HPU Poll: COVID-19 Has Negatively Impacted the Academic and Social Growth of North Carolina’s Children
HIGH POINT, N.C., Nov. 19, 2021 – A new High Point University Poll asked North Carolinians how they think the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted school-age children.
The poll finds a large majority of North Carolinians (74%) think the COVID-19 pandemic has negatively impacted the academic growth of school-age children. Only 12% say the COVID-19 pandemic has positively impacted the academic growth of school-age children, while 14% are unsure.
A similarly large majority (74%) say the COVID-19 pandemic has made it harder for graduating high school seniors to transition to college or the workforce. Just 10% say the pandemic has made it easier, while 17% are unsure.
The HPU Poll also finds that most North Carolinians (76%) think the COVID-19 pandemic has negatively impacted the social development of school-age children. Only 11% say the COVID-19 pandemic has positively impacted the social development of school-age children, while 12% are unsure.
Respondents were also asked if the pandemic has negatively or positively impacted the ability of school-age children to adapt during times of change. Three out of five (60%) of respondents say negatively, while about one quarter (23%) say positively and 17% are unsure.
“The most recent HPU Poll asked North Carolinians how they feel the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted school-aged children,” says Brian McDonald, associate director of the HPU Poll and adjunct professor. “The poll showed that a majority of poll respondents felt that COVID-19 has negatively impacted both the academic and social growth of children.”
“COVID 19 has a significant impact on the day-to-day lives of children, especially school-aged children,” says Dr. Kirsten Li-Barber, associate professor of psychology. “The health and safety of our children is the priority, and therefore, remote learning was a necessity in the early stages of the pandemic. However, this has unfortunately limited important opportunities for teacher and peer contact that typically occurs in the school system. Many children experience difficulties with their learning and motivation due to this lack of social contact.”
Full Data and Methodology
All adults – COVID-19 and Academic Growth (October/November 2021)
Generally speaking, do you think the COVID-19 pandemic has negatively or positively impacted the academic growth of school-age children?
Negatively – 74%
Positively – 12%
Unsure – 14%
(Telephone and online interviews with North Carolina residents, surveyed Oct. 22 – Nov. 4, n = 968 and credibility interval is +/- 3.3%)
All adults – COVID-19 and High School Seniors (October/November 2021)
Do you think that the COVID-19 pandemic has made it easier or harder for graduating high school seniors to make a transition to college or the workforce?
Make it harder – 74%
Make it easier – 10%
Unsure – 17%
(Telephone and online interviews with North Carolina residents, surveyed Oct. 22 – Nov. 4, n = 968 and credibility interval is +/- 3.3%)
All adults – COVID-19 and Social Development (October/November 2021)
Generally speaking, do you think the COVID-19 pandemic has negatively or positively impacted the social development of school-age children?
Negatively – 76%
Positively – 11%
Unsure – 12%
(Telephone and online interviews with North Carolina residents, surveyed Oct. 22 – Nov. 4, n = 968 and credibility interval is +/- 3.3%)
All adults – COVID-19 and Adaptability (October/November 2021)
Generally speaking, do you think the COVID-19 pandemic has negatively or positively impacted the ability of school-age children to adapt during times of change?
Negatively – 60%
Positively – 23%
Unsure – 17%
(Telephone and online interviews with North Carolina residents, surveyed Oct. 22 – Nov. 4, n = 968 and credibility interval is +/- 3.3%)
The most recent HPU Poll was fielded by live interviewers at the High Point University Survey Research Center calling on Oct. 22 through Nov. 4, 2021, and an online survey was fielded at the same time. The responses from a sample of all North Carolina counties came from 968 adults interviewed online (808 respondents) as well as landline or cellular telephones (160 respondents). The Survey Research Center contracted with dynata, formerly Research Now SSI, to acquire these samples, and fielded the online survey using the SRC’s Qualtrics platform. This is a combined sample of live phone interviews and online interviews. The online sampling is from a panel of respondents, so their participation does not adhere to usual assumptions associated with random selection. Therefore, it is not appropriate to assign a classic margin of sampling error for the results. In this case, the SRC provides a credibility interval of plus or minus 3.3 percentage points to account for a traditional 95% confidence interval for the estimates (plus or minus 3.1 percentage points) and a design effect of 1.1 (based on the weighting). The data is weighted toward population estimates for age, gender, race/ethnicity, and education based on U.S. Census numbers for North Carolina. Factors such as question wording and other methodological choices in conducting survey research can introduce additional errors into the findings of opinion polls. Details from this survey are available here.
Further results and methodological details from the most recent survey and past studies can be found at the Survey Research Center website. The materials online include past press releases as well as memos summarizing the findings (including approval ratings) for each poll since 2010.
The HPU Poll reports methodological details in accordance with the standards set out by AAPOR’s Transparency Initiative, and the HPU Survey Research Center is a Charter Member of the Initiative. See more information here.
You can follow the HPU Poll on Twitter here.
Dr. Martin Kifer, chair and associate professor of political science, serves as the director of the HPU Poll, and Brian McDonald is the associate director of the HPU Poll.