# Preschool Children's Developmental Outcomes in the Face of COVID-19 School Closures

> **NIH NIH R03** · NATIONAL OPINION RESEARCH CENTER · 2021 · $74,941

## Abstract

Project Summary
One of the most concerning aspects of the COVID-19 pandemic is its disruption of school, particularly for
younger children. Nearly every U.S. jurisdiction ordered or recommended the closings of schools by March 29th
which meant that children spent nearly one third of their academic year at home. Informed by a body of
literature on lack of schooling continuity drawn from natural disasters and summer break, educators and child
development experts have predicted that COVID-related school closures will likely lead to learning loss and
declines in social-emotional and executive functioning for children of all ages. However, previous research on
natural disasters and summer break has focused exclusively on the K-12 and college-aged populations.
Research on how preschool-aged children’s developmental outcomes are affected by prolonged time out of
school is surprisingly absent. However, by virtue of their being situated in a stage of rapid brain growth,
preschool-aged children may be particularly susceptible to disruptions to their schooling experiences.
Understanding the extent of academic, social-emotional, and executive functioning loss from preschool
closures is therefore an important component for developing interventions that can mitigate loss in
developmental outcomes and for informing school re-opening plans. We propose to address these crucial
issues by addressing the following research questions.
 1. How do the achievement, social-emotional, and executive functioning outcomes of preschool children
 who were subjected to COVID-19 related preschool closures compare to prior cohorts of children who
 were not subjected to preschool closures? Do the results differ for lower-income or Hispanic children?
 2. How do parents’ and children’s level of coping and home learning supports during preschool closures
 moderate children’s achievement, social-emotional, and executive functioning outcomes?

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10284745
- **Project number:** 1R03HD106667-01
- **Recipient organization:** NATIONAL OPINION RESEARCH CENTER
- **Principal Investigator:** Vi-Nhuan Le
- **Activity code:** R03 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $74,941
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2021-09-01 → 2023-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10284745

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10284745, Preschool Children's Developmental Outcomes in the Face of COVID-19 School Closures (1R03HD106667-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10284745. Licensed CC0.

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