HOW DID THE SCHOOL CLOSURES DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC AFFECT STUDENTS’ PERFORMANCE AT SCHOOL?

This dissertation analyses how school closures affected the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) test scores in 2022 using the 2018 PISA test scores. Multiple regressions and control variables were used to create models based on the three evaluated topics - mathematics, reading, and science. The models started small and were slowly built. The empirical analysis suggests a clear negative correlation between school closures and PISA test scores, with causality being more ambiguous. Mathematics was the most affected out of the three.