Predicting Parent Trust Based on Professionals' Communication Skills

Trust is critical to the establishment and maintenance of working relationships between the parents of children with disabilities and their child's professional. Knowledge of the specific communication skills needed to secure trust is unclear. The current study investigated the relationship between parent evaluation of professionals' communication skills and parent trust of professionals. A total of 165 parents responded to an online survey during the COVID-19 pandemic. The results indicated that professionals' communication skills had a significant and moderately positive relationship with the parent trust of professionals. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses indicated that parents' ratings of professionals' communication competence, and professionals' use of in-person communication were the only predictors of parent trust of special education professionals, even when other factors were considered. This study's findings draw attention to the importance communication skills may have in establishing and maintaining trusting relationships with parents.

Children's engagement in self-learning modules (SLMs) amid the pandemic: a predictive analysis on the role of internet access, household food security, and parental involvement to modular classes

This study examines essential factors that affect children' quality of response towards a non-traditional learning platform specifically, self-learning modules (SLMs) as Philippine public school's mode of service-learning delivery. Our objective is to determine the predictive power of access to internet, household food security, and parental involvement on the level of students' engagement in these modular classes amid the health crisis. Drawing online responses from parents of public-school students (n=359), our regression analysis confirms the viability of our model F(3,355) = 19.2, p<.001. While we found that food security and parental involvement are predictors of students' satisfactory engagement in their SLMs, internet access is not. Therefore, our model suggests that children with parents who take time to be involved in their studies and who reside in households with enough food are more likely to engage positively in their modular classes, whether or not the household has access to the internet.

High Impact for Youth by Youth: Health and Education Programs in Southern Africa

Young people in East and Southern Africa need greater access to reliable information about health and education in order to make informed decisions on health matters--focusing on HIV and teenage pregnancy--and to increase basic education outcomes. Young 1ove organization, established in March 2014 in Gaborone, Botswana, is a grassroots, youth-led, evidence-based movement in East and Southern Africa. Its mission is to connect youth to proven life-saving information. Its core competencies are delivering sensitive information to young people in a credible and relatable fashion, busting myths, changing beliefs and norms, generating demand, and building connection and trust. As a portfolio organization, Young 1ove commits to a few, highly curated programs. It invests in these programs for the long term--testing, iterating, and following the evidence at each step of the program life cycle. This article discusses lessons learned along the way of implementing Teaching at the Right Level (TaRL). TaRL is an education program that supports students who are falling behind in basic literacy and numeracy by grouping them according to ability level, rather than teaching to a syllabus that is often far too advanced for most students. In addition, the program has a menu of fun and level-appropriate activities that are custom-tailored to each group of students.

Teaching Writing in Emergency Distance Education: The Case of Primary School Teachers

This is a case study examining the writing teaching processes of primary school teachers during the COVID-19 pandemic. Fifty-four primary school teachers who conduct their writing teaching practices by distance education took part in the study. The data were gathered through a semi-structured interview form developed by the researcher under the guidance of an expert. The interviews were conducted via video chat programs. After having the participant's consent, the interviews were recorded. In the analysis of the transcribed texts, descriptive and content analysis methods were used. The results were divided into five groups after the data analysis, and these are: first writing experiences, situations originating from the teacher, situations originating from the student, situations originating from the student's parents, and recommendations. The results revealed that sufficient significance was not given to the writing tasks during the pandemic, and these efforts were postponed to the next semester when it was expected that face-to-face education would begin. In the process, the study revealed that student motivation was poor, there were issues in the management of the classroom environment, and writings of students could not be provided with the necessary feedback and corrections. Besides, what stands out that for teaching writing, parent support is required, and parents do not pay desired attention to the writing. However, primary school teachers have provided some suggestions for more effective writing teaching.

Parental Perceptions of Their Preschool and Elementary School Children with Respect to Teacher-Family Relations and Teaching Methods during the First COVID-19 Lockdown

The goal of this study was to learn about parental perceptions of their preschool and elementary school children with respect to relations with the teachers and various aspects of distance learning used during the first COVID-19 lockdown in Israel. Research was carried out in the summer of 2020 among 602 parents, comprising a representative sample of parents of children in preschool, grades 1-2, and grades 3-6 of the Jewish population of Israel. Participants completed a questionnaire designed for this study that sought to measure attitudes towards aspects of distance learning (e.g., Zoom lessons) and how the teachers related to the children and parents. Findings indicate that the child's age had an impact on how the parent perceives the activities of the children and the teachers with respect to several forms of distance learning imposed by the pandemic. At all ages, parental interpretation of the impact of the pandemic on teacher-family relations was found to contribute to the explained variance regarding parental evaluation of the children's and teachers' activities as well as the variance in attitudes about distance learning (both online and asynchronous). Also, parents of every age cohort reported that they were more involved in their children's distance learning than in encouraging the children to reach out to their friends -- the parents of third through sixth graders were even less involved than parents of the younger children.

Preservice Teachers Engage Parents in At-Home Learning: "We Are in This Together!"

During pandemic school closures, preservice teachers designed activity plans to support the at-home learning of children in early elementary grades and recognized parents as vital to supporting their children's learning. This article uses data from a multiple case study of preservice teachers' planning during an alternate practicum. Drawing on models of family vibrancy and parent engagement that arise from funds of knowledge and parent knowledge theories, we highlight how preservice teachers included parents in reciprocal and democratic ways that honoured diverse family's contexts and their knowledge of their children. Results illustrate the importance of asset-oriented, flexible pedagogies that include meaningful parent partnerships both during and beyond the pandemic.

Parent Engagement in Early Childhood Education: Pandemic Period

Parent engagement contributes greatly to the teachers and parents as well as the child. Within the scope of this study, it was aimed to examine the opinions and practices of preschool teachers about parent engagement studies during pandemic period in depth. For this purpose, phenomenology, which is one of the qualitative research methods, was used. 53 preschool teachers who were determined with the maximum diversity sampling method participated in the study. The study employed a semi-structured interview form. The researchers gathered the study's data through online interviews and one-on-one phone calls with preschool teachers. The audio recordings from the participants' interviews were transcribed, and then inductive and comparative analysis were conducted. As a result of the research, the theme of parent engagement in the pandemic includes the parent as the teacher, activities, engagement problems and strategies to increase engagement. Research findings have shown that parent engagement has become necessary, even mandatory, especially during the pandemic period. Even, in this period, the concept of the parent as a proxy teacher draws attention. This research results showed that the importance of parents' engagement in education and parents' becoming better equipped in the education of their children. At the microsystem level, it is clear that the Ministry of Education should encourage parent engagement. At this time, it appears to be beneficial in terms of both addressing gaps in this area and following up-to-date studies by offering in-service training to teachers on Ministry of Education parent engagement studies. Furthermore, rather than relying on teachers' initiative, the Ministry should make parent engagement works mandatory.

Primary Teachers Difficulties Related to Compulsory Distance Education during COVID-19

Due to a lack of preparation, teachers were not emotionally or cognitively prepared to use new approaches. Teachers discovered that while teaching online, elementary school teachers face various challenges. Summarizing and categorizing the difficulties encountered by primary school teachers in compulsory distance education will add to the literature, ensuring the dissemination of online instruction technological tools at both the distance education and primary education levels. The study sought to categorize the difficulties encountered by primary teachers. In order to figure out the purpose of the study, the study data including primary teachers in the COVID-19 period was synthesized. The study was accepted as a meta-synthesis. The education database ERIC was searched using the keywords "Primary Teacher", "Distance Education", and "Online Education", and 79 studies were located as a result of the search. After eliminating ineligible studies, 23 of the 79 collected studies remained. As a result, students, parents, infrastructure, and teachers are all affected by the challenges. Cutting-edge technologies and a strong internet infrastructure are required for online education. Teachers are unable to maintain the minimum level of compulsory distance education due to limited internet connection and a lack of technological resources in many places. As a result of the strain, teachers felt inadequate. In many classrooms in poor countries, there is a lack of access to professional expertise and help for the use and integration of ICTs. COVID-19 has made this an issue for almost all schools, not just those in underdeveloped countries. The importance of online learning for elementary children and teachers has gotten considerably less attention. Teachers can take pedagogical diversity professional development training online and experience it as if they were students. The practical advantage of identifying the difficulties that teachers have faced is to aid teachers in overcoming such obstacles and to give the appropriate assistance. Successful distance education can only be achieved when teachers are supported in all areas of difficulty.

Parents' Perceptions of Distance Learning during COVID-19 in Rural Indonesia

This study was developed to investigate parents' perceptions and attitudes towards distance learning in response to many schools' closures due to the COVID-19. This research employed a qualitative approach. The research subjects consisted of parents of elementary school students in the City of Gunungsitoli, Indonesia determined by purposive sampling technique, totaling twenty-four people. The data were collected using semi-structured interview techniques and analyzed using thematic analysis techniques. This study shows that distance learning or learning from home in a research context takes the form of online and offline learning. The learning approach implemented during the COVID-19 emergency must be lived and supported without other options for parents. Although parents do not have negative perceptions, distance learning has increased the economic, psychological, and social burden on parents or families. The lack of parental involvement and support in children's learning process at home is generally due to the lack of time and parents' inability to become teachers for their children. Actions to accompany and support children's learning process at home are carried out to provide internet packages, help children master the material, and participate in completing assignments or tests given by the teacher. The surprising finding from this study is the decline in children's learning motivation and cognitive abilities. Parents hope that distance learning is not extended.

Foundational Literacy and Numeracy in Rural Afghanistan: Findings from a Baseline Learning Assessment of Accelerated Learning Centres

In Afghanistan, 93% of children cannot read a simple text by the age of 10. Education is not available to everyone, especially for girls and children in remote areas. A form of community-based education, called Accelerated Learning Centers (ALCs), can help close the distance barrier and meet the needs of out-of-school children and girls. In May 2021, an assessment of foundational literacy and numeracy skills of ALC students and nearby government school students was conducted. Results show that children at ALCs are learning at similar levels or better compared with children who attend government schools. This report provides insight into practices to improve education in rural areas in Afghanistan.

K-12 Teacher Perspectives on the Pandemic Pivot to Online Teaching and Learning

The study examines teacher perspectives on preparedness to implement the transition of over 50 million K-12 students to online and virtual teaching formats. With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, students were instructed to remain at home and to avoid the potential dangers of virus spread in schools. Once this transition began, and then continued on as the pandemic ignited, attention and scrutiny was aimed at how well teachers had been prepared for this shift. Relationships between these perceptions in terms of years of teaching, grade level, content area, school type, and school level were examined in this study. Over 140 teachers, ranging from kindergarten to senior English teachers completed the survey. The researchers analyzed emerged patterns and sentiment scores for the most prevalent themes. The study sought teacher perceptions of preparation as provided by schools, districts, and universities as well as perceptions on how engaged parents and students felt during this dramatic and sudden shift. Findings demonstrate that significant differences exist between how teachers perceive their levels of preparedness for teaching remotely depending on their teaching experience. It was evident that the pandemic affected K-12 school systems in one state harsher than in higher education. Conclusions from this study better inform future decisions of this nature and that could ensure higher levels of teacher preparation.

Crime, Violence, Discipline, and Safety in U.S. Public Schools in 2019-20: Findings from the School Survey on Crime and Safety. First Look. NCES 2022-029

Using data from the School Survey on Crime and Safety (SSOCS), this report presents findings both on crime and violence in U.S. public schools and on the practices and programs schools have used to promote school safety. SSOCS collects data from public school principals about violent and nonviolent crimes in their schools. The survey also collects data on school security measures, school security staff, mental health services, parent and community involvement at school, and staff training. SSOCS data can be used to study how violent incidents in schools relate to the programs and practices that schools have in place to prevent crime. Data collection began in February 2020 and was conducted mostly using an online survey instrument. In March 2020, many schools began closing their physical buildings due to the coronavirus pandemic. This affected data collection activities. Also, the change to virtual schooling and the adjusted school year may have impacted the data collected by SSOCS. Readers should use caution when comparing SSOCS:2020 estimates with those from earlier years. The national sample for SSOCS:2020 was made up of 4,800 U.S. public schools. Of these schools, 2,370 elementary, middle, high/secondary, and combined/other schools responded. The results showed that nonresponding schools were significantly different from responding schools. However, the results also showed that weighting adjustments removed most of the observed nonresponse bias. [For the summary report, see ED621594. For the 2019 report, see ED596638.]

Home Literacy Initiatives of Middle School Families during the 2020 Quarantine Period: Transformation in Education?

The coronavirus pandemic changed everything almost overnight for students and their families. The purpose of this qualitative case study, thus, was to investigate the views of families about the student change in education for their middle school children, particularly literacy practices, during the pandemic. Drawing on Bourdieu's (1984) theoretical framework of cultural capital, coupled with economic status, funds of knowledge, and crisis management, we conducted interviews with four parents. Using the in vivo coding data analysis method, we identified some key preliminary findings: all-day happy hour, the strange disconnection between teachers and parents, and soft and hard approaches to school-home literacy. Participants revealed very distinctive dispositions to make this "school-home" education work on their own. These parental dispositions and new meaning-making from their children's education developed into what we referred to as "parentagogy," as they determined for themselves the skills they would need to use to help their children succeed in their new roles as parent and educators. This study confirms the importance of parental value in education.

Lessons for Improving Curriculum from the COVID-19 Pandemic

There have been countless challenges faced by American families with school-aged children during the COVID-19 pandemic. Among the many challenges specifically relating to education has been ensuring children had access to a challenging academic curriculum. Whether children have been educated remotely or in hybrid settings, or whether they have been in a pod or homeschool, there have been barriers to the provision of a quality curriculum, such as: (1) Whether the school's curriculum materials (if there were any) are suitable for remote, homeschool, or pod instruction, (2) Whether teachers (whether regular certified teachers, homeschooling parents, or pod teachers) have the knowledge and skill to select and implement needed core and supplementary curriculum materials, and (3) Whether and how teachers are supplementing the core curriculum materials with enrichment activities and activities matched to student needs. This paper examines how the COVID-19 pandemic affected the ways curriculum materials were used and identify lessons that could help improve access to quality curriculum and instruction moving forward, whether children are being educated in school, remotely, or in a homeschool/pod setting.

The Impact COVID-19 School Closures on Educational Inequalities / Covid-19 Salgını Dolayısıyla Okulların Kapanmasının Eğitimde Eşitsizlikler Üzerine Etkisi

During the new coronavirus pandemic, schools were closed suddenly in almost every country in the world, and education services continued with the distance education solutions. However, the consequences of the school closures, maintaining education services via distance education and the deprivation of other services provided by schools have not been adequately evaluated. In this study, the effects of school closures and distance education on families and students during the Covid-19 pandemic were reviewed. Parental involvement, physical and technological possessions at home, digital literacy levels of students and parents have become the main factors that determines the efficiency of distance learning during the pandemic. As a result, there is a possibility that inequalities in education will increase more in pandemic. Inequalities in education had an important impact on the unemployment and loss of income, learning loss of students and psychological conditions, reaching healthy nutrition, need for special education, and fragile students. Although distance education was considered as an opportunity to reduce learning loss of students due to school closures during the pandemic, unfortunately it also made possible to increase the inequalities in education during the pandemic period. Yeni tip koronavirüs salgını sürecinde dünyadaki hemen her ülkede ani bir karar ile okullar kapatılmış ve uzaktan eğitim süreci ile eğitimler sürdürülmeye başlanmıştır. Bununla birlikte hem okulların kapatılmasının ve uzaktan eğitim sürecine geçilmesinin hem de okulların sunduğu diğer hizmetlerden mahrum kalmanın oluşturacağı sonuçlar yeterince değerlendirilmemiştir. Bu çalışmada, Covid-19 salgını döneminde okulların kapatılması ve uzaktan eğitim süreçlerinin aile ve öğrenciler üzerindeki etkileri incelenmiştir. Ebeveyn niteliği, evin fiziki ve teknolojik imkânları, dijital okuryazarlık düzeyleri, salgın dönemi uzaktan öğrenme sürecinin temel belirleyicileri hâline gelmiştir. Bunun sonucu olarak eğitimsel eşitsizliklerin dezavantajlı öğrenciler aleyhine çok daha büyümesi olasılığı doğmuştur. Eğitimsel eşitsizlikler, işsiz kalma ve gelir kaybı, öğrencilerin akademik becerilerindeki kayıpları ve psikolojik durumları, sağlıklı beslenme, özel eğitime ihtiyaç duyma ile dezavantajlı ve kırılgan bir öğrenci olma durumları üzerinde oldukça etkili olmuştur. Her ne kadar salgın döneminde okulların kapanması ile birlikte uzaktan eğitim, öğrenme kayıplarını azaltmak için bir fırsat olarak görünse de uzaktan eğitim sürecinde var olan eğitimsel eşitsizliklerin artması da muhtemel hâle gelmiştir.

We Are on the Same Page! Strengthening Parent-Teacher Partnerships Through Autism-Focused Training Workshops

Parent-teacher partnerships involve open and frequent communications. Successful partnerships are important contributors to the learning outcomes of students with diverse needs. However, parents and teachers often have limited opportunities to develop a shared understanding of the student on the autism spectrum and to have conversations about strategies to support the child's learning at home and school. This article evaluates a combined parent-teacher training program, held in Australia before the COVID-19 pandemic, that built and strengthened the parent-teacher partnership. Nine parents and nine teachers were interviewed one month after attending the training workshop. Parents and teachers reported improved communications and a strengthened partnership as an outcome of the training program through an improved understanding of the needs of the student on the autism spectrum.

"What's Going to Happen to Us?" Cultivating Partnerships with Immigrant Families in an Adverse Political Climate

With the increasing numbers of immigrant and refugee students across the US K--12 system, the xenophobia of the current political climate, and the effects of COVID19 on the immigrant community, it is critical to examine schools that serve immigrant students and their families. Drawing on case studies of two public high schools that exclusively serve immigrant students, authors Adriana Villavicencio, Chandler Patton Miranda, Jia-Lin Liu, and Hua-Yu Sebastian Cherng examine how educators frame the current political context and how this frame informs their collective approach to engaging with and supporting families. The study finds that these schools shifted norms of parental engagement by proactively forging relationships with families, cultivating alliances with community partners, and mediating within families around challenges related to work and higher education to benefit the communities they serve. In so doing, these school actors have shifted the norms of parental engagement to center the perspectives, voices, and experiences of immigrant families.

Is It Possible to Teach English through EBA TV? Exploring Student Teachers' Concerns and Self-Efficacy Beliefs

This qualitative study explored student teachers' perceptions and feelings about teaching English in an emergency remote teaching platform, Educational Information Network TV. To this end, sixty-eight student teachers participated in this study. The participants were first invited to watch English language courses specifically designed for primary and secondary-level education provided through this medium of instruction. They were later asked to write two-page reflective journals on the strengths and weaknesses of these courses drawing upon their own feelings and opinions. Their written reflections were content analyzed, and the findings revealed two main themes: student teachers' concerns and self-efficacy beliefs. More specifically, the student teachers were concerned about macro-level factors, pedagogical issues, teachers' competencies, and context-dependent factors. Additionally, the findings shed light on the contributing factors to their self-efficacy beliefs. They attributed their future success to student-oriented factors, teacher-oriented factors, and parental involvement. The overall findings showed that their concerns outweighed their perceived self-efficacy beliefs. We hope that these findings will inform second language teacher education programs for the future since it could be of pivotal importance to prepare student teachers for distance or online learning platforms by helping them deal with their concerns and enriching their self-efficacy beliefs in their own teaching contexts.

Educating Progressed Learners in Times of COVID-19: How Can Bricolage Help?

This paper discusses using bricolage to mitigate the struggles faced by progressed learners in rural KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, in the context of the global COVID-19 pandemic. Most progressed learners perform poorly in many subjects, especially sciences. Their struggle has stimulated the need to find ways to enhance their performance. Reinvented artefacts and processes can be used for emancipation, and to transform agendas for improving the performance of progressed learners. To collect data, we used participatory action research, which uses a thematic approach to make meaning of data. We created a WhatsApp group to enable focus group discussions for collecting data, to circumvent COVID-19 restrictions. The group had 14 members, among whom teachers and learners from rural schools. The study found that the factors that contributed to poor performance were a lack of teaching and learning materials, too few teachers, less than optimal teaching methods and learners' attitudes towards science subjects. The main argument of the article is that, in this time characterised by the COVID-19 pandemic, embracing bricolage has the impetus to mitigate challenges relating to the education of progressed learners. Thus, it is important to emancipate teachers, so that they can bricolise the environment for teaching and learning.

How Did Parents Balance It All? Work-from-Home Parents' Engagement in Academic and Support Roles during Remote Learning

This study reports the transitional lived experiences of work-from-home parents, uncovering their roles and activities while balancing duties of working, parenting, and assisting children with remote learning. Using a phenomenological approach, a three-step coding process was applied to organize a macro-micro view of parent engagement emerging from ten semi-structured interviews with parents from the Philippines. Parents demonstrated a positive mindset amidst balancing five academic roles including organizing learning, facilitating learning, monitoring learning, motivating learning, nurturing learning, and a sixth role in supporting learning. The role of "supporting learning" was deemed most important and central to the success of other roles. Parents assumed a primary instructor role as teachers were less prepared and performed activities distinctive to student needs. Parents served as digital classroom managers who organized schedules, assisted with assignments/projects and participated in online chat groups. Parents repurposed living spaces and furniture for makeshift study and work areas. Parents helped children develop an online learning mindset but faced challenges motivating children to focus and finding the right mix of screen-time. Parents valued children's well-being, bonding time, socialization, and life skills. This research is a novel contribution of work-from-home parent experiences and adds to the literature on remote/ online education during COVID-19.