Abstract
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, all schools in China shifted to online learning in the spring of 2020. For many schools located in the rural areas of western China, however, it was their first attempt at online learning, and the critical question regarding the effectiveness of online learning on academic performance remains to be answered. In this study, we tracked 125 Grade 10 students in a rural high school in western China, and we compared their academic performance before and after the online learning practice. In addition, four hierarchical regression models were computed to explore the influencing factors of post-pandemic academic performance in different subjects. The results indicated that online learning did not increase students' academic performance in the rural high school and significant drop of performance was seen in mathematics and English. Students' demographic features had little influence on the change of academic performance, as prior academic performance remained the most important predictor of the post-pandemic academic performance.