Taking Stock: The Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic on University-Community Engagement

This article examines the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on university-community engagement (UCE) as an academic mission. The aim of the work is to outline the ways in which UCE has been functioning since the turbulent onset of the pandemic in the spring of 2020. The study undertakes a systematic review of the UCE literature to identify major trends, raising important questions regarding ongoing scholarly discussions and managerial/policy debates on the subject. The results show seven distinct types of engagement responses by higher education institutions (HEIs) across the globe. In addition, the review identified that HEIs faced difficulties in either adapting existing engagement practices or while establishing new ones, especially regarding the efficient use of digital technologies. In terms of implications, the findings suggest that the pandemic has resulted in new debates about the societal role of HEIs, with medium- and long-term implications for policy and management.

Virtual Learning, Now and Beyond

The pandemic-fueled expansion of online learning will certainly persist beyond the pandemic, and schools must ensure that the transition creates accessible, high-quality options for all students. Most recently, the surge in COVID-19 Omicron variant cases and persistent ambiguity around whether and how to close schools reinforces the fact that we have failed to build intentional on-ramps to virtual education. State and local leaders can employ evidence from past online learning efforts, emerging best practices, and data from the pandemic to understand how to build a path forward that capitalizes on the potential of online learning, while avoiding the pitfalls. Virtual learning is not going away, but it must improve, especially for students of color and those facing economic insecurity. The bottom line is that students cannot afford to repeat the emergency distance learning that took place in 2020 and 2021. This brief provides a guide for education leaders and policymakers building a path to sustainable and quality virtual learning. It includes four steps school system leaders can take in the short and longer term to harness the potential of online learning, avoid pitfalls that made it ineffective, and ensure students have equitable access to high-quality learning opportunities that meet their needs.

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.]

The Collaborative Model for Teaching o-SEL: Preparing Educators to Design Online Environments for Social-Emotional Learning

In this study, we sought to develop a model to provide educators with training and resources to effectively support and guide social-emotional learning (SEL) in PK-12 online environments, which we refer to as o-SEL. We utilized five national sets of standards and competencies to guide the development of six online modules for educators to gain skills, knowledge, and resources to help students learn SEL-related skills. Qualitative methods and analysis were employed to examine our research question. We utilized design thinking as a strategy for developing o-SEL professional learning. Five SEL experts were identified and invited to participate in a brief survey to determine areas of focus and then we conducted two one-hour focus groups. The focus group discussion was transcribed, coded, and analyzed to determine emergent themes related to areas of SEL needs in online learning environments. Based on our findings, we identified six elements (i.e., Empower, Engage, Motivate, Include, Collaborate, Extend) for educators to foster inclusive o-SEL environments for PK-12 learners that we describe as the Collaborative Model for Teaching o-SEL. We discuss the positive impact that o-SEL instruction can have on student learning outcomes, while also designing inclusive and culturally relevant support structures. This study calls for further investigation regarding teacher application of the o-SEL model and impact of o-SEL on student learning.

"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.

Academic Silver Linings in a Philippine State University amid the Early Stages of Pandemic Cases

The primary role of the academe is knowledge building, however, due to the prevailing digital divide, some institutions of higher learning were not able to offer even Emergency Online Teaching (EOT) for continuous formal education during the early stages of the pandemic. This article highlights diversified ways that a state university from a developing country (Philippines) responded to the crisis to offer assistance towards the social development of the stakeholders amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Equity and English Learners Post-Pandemic

During the COVID-19 pandemic, immigrant and linguistically diverse families have both borne the brunt of America's job losses and are overrepresented in professions that are considered essential to the country's response and recovery. Children in these households have experienced increased economic and food insecurity, instability in their child care, and trauma. Moreover, language barriers, poor digital literacy skills among parents, inequitable access to appropriate digital devices and robust internet, and lack of digital instructional resources for English learners (ELs) affected the quality of students' home learning environments during remote learning. Predictably, ELs have experienced setbacks in their English language development, academic learning, and social and emotional health due to more than a year of interrupted learning. As the pandemic recedes, schools approach normalcy, and a historic investment of federal education dollars flows to states and school districts, state education leaders face the exceptional responsibility of charting a new course for public schools and the ELs whom they serve. In this article, Julie Sugarman begins by emphasizing the need for states to provide technical assistance to schools on the use of state and federal funds and monitor whether schools used equitable shares of those funds on resources specifically tailored to EL needs. She goes on to discuss: sources of data that policymakers can access for useful information about how well schools serve ELs;ways state and school systems can ensure teacher training and professional learning for EL specialists and general classroom teachers;and strategies school districts found themselves experimenting with to inform and support ELs and their families during the pandemic.

Kansas Schools Build Resilience amid Redesign

Approved by the Kansas State Board of Education in 2017, the school redesign project has seen more than 160 schools to reimagine their learning models in a state-led, multiyear process. Annual cohorts named for NASA lunar missions, the fourteen schools in seven districts that formed the initial Mercury cohort engaged in intensive planning and professional development a year ahead of the launch of their redesign plans. Gemini and Apollo project cohorts have followed, with opportunities for staff to visit schools in earlier cohorts and for school leaders to engage in a professional learning community. In spring and summer 2020, staff at the Kansas State Department of Education asked teachers and leaders in the redesign cohorts how their schools handled building closures. They found that these schools made a smooth transition to distance learning. School staff cited the importance of the design thinking process and a growth mind-set, which helped staff and students learn to adapt flexibly. While the pandemic delayed launches of redesign plans in the last group of schools and impeded the intensive staff professional learning and in-person coaching with department staff, the experience of the early cohort during the pandemic impressed schools not formally engaged in redesign. In particular, schools outside the cohorts noted redesign schools' ability to implement new strategies within a semester or a year and see rapid improvement.