COVID-19-induced educational disruptions and children’s executive functioning: A longitudinal cohort study.

Publication date: Dec 11, 2025

Literature suggests that the COVID-19 pandemic may have disrupted children’s executive functioning (EF) development, but most studies rely on caregiver reports, cross-sectional data, or comparisons across cohorts. We build on the existing literature with repeated, direct assessments of EF from longitudinal pre-post COVID-19 data on a race-ethnically diverse cohort of elementary-aged children (N = 667) from low-income families. Random-intercept models estimate children’s growth in two key EF skills between the fall of kindergarten (2018) and fifth grade (2023) as a function of school closures. We also test for moderation in children’s growth trajectories by teachers’ reports of children’s compliance with remote learning expectations. Results indicate that children’s EF growth stagnated during school closures, resulting in an estimated 11-12 months of lost growth compared to prepandemic trends. Postreopening, EF growth continued but at a 65%-74% slower rate than preclosures. Children who completed insufficient remote work demonstrated less stagnation in their inhibitory control/attention growth, which may have been driven by selection. Changes otherwise did not vary according to children’s level of participation in remote learning during school closures. Findings underscore the need for interventions to support children’s recovery of EF growth, as well as more research on the roles of school closures versus other pandemic-related stressors in the observed patterns. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).

Semantics

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