Images

Cory LaFlamme, Psy.D., is a 2026 graduate of the Psy.D. Program in Clinical Psychology at Antioch University, New England

Dissertation Committee:

  • Kathi Borden, PhD, Chairperson
  • Barbra Belcher-Timme, PsyD, Committee Member
  • Debra Dayton, PhD, Committee Member

Keywords

standardized testing, testing, COVID-19, rural, nonrural, school, New Hampshire

Document Type

Dissertation

Publication Date

2026

Abstract

The novel Coronavirus of 2019 (COVID-19; Gillings School of Global Public Health, n.d.) caused an extensive disruption of education systems worldwide. Elementary and secondary schools began to close to students and staff to protect them from potential exposure to the virus (Masonbrink & Hurley, 2020). Nearly 1.6 billion students in over 200 countries had their learning impacted on some level, causing changes in traditional educational practices (Pokhrel & Chhetri, 2021). One profound change in educational practice was the shift from face-to-face learning to online learning alternatives. Using the State of New Hampshire data allowed for a unique analysis of how the COVID-19 shutdown impacted educational success and recovery rates and provided a unique assessment of potential impact and recovery differences between rural and nonrural areas in the state. This study used publicly available standardized test results for third through fifth grade from the State of New Hampshire over the 2019, 2021, 2022, and 2023 years to determine if there was any statistically significant change over time in scores from before to after the pandemic health crisis. This study also examined if there was any statistically significant difference between rural and nonrural test scores in the subjects of Math, English, and Science through a repeated measures ANOVA process. Through this study, it was found that there was a statistically significant effect of time across all of the subjects and that there was no significant difference between rural and nonrural scores over the time points studied. This dissertation is available in open access at AURA (https://aura.antioch.edu) and OhioLINK ETD Center (https://etd.ohiolink.edu).

Comments

ORCID No.:  0009-0000-5730-4572

Download

Share

COinS