Did the COVID pandemic stunt kids’ development?

In a special issue of the Journal of Child Development, 17 new studies across six countries examined whether the pandemic set kids back emotionally, developmentally, and academically. The results are more nuanced than the hand-wringing of PTA meetings might suggest. Dr. Anna Johnson of Georgetown University, who helped compile the issue, summarizes the top-level finding: “Mostly, yeah.” The kids are mostly okay. But that “mostly” hides important variation, particularly in two areas—executive function and math—where the pandemic’s impact was real and measurable.

Why the early panic was misleading

The popular narrative that kids’ development took a severe hit came from two kinds of early-pandemic data. First, quick-response surveys fielded in the throes of lockdowns showed parents stressed, household conflict rising, and children acting out or showing signs of withdrawal. Second, test score data like the 2022 NAEP report card showed fourth graders behind their 2019 peers. Both were real findings, but they had a critical limitation: they were snapshots. The surveys captured a single point in time, and the test scores compared two different groups of children—one that experienced the pandemic and one that did not. As Johnson explains, without knowing how those exact kids were doing before the pandemic, it is impossible to tell whether COVID introduced new problems or simply