The outbreak of Covid-19 in spring 2020 shut down schools around the world and placed parents in charge of their children’s schooling. Research from the lockdown period documents that families differ in their responses to their new responsibility for their children’s homeschooling by socioeconomic status and that the Covid-19 crisis has increased educational inequality. The aim of this paper is to examine inequality in children’s reading behavior before, during and after the lockdown of schools in Denmark by analyzing new digital data from a widely used reading app combined with administrative data. Our results show, first, that students’ online reading behavior increased significantly as a consequence of the lockdown of schools, second, that there is a socioeconomic gradient in students’ reading behavior both before and during the lockdown, and, third, that inequality in reading behavior during Covid-19 increased exclusively during the first lockdown period in which schools were closed and students where taught online. Consequently, our results support the findings from previous research documenting a SES gradient in learning opportunities in homeschooling activities during the Covid-19 induced lockdown. Yet, contrary to prior research, we find only a short-term increase in inequality on children’s actual reading activity during Covid-19.

2020 年春季爆发的 Covid-19 导致世界各地的学校停课，让父母负责孩子的学业。封锁期的研究表明，家庭对孩子在家上学的新责任的反应因社会经济地位而异，Covid-19 危机加剧了教育不平等。本文的目的是通过分析来自广泛使用的阅读应用程序的新数字数据以及管理数据，研究丹麦学校停课之前、期间和之后儿童阅读行为的不平等。我们的研究结果表明，首先，由于学校封锁，学生的在线阅读行为显着增加，其次，在封锁之前和期间，学生的阅读行为存在社会经济梯度，并且，第三，Covid-19 期间阅读行为的不平等仅在学校关闭和学生在线授课的第一个封锁期间有所增加。因此，我们的结果支持先前研究的结果，该研究记录了在 Covid-19 导致的封锁期间在家上学活动中学习机会的 SES 梯度。然而，与之前的研究相反，我们发现在 Covid-19 期间，儿童实际阅读活动的不平等现象只会短期增加。我们的结果支持先前研究的结果，该研究记录了在 Covid-19 引发的封锁期间在家上学活动中学习机会的 SES 梯度。然而，与之前的研究相反，我们发现在 Covid-19 期间，儿童实际阅读活动的不平等现象只会短期增加。我们的结果支持先前研究的结果，该研究记录了在 Covid-19 引发的封锁期间在家上学活动中学习机会的 SES 梯度。然而，与之前的研究相反，我们发现在 Covid-19 期间，儿童实际阅读活动的不平等现象只会短期增加。