After the Virus: Disaster Capitalism, Digital Inequity, and Transformative Education for the Future of Schooling

The 2020 COVID-19 disaster triggered an educational crisis in the United States, deeply exacerbating the inequities present in education as schools went online. This primary impact may not be the only one, however: literature describes a secondary impact of such disasters through "disaster capitalism," in which the private sector captures the public resources of disaster-struck communities for profit. In response to these warnings, we ask how schools, families, and communities can counteract disaster capitalism for educational equity. To address this question, we first synthesize a critical framework for analyzing digital inequity in education. We then dissect the strategies disaster capitalism uses to attack the school-family-community relationship and exacerbate digital inequity in "normal" times as well as during crises. Employing the notion of community funds of knowledge, we next examine the resources schools, families, and communities can mobilize against disaster capitalism and digital inequity. Finally, guided by the concepts of generative change and transformative learning, we consider actionable practices of countering disaster capitalism for a transformative education. [ FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Education & Urban Society is the property of Sage Publications Inc. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full . (Copyright applies to all s.)

Evolution of Youth's Mental Health and Quality of Life during the COVID-19 Pandemic in South Tyrol, Italy: Comparison of Two Representative Surveys.

BACKGROUND: The coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic has led to an increase in youth mental health problems worldwide. Studies have revealed substantial variation in the incidence of these problems across different regions. Longitudinal studies of children and adolescents in Italy are lacking. This study aimed to investigate the development of health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and mental health in Northern Italy by comparing surveys conducted in June 2021 and in March 2022. METHODS: A representative, large cross-sectional, online survey investigated HRQoL, psychosomatic complaints, and symptoms of anxiety and depression among 5159 and 6675 children and adolescents in 2021 and 2022, respectively, using the KIDSCREEN-10 index, HBSC symptom checklist, SCARED, CES-DC, and PHQ-2 instruments. Statistical analyses included a multivariate linear regression analysis. RESULTS: Baseline characteristics showed significant differences in demographic variables between the two surveys. Girls and their parents reported a significantly lower HRQoL in 2021 than in 2022. Psychosomatic complaints differed significantly between sexes, and the results showed no decrease in psychosomatic complaints, anxiety, or depression between 2021 and 2022. Predictors of HRQoL, anxiety, depressive symptoms, and psychosomatic complaints in 2022 differed from those in 2021. CONCLUSIONS: The characteristics of the 2021 pandemic, including lockdowns and home schooling, may have contributed to the differences between the two surveys. As most pandemic restrictions ended in 2022, the results confirm the need for measures to improve the mental and physical health of children and adolescents after the pandemic.

The decision to homeschool: potential factors influencing reactive homeschooling practice

While a controversial practice internationally, homeschooling is not uncommon in the United States' educational system. Although myriad reasons exist for choosing to homeschool one's children, a framework highlighting reactive versus proactive motivations has emerged to explain why some families choose to homeschool. Using prospective, longitudinal data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Kindergarten: 2010–2011 (ECLS-K:11), reports were gathered from 187 homeschooled children, their parents, and their teachers. Aspects of the ECLS-K:11 homeschoolers appear consistent with a reactive model of homeschooling. All ECLS-K:11 children initially began kindergarten in the traditional school system, but subsequently left that system prior to fifth grade to be homeschooled. When assessed shortly before leaving, these children were more likely to be absent and to have parents who did not endorse being very satisfied with their child's school compared to those who remained in the school system. Moreover, these issues appeared uniquely exacerbated just prior to departure from the school system. Additionally, although children who would go on to homeschool within the next year did not score differently on academic achievement tests than their traditionally schooled peers, they were more likely to experience bullying in the year before they began to homeschool. The ECSL-K:11's homeschooling sample is described, and conclusions drawn between it and literature descriptions of homeschoolers. Implications, limitations, and future directions are discussed, particularly given recent changes in the educational landscape. [ FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Educational Review is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full . (Copyright applies to all s.)

Parents' attitudes towards distance learning during the COVID-19 pandemic

AJOL : In this article we consider the applicability of distance education on the elementary level from parents' perspectives and present the limitations stemming from the degree of support that students in elementary education need from their parents. The dilemmas regarding the possible levels of students' development of independence and self-orientation, and the parents' roles are highlighted. We believe that due to these limitations, distance learning has some of the characteristics of homeschooling. The subject of the research in the empirical part of this study focused on parents' attitudes. Parental attitudes, based on a previously established multi-factor model, become clear from the parents' experiences (Kolak, Markic & Horvat, 2020) where factors regarding the demands of teaching and the competence of parents as substitute teachers, were separated. Parents' characteristics (e.g., gender, age, educational status and involvement) were found to influence their attitudes. The results of the research indicate the importance of parents in distance during the pandemic which adds a new and more significant role in the educational process of their children

Difficult situations and ways of coping with them in the experiences of parents homeschooling their children during the COVID-19 pandemic in Poland

The aim of the research project is to present parents' perceptions and experiences related to home education during the coronavirus pandemic, and the ways of coping with difficult situations, taking into account sociodemographic factors. At the end of March and beginning of April this year, a survey was conducted on a group of 278 parents living in Poland - in a large city, small town and in the countryside - and affected by this problem. The findings indicate that a significant group of respondents described the existing situation as difficult, and the responsibilities related to home schooling as being beyond their capabilities. Parents are generally not confident about their competence and solutions they adopt;they express anxiety about the future of their children. Significant differences were observed in the ways of perceiving difficult situations and of coping with them with respect to gender and place of residence. The undertaken research is important because the voices of parents shed light on the problems of Polish education in a crisis situation, and at the same time indicate the direction of necessary changes. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)

Norwegian students' experiences of homeschooling during the COVID-19 pandemic

Norwegian teachers and school leaders had to organise and provide homeschooling for their students from March to May 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. A survey conducted in May 2020 examined lower secondary school students' experiences of distance learning. How students at different levels of academic achievement (based on grades) experienced homeschooling was compared to comparable findings from a survey conducted on students from the same schools during the autumn of 2018. The findings indicate that students experienced less support and feedback from their teachers during homeschooling, and that teachers gave more written than oral feedback to the students during homeschooling than they do in regular school. Furthermore, there was a tendency of lower efforts and self-efficacy among low-achieving students, which might be difficult to reverse when schools reopen. The findings raise growing concerns about homeschooling leading to a larger gap between high- and low-achieving students in lower secondary school. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)

‘We just have to sail this sea all together until we find a shore': parents' accounts of home-educating primary-school children in England during COVID-19

Parents' everyday realities of enforced home-schooling during COVID-19 may offer important insights into strengths and weakness of education systems. This article presents findings from a qualitative study involving parents of primary-school-age children in England during the first ‘lockdown'. Parents shared common concerns with routine, motivation, resources, support, and children's wellbeing, and responded creatively to the challenges they faced. We argue that focusing narrowly on ‘learning loss' and getting ‘back on track' may lead to impoverished educational experiences post-COVID-19, and that a broad, engaging curriculum with social and emotional wellbeing at its core will support children's thriving in an uncertain future.

Parents' attitudes towards distance learning during the COVID-19 pandemic

In this article we consider the applicability of distance education on the elementary level from parents' perspectives and present the limitations stemming from the degree of support that students in elementary education need from their parents. The dilemmas regarding the possible levels of students' development of independence and self-orientation, and the parents' roles are highlighted. We believe that due to these limitations, distance learning has some of the characteristics of home-schooling. The subject of the research in the empirical part of this study focused on parents' attitudes. Parental attitudes, based on a previously established multi-factor model, become clear from the parents' experiences (Kolak, Markić & Horvat, 2020) where factors regarding the demands of teaching and the competence of parents as substitute teachers, were separated. Parents' characteristics (e.g., gender, age, educational status and involvement) were found to influence their attitudes. The results of the research indicate the importance of parents in distance learning during the pandemic which adds a new and more significant role in the educational process of their children. © 2022, South African Journal Of Education. All rights reserved.

PE at Home: keeping the 'E' in PE while home-schooling during a pandemic

The world experienced challenges due to the COVID-19 pandemic which resulted in school closures across the globe in early 2020. Schools pivoted to remote delivery of learning using a variety of online and offline resources. PE is vital in providing motor development opportunities for children and it is essential to ensure that the provision of quality PE experiences is continued, even in the context of a pandemic. It was in this context that the PE at Home lessons were developed. This study examined teachers' and parents' experiences of using the PE at Home resource and contributes to documenting the PE home-learning experience and can inform how the education system might respond and incorporate remote teaching into the future. A mixed-methods study utilising online surveys with 29 teachers and 173 parents/guardians and online interviews with five teachers, five parents and seven resource developers was undertaken. Quantitative data were descriptively analysed while qualitative data were analysed using a thematic approach (Braun, V., and V. Clarke. 2006. "Using Thematic Analysis in Psychology." Qualitative Research in Psychology 3 (2): 77–101). The PE at Home lessons had excellent viewership with over 27,000 Facebook and 937 website views. Three themes (i) ensuring the 'E' remained in PE;(ii) home-schooling and physical education;(ii) and context and relatability were developed from the data. While some parents demonstrated that their knowledge of PE was that it consisted of physical activity, other parents along with teachers and developers reflected on the educative component of the lessons. The PE at Home lessons provided teachers with a resource to share with parents to support parents home-school during Covid-19 school closures. An Irish resource featuring Irish children and aligned with the Irish curriculum was seen as a strength by both parents and teachers. The PE at Home lessons address the teaching and learning of PE in multiple contexts, particularly in an online environment, and they can be used in multiple ways to promote learning. [ FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Physical Education & Sport Pedagogy is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full . (Copyright applies to all s.)

Homeschooling Black students during the pandemic

According to the US Census Bureau's biweekly Household Pulse Survey, the percentage of homeschoolers-children whose parents withdrew them from public or private schools and assumed full control of their education-grew significantly during the pandemic. The percentage of households that homeschooled at least one child increased from 5.4% at the start of the pandemic in the spring of 2020 to 19.5% in May of 2021. While homeschooling has long been associated with conservative, religious White families, the most significant increases during the pandemic have been among families of color and, in particular, Black households. Around 3% of Black students were homeschooled before the pandemic;by October 2020, the number had increased by more than five times-to 16%. What is driving the migration from mainstream education is difficult to parse, due in part to the dearth of research and reporting on homeschooling among families of color - both before the pandemic and as it continues to unfold. Although COVID-19 and concern for children's health and safety acted as the impetus for many, if not most, families' decisions, the shift from traditional schooling has also been driven by parents' concerns about the disparities, inadequacies, and racism that run deep in public education. The nation's ongoing reckoning with race alongside COVID-19 has acted as a catalyst for some parents of color to remove their children from mainstream education settings entirely. While do not yet know if new adopters of homeschooling will continue the practice post-pandemic or if they may delay their decision to re-enroll their children in brick-and-mortar schools, there are clear implications for students and the school districts they leave behind. This chapter explores the growth of homeschooling among Black families specifically, providing an overview and typologies, pre-pandemic trends and changes during COVID-19, a review of the literature on Black homeschooling, and concluding with implications. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)

Students home alone—profiles of internal and external conditions associated with mathematics learning from home

This study aims at describing differences in internal and external resources of students to handle mathematics learning from home. Based on data from N = 223 7th-grade secondary school students gathered via an online survey at the end of the first school year during the COVID-19 pandemic, we used latent profile analysis to identify student profiles defined by the internal factors perceived value and success of students' math learning from home and the external factors family support and teacher support—all specifically related to home learning. A number of general learning conditions, comprising internal (e.g., sustained attention) and external factors (e.g., socioeconomic status), are included as outcome variables. The best-fitting four-profile solution suggests one profile with comparably unfavorable internal and external resources. About 35% of the students are assigned to that profile. The other three profiles show combinations of, relative to the sample, more and less promising specific home learning and general learning conditions suggesting that these students have different resources available in the face of learning mathematics from home. © 2022, The Author(s).

Parental perspectives of home-schooling of children with special educational needs and disabilities during the COVID-19 pandemic: a review.

The purpose of this paper is to review recent literature on parental perspectives of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the home-schooling of children with special educational needs and disabilities, as well as to consider implications for their education and well-being. Eleven papers were reviewed, published between 2020 and 2021, selected according to a systematic protocol from three widely used online databases. Analysis of the reviewed papers found that transitioning to home-schooling during the pandemic had negative consequences for most of the children, as well as for their parents, though a small but significant number reported positive consequences. Three key areas of concern were identified in the analysis: balancing home-schooling with parent work activities; parent relationships with schools and support services and agencies and home-schooling effects on the well-being and mental health of parents and children.

Parental Involvement in Children's Online Education During COVID-19; A Phenomenological Study in Saudi Arabia.

The global spread of COVID-19 has caused disruptions in many aspects of our lives. Education systems worldwide have changed dramatically. Numerous countries have encouraged schools to shift to e-learning and, as a result, parental involvement in their children's education has changed. This study focused on parental involvement in children's education during the COVID-19 pandemic. The study applied a qualitative phenomenological approach following a constructive social framework, whereby the researcher pursued an understanding of the world in which she lives and works. The primary tool employed to collect relevant data was in-depth interviews with six parents who voluntarily participated in the study in the western province of Saudi Arabia. Thematic analysis is applied to analyse the collected data. The study found that parental involvement in children's schooling has been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Furthermore, the interviews revealed that parents would prefer to keep to their chosen role rather than fulfil the teaching role imposed on them by COVID-19. This paper contributes to the application of Hoover-Dempsey and Sandler's model of parental involvement in children's schooling, illustrating that an external force drives parental involvement. More specifically, many parents have been forced to change the form of their participation due to the unforeseen shift to e-learning.

Pods in Action: Community Works. A Community Organization Makes the Jump from Supporting Students after School to Supporting Families Who Homeschool

Before the pandemic, Community Works in New Orleans, Louisiana ran large-group (100- to 200-student) after-school and out-of-school-time programs that integrated enrichment and academics for youth in grades K-8. When school buildings closed in March 2020, Community Works started offering more versatile programming options to meet the needs of their students, inclusive of various virtual programs and some in-person after-school and daytime programs. They then shifted their focus from their virtual programming options to facilitate operation of two learning pods, one funded and located within the local K-8 public school for the children of teachers and one composed of mostly homeschooled students that was housed in their office building and funded by the Vela Education Fund. This report discusses how an organization with experience running out-of-school-time programs proved well positioned to support students during the pandemic by providing enrichment that supplemented the remote instruction they received from schools and by prioritizing students' social and emotional well-being. Supporting full-blown school replacement for families new to homeschooling created new challenges for an organization used to supporting supplemental activities, especially because some families did not know they were expected to provide curricula.

Parenthood in a Crisis 2.0: Motherhood in the Tension between Homeschooling and Home Office--A Comparison after 1 Year of the Pandemic

The contact restrictions and closures of schools and childcare facilities in Germany in the course of the COVID-19 pandemic have presented families and parents with new challenges that have been accompanied by different (health) burdens and reinforce already existing gender differences in the division of tasks in families, especially with regard to care work. Women and mothers show themselves to be more burdened in the various dimensions of health in the course of the pandemic than men and fathers. In particular, the psychosocial dimensions of subjective health, especially the general experience of strain, stress, exhaustion and anxiety, increased again among women and mothers in the second lockdown. Reasons can be seen in a reinforcement of the unequal distribution of care work that already existed before the pandemic, as well as in a stronger mental load among women and mothers.

Crisis Breeds Innovation: Pandemic Pods and the Future of Education

In the summer of 2020, it became clear to growing numbers of families and community organizations that COVID-19's unprecedented disruptions to public education would not subside in time for the coming school year. Facing the prospect of continued school closures and uncertain public health safeguards, families were forced to make new childcare arrangements, often at the expense of their employment, and had to navigate the stress of dislocation and isolation with little support from the institutions they had long relied upon. Across the country, some families devised their own solution: the pandemic pod. They brought together small groups of students and enlisted adults--hired instructors, or groups of parent volunteers--to supervise students and support their learning. In partnership with their funders, the Center on Reinventing Public Education launched a national initiative that brought together researchers from around the country to track and analyze the pandemic pod movement. Their goal was simple: to learn from the families, educators, and community-based organizations who stepped in during the crisis to solve urgent challenges and, along the way, invented educational solutions that could outlast the pandemic. This report is one part of that larger effort. It offers the first in-depth look at families' and educators' experiences with pandemic pods, drawing upon a national survey of 152 parents and 101 instructors who participated in a pod during the pandemic, and follow-up interviews with 62 survey respondents. The findings suggest that families and educators can carve new, promising paths forward when freed from the rules around how school is supposed to work. At the same time, some of pods' flexibility arose because they were disconnected from the rules and routines that typically govern school systems. While this could yield benefits for students and freed educators to work in ways they found fulfilling, it also meant that students and educators in pods were cut off from critical forms of support.

Report on the Condition of Education 2022. NCES 2022-144

The "Report on the Condition of Education" is a congressionally mandated annual report from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). Using the most recent data available (at the time this report was written) from NCES and other sources, the report contains key indicators on the condition of education in the United States at all levels, from prekindergarten through postsecondary, as well as labor force outcomes and international comparisons. There are core indicators that are updated every year and spotlight indicators that provide in-depth analyses on topics of interest to education systems, policymakers, researchers, and the public. At the broadest level, the Condition of Education Indicator System is organized into five sections: family characteristics, preprimary, elementary, and secondary education, postsecondary education, population characteristics and economic outcomes, and international comparisons. The "Report on the Condition of Education" 2022 encompasses key findings from the Condition of Education Indicator System. The Indicator System for 2022 presents 88 indicators, including the 23 indicators on crime and safety topics, and can be accessed online through the website or by downloading PDFs for the individual indicators. [For "'The Condition of Education 2022': At a Glance," see ED619873. For the "Report on the Condition of Education 2021. NCES 2021-144," see ED612942.]

Homeschooling Reconsidered

Homeschooling was occasionally a subject of popular interest pre-COVID, when media reported horrific cases of child abuse under the guise of homeschooling, or when controversies erupted over efforts in state legislatures or local school boards to introduce very modest oversight measures. COVID made homeschooling something nearly every parent considered as a long-term educational option for their children, and something arguably -- depending on one's definition of homeschooling -- nearly all experienced. This article extracts from the societal experience of forced remote learning, challenging theoretical questions about the distinction between homeschooling and "regular schooling", the wisdom of traditional brick-and-mortar, multi-service schooling, and the appropriateness of state officials passing judgement on any private form of schooling.

The Demand Side of Alternative Education Products

Data on the popularity of alternative educational models like "pandemic pods," homeschooling, "hybrid" homeschooling, and tutoring has been anecdotal, episodic, and parochial. Journalistic accounts of new learning communities in some cities and some states have profiled schools, the educators that teach in them, and the families that attend them, but collecting reliable, nationwide data has proved challenging. We at EdChoice have been surveying a nationally representative sample of Americans every month since early 2020, with an oversample of school parents starting in September 2020. This has allowed us to measure the nationwide sentiment around learning pods, homeschooling, hybrid homeschooling, tutoring, and the like. We have also surveyed a nationally representative sample of teachers every quarter and have put three polls of the nation's teenagers in the field in August of 2020, February of 2021, and September of 2021. Our survey results show there is potentially a robust market for learning pods, or similar arrangements such as microschools, hybrid homeschools, and homeschool cooperatives, and that this market could include large numbers of Black, Hispanic, and lower-income families.

Homeschooling Skyrocketed during the Pandemic, but What Does the Future Hold?

Homeschooling is generally understood to mean that a child's education takes place exclusively at home--but homeschooling is a continuum, not an all-or-nothing choice. In a sense, everyone is "home-schooled," and the ways that families combine learning at home with attending school are many. Especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, the concept of homeschooling has become ambiguous, as parents mix home, school, and online instruction, adjusting often to the twists and turns of school closures and public health concerns. Improving public understanding of the growing and changing nature of homeschooling was the purpose of a virtual conference hosted in spring 2021 by the Program on Education Policy and Governance at the Harvard Kennedy School. The conference examined issues in homeschooling through multiple lenses, including research, expert analysis, and the experiences of parents. The event drew more than 2,000 registrants, many of them home-schooling parents. Their participation made clear that homeschoolers today constitute a diverse group of families with many different educational objectives, making it difficult to generalize about the practice. The conference did not uncover convincing evidence that homeschooling is preferable to public or private schools in terms of children's academic outcomes and social experiences, but neither did it find credible evidence that homeschooling is a worse option. Whether homeschooling does or does not deliver for families seems to depend on individual needs and the reasons that families adopt the practice.