socioeconomic status, gender, or age compared to the whole population