The Effect of School Closures on Standardised Test Scores

What is the effect of COVID-19 related school closures on student achievement? We provide causal evidence using variation in the duration of school closures across and within Australian states. School closures ranged from 4 to 112 days. We measure student achievement using test scores from a common compulsory standardised test with high participation rates. We find no evidence of large declines on standardised test scores. The variation in test scores we observe post school closures are similar to that observed in previous years. We also find no evidence of large declines across different socio-demographic groups.