Reaching Rural Students with Resources and Enrichment-Focused Learning in the Summer Months

Each student selected books during the last week of school and during the last days of the summer program, so that they had access to books when school was not in session. Since book ownership is an important motivator for reading, the students kept their books and were treated to one additional book on the last day of the program, when they took a field trip to a bookstore. Study Design Reallocating school resources required a research focus with data collection and analysis for continued approval of summer program funding. The mixed-methods design of the study included quantitative data (e.g., registration, attendance, STAR reading scores, Likert scale questions on student and parent questionnaires) and qualitative data (e.g., student focus groups, open-ended questions on student and parent questionnaires). Parents' written consent and students' assent were provided for STAR reading, focus group, and questionnaire data collection each summer.

Remote Schooling and Mothers' Employment During the COVID-19 Pandemic by Race, Education, and Marital Status

Public schools in the United States saw unprecedented reductions to in-person instruction during the 2020–2021 school year. Using the Elementary School Operating Status database, the American Community Survey, and the Current Population Survey, we show remote instruction was associated with reduced employment among mothers compared with fathers and women without children. The gender gap in employment between mothers and fathers grew as much as 5 percentage points in areas with remote instruction. Compared to women without children, mothers' employment fell by as much as 2 percentage points under remote schooling. Employment disparities among mothers deepened by race, educational attainment, and marital status. We show employment disparities endured through spring 2021, even as many school districts returned to in-person instruction.

A Comparative Analysis of Black American Student Experiences and International Student Experiences During the Initial Months of the Covid-19 Pandemic

The Covid-19 pandemic created an indelible mark on K-12 education - specifically, high school students transitioning to college and career. The global scope of this pandemic presented an opportunity to compare how high school cultures across the world adapted to the emergency. Further, news reports highlighted how communities of color were more susceptible to the pandemic. To better understand how the Black student experience in middle America compared to that of other students from the global community in responding to pandemic-related educational disruption, I used Krippendorffs content analysis procedures (2018) and a phenomenological interview process to gather and analyze data from 17 Black American high school students and 35 teachers. The central research question was: What are the experiences of Black students in middle America regarding educational disruption when compared to the experiences of high school students in other countries? The findings revealed that globally both students and teachers were primarily concerned with educational quality, teacher preparedness and substandard Internet service. Findings from twelve other countries confirmed that diminished Internet access and teacher unpreparedness were essential problems. However, Finnish districts which relied on government support seamlessly progressed through the interruptions in March 2020.

Hospital and Health System Finances: Interview with Health Care Expert Lisa Goldstein

Hospitals continue to experience negative margins, with hospital expenses decreasing slightly since the start of the pandemic, but not enough to address impacted volumes and revenues. As a result, issues regarding hospital and health system debt and financial sustainability weigh heavily on health care admini - strators. Hospital finances, and specifically, the management of bonds and debt, are of vital concern, particularly in light of the elimination of CARES Act funding and the forthcoming expiration of the federal Public Health Emergency COVID-19 plan. In this article and accompanying podcast episode, Nursing Economics Editorial Board Member Dr. Therese Fitzpatrick talks with leading health care expert Lisa Goldstein, MPA, about the rising pressures to maintain financial sustainability as hospital margins react to post-pandemic admissions and related adjustments.

The silenced voices of principals: A narrative case study of principal perspectives throughout complex crises and their resilience

K-12 school principals experience multiple crises throughout their careers, ranging from natural disasters, the COVID-19 pandemic, threats of violence, and school shootings. As the face of the school, principals must navigate these crises while maintaining the everyday responsibilities of being a principal. These crisis events disrupt the learning environment and place principals in situations that they may not understand how to overcome. Unfortunately, principal preparation programs and district principal professional development provide little support for principals' well-being, including their mental health and level of resilience. This narrative, multiple-case study personified the principal's journey through complex crises, illuminating the support necessary for principals to develop resilience to overcome adversity. Five K-12 principals in Texas shared their unique experiences and personal journeys through crises and reflected on their resilience throughout the process. Each of the five principal case descriptions aligned with the resilience cycle framework of deteriorating, adapting, recovering, and growing (Patterson & Kelleher, 2005). Weaving the story of each principal's experience with a complex crisis using a thematic narrative analysis allowed alignment with the framework's cycle and helped identify additional issues with the support needed for crisis leadership. Moreover, principals identified their own levels of support that strengthened their well-being as they experienced their school-related crisis events. The thematic narrative analysis and cross-case analysis highlighted three key themes that supported principals as they lived through their crisis, made decisions throughout the crisis, and eventually overcame their crisis experience: (a) deteriorating and adapting: teamwork is a necessity, (b) recovering: self-awareness is crucial, and (c) growing: the show must go on. These three themes supported the framework's cycle as each participant described their crisis experiences as they related to the resilience cycle. Finally, five assertions about the ways in which principals navigate complex crises offered an understanding of the support needed before, during, and after the crisis event. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)

HEALING THROUGH LITERATURE, ART, AND GOATS

For many students, whether they want to admit it or not, school is a welcoming place. They get to see their friends, partake in extracurricular activities, step into leadership positions that build confidence and organizational skills, and support one another. They often even have fun. However, when the 2021-2022 school year began, the anxiety and loneliness that many students had felt while quarantined for the previous year and half followed them. Masks were still mandated, and the threat of catching COVID-19 had many students keeping their distance from others. Contact tracing had everyone in the building recounting where they'd been and with whom they had been in contact. Furthering the anxiety and isolation was the ban on clubs meeting in person, live theater and musical performances being relegated to streaming only, and cancellation of many traditional school events.

Preventing Anti-Asian Acts in Schools with Culturally Responsive Teaching and Anti-Bullying Programs

The increase in hostile behavior targeted at Asian people is a concern that school districts must address. To respond well, educators need to apply effective methods for preventing this problem. One of the ways they can achieve this goal is by implementing a culturally responsive approach to teaching. Another involves using effective anti-bullying programs. This paper provides details about the importance of implementing these strategies to prevent anti-Asian attacks. It also provides several examples of anti-Asian incidents that occurred shortly after the COVID-19 pandemic began. A few historical events involving the hostile treatment of Asian people are included to provide a context for understanding this problem. [ FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Clearing House is the property of Taylor & Francis Ltd 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.)

Partnered rapid research with K-12 school districts during the COVID-19 pandemic

OBJECTIVES/GOALS: During the COVID-19 pandemic, translational scientists sought to provide scientific and data expertise to school districts serving diverse and disadvantaged students to enable equitable access to in-person learning. METHODS/STUDY POPULATION: We showcase two CTSA examples. One is a partnership with the second largest U.S. school district;the second is a national network of scientists and urban and rural school districts. In each example, CTSAs assembled expert science teams to support data-driven decision-making. The teams provided honest brokering of COVID-19 science, scientific interpretation that is sensitive to local context, and responses to community-driven questions. The teams collaborated with school district partners to design actionable data displays on key metrics including primary COVID-19 cases, school-acquired cases, quarantines, and missed school. The national ABC Science Collaborative) provided a platform for shared learning and reproducibility and credibility of science using district data. RESULTS/ANTICIPATED RESULTS: The CTSAs developed easily interpretable and actionable data displays. Partnered school districts observed data in real time to identify signals of change. Districts in the national network were able to learn in real time from variation across districts based on policies and procedures that they adopted, such as quarantine, masking, and physical distancing. DISCUSSION/SIGNIFICANCE: This scientific collaboration is a model of rapid CTSA response, informing science and real-time action. The data displays enable school districts to explain decisions regarding student and staff health and safety. These partnerships and data designs are infrastructure that can be quickly mobilized for emergent and for ongoing information needs.

Facilitating professional learning for technology coaches through cross-district collaboration

Purpose This two-year study illuminates the experiences of technology coaches (digital learning coaches [DL] and science technology engineering and mathematics/literacy coaches [STEM/L]) as they engaged in their own professional learning (PL) facilitated by a faculty researcher.Design/methodology/approach Technology coaches from different school districts and their respective colleagues participated in book studies as part of their PL. They reflected and debriefed individually and collaboratively with a researcher facilitator. Data were collected through interviews, field notes at meetings, observations, researchers' reflections and artefacts. Qualitative data analysis methods were employed.Findings The findings offer a glimpse into (1) benefits of cross-district collaboration, (2) challenges finding resources for coaching, (3) career-long desire to learn and (4) time to build and sustain cross-collaborations.Practical implications Conclusions suggest that DL and STEM/L coaches benefit from their own dedicated, differentiated programme of PL supported by each other (as from other districts) and a researcher facilitator. Educational implications are offered for researchers and other school district stakeholders for consideration for them to foster coaches' collaborative PL.Originality/value Importantly, this project is an exemplar of how to support coaches' PL and growth through researcher facilitation of cross-district collaborative learning.

The effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic in Canada on the use "of Soundtrap

Music teachers overwhelmingly turned to a wide range of technology to respond to these mandates, from video conferencing applications to platforms for musical creativity. [...]as Kratus (2007) pointed out more than a decade ago, music education has faced a tipping point as the field negotiates between its legacy of performance-centered Western musical traditions, and the complex and evolving society it deems to serve. Similar to the United States, these changes are driven by calls in Canada for the inclusion of popular music (Countryman, 2012;Senyshyn, 2004;Wright, 2016), music technology (Gid-dings, 2020), and the belief that the introduction of these within school music education may lead to more inclusive and culturally responsive pedagogies (Bartel, 2004;Kennedy, 2000;Seddon, 2004). On top of the already present trend toward a more expansive model of music education (Hanley, 2000), the COVID-19 pandemic affected widespread change in music education, including the rapid adoption of technology to mitigate the effects of government-mandated isolation (Smith, 2020).

Educator Turnover Has Markedly Increased, but Districts Have Taken Actions to Boost Teacher Ranks: Selected Findings from the Sixth American School District Panel Survey. Research Report. RR-A956-14

This survey wanted to obtain a national picture of teacher and principal turnover at the end of the 2021-2022 school year and districts' staffing shortages at the beginning of the 2022-2023 school year, researchers surveyed 300 district and charter network leaders in the American School District Panel from October to December 2022. Key findings from the survey include: (1) Teacher turnover increased 4 percentage points above prepandemic levels, reaching 10 percent nationally at the end of the 2021-2022 school year. Principal turnover increased too, reaching 16 percent nationally going into the 2022-2023 school year;(2) Teacher turnover in 2021-2022 was highest (around 12 to 14 percent) in urban districts, high-poverty districts, and districts serving predominately students of color. Meanwhile, principal turnover was highest (around 21 to 23 percent) in high-poverty districts and in rural districts;(2) District leaders generally perceived staffing shortages to be less acute in 2022-2023 than they were in 2021-2022. However, in fall 2022, staffing shortages continued to be most acute for substitute teachers, special education teachers, and bus drivers. High-poverty districts in particular had considerable shortages in several teaching categories;and (3) Ninety percent of districts experienced one or more policy changes either they or their state enacted to boost teacher ranks in response to shortages. Chief among these changes were increased pay and/or benefits and the expansion of grow-your-own teacher preparation programs. [For the technical document, see ED626482.]

The Internet and K-12 education: Capturing digital metrics during the COVID-19 era

As districts nationwide transitioned online to deliver remote or hybrid instruction as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Internet has become an increasingly important space for K-12 students, teachers, and many other stakeholders. This brief discusses the utility of Internet metrics to measure K-12 district websites and its usefulness for exploring the digital nature of K-12 schools. We close this brief by discussing the necessity to explore K-12 Internet metrics, as the Internet has become an important data source for many diverse stakeholders. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)

Rural Superintendent Turnover in Challenging Times: A Review of the Literature

Stressors for superintendents included shifting recommendations from public health officials, political pressure from local constituents, and conflict with state leaders, as well as challenges in meeting the basic needs of vulnerable families, supporting mental health of students and teachers, and creating new learning opportunities (Cohn, 2021;Hayes et al., 2021;Lochmiller, 2021;Lowenhaupt & Hopkins, 2020 Walls & Zuckerman, 2022). Conceptual Framework Given the importance of the superintendent role and relationship with both school board and community as factors for superintendent turnover, we structure our review of the literature around Kowalski (2003;2005) and Björk and colleagues (2014) conceptualization of superintendents' roles. [...]Björk and colleagues (2014) identified the role of superintendents as communicators, including dissemination of information and two-way communication with constituents. Navigating these conflicts effectively requires relationships with teachers, students, parents, and community members (Walls & Zuckerman, 2022), reflecting the importance of people-centered leadership identified as a key function of rural school leaders (Preston & Barnes, 2017).

Navigating Political Tensions over Schooling: Findings from the Fall 2022 American School District Panel Survey

Public schooling has always been politically fraught, but current disagreements over issues related to race, sexuality, gender, and COVID-19 have reached a tipping point. According to this report from the Center on Reinventing Public Education and RAND, half of school system leaders say that these disagreements are disrupting schooling. Almost one in three district leaders also said their educators had received verbal or written threats about politically controversial topics since fall 2021. The findings come from surveys issued to 300 district and charter network leaders and interviews with superintendents. Their responses shed light on how political polarization has affected classrooms and how districts are responding. This report presents results from the fall 2022 survey of the American School District Panel (ASDP). The ASDP is a research partnership between RAND and CRPE. The panel also collaborates with several other education organizations, including the Council of the Great City Schools and Kitamba, to help improve outcomes for students throughout the United States.

"It's part of me”: Brazilian immigrant teachers' work in a global pandemic

Even before COVID‐19, immigrant teachers who teach immigrant children in dual language classrooms were under a tremendous amount of pressure in their schools and districts. "I know what they are going through”, Elise, a veteran teacher from Brazil, disclosed during an interview when asked about her knowledge on children's lives. She was referencing her shared identity with her students. However, in a school where immigrant teachers were a minority and so were their students, the effects of a global pandemic further exacerbated the inequalities related to quality education for children. Scholars have pointed out that culturally knowledgeable and responsive teachers are especially important in education and care settings that serve children from immigrant families. These expectations grew exponentially since COVID‐19 hit in March of 2020. Participants in this research, Brazilian immigrant women who were teachers, toggled between their identities as they empathized, supported, and cared for their students. Elise, a Brazilian immigrant teacher with over a decade of experience and the mother of three young children of her own explained, "If before I felt I could barely help and care for my students under the pressure of performing and holding up the so called effectiveness of dual language programs, now I really feel like they (immigrant children) are out of reach. And it is on me. I feel like it is my responsibility”. With the purpose of shedding light on the ways in which immigrant Brazilian teachers understand their work as educators amid a global pandemic, this article addresses the following research questions: (i) How are Brazilian immigrant women who are teachers re‐signifying their work in light of a pandemic? (ii) How do their intersectional identities contribute to their understandings of their work?

Adolescents' daily sense of school connectedness and academic engagement: Intensive longitudinal mediation study of student differences by remote, hybrid, and in-person learning modality

In spring 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic thrust nearly 56 million students in the United States into remote education. By fall 2020, states' and school districts' differing public health measures resulted in the adoption of varying COVID-adapted learning modalities (i.e., in-person, remote, and hybrid). Using daily diary data with a nationally representative sample (N = 517, M age = 14.65 years), we investigated whether adolescents' academic engagement and connectedness to their teachers and classmates differed by COVID-adapted learning modalities. We also assessed whether adolescent connectedness mediated the link between learning modality and academic engagement. Results revealed that academic engagement and connectedness to teachers and classmates were higher for in-person learners than for students in hybrid and remote learning modalities. Moreover, students' connectedness to classmates and teachers explained the relationship between learning modality and academic engagement. • COVID-adapted in-person learners had higher academic engagement than other learners. • COVID-adapted in-person learners had higher connectedness than other learners. • Between- and within-student daily connectedness predicted daily academic engagement. • Connectedness fully explained COVID-adapted in-person learners' academic engagement. • Connectedness to teachers and classmates mediated paths similarly. [ FROM AUTHOR]

How Six School Systems Are Responding to Disrupted Schooling: Will It Be Enough?

This report is part of the American School District Panel (ASDP), a joint project between the Center on Reinventing Public Education, the RAND Corporation, Chiefs for Change, the Council of Great City Schools, and Kitamba, an education consulting firm. The ASDP's primary work is conducting a series of nationally-representative surveys of school districts. In this report, we complement our survey research with in-depth interviews of leaders on the ground in six school systems. Our goal was to learn how these system leaders approached and managed student learning during this difficult year and to gauge what it means for the future. We found: (1) When it came to instruction, the school systems favored "acceleration" over remediation, (2) School systems that had coherent instructional systems in place before the pandemic had an easier time delivering grade-level content, and (3) In some cases, improving instruction alone may not be enough. Two of the systems that faced deeper inequity and performance challenges before the pandemic were considering more fundamental shifts. What happens next will depend not only on district actions but on the nature and depth of students' academic and social needs, which will only become clear over time. [This report was produced by the American School District Panel (ASDP).]

Whack-A-Mole: School Systems Respond to Disrupted Learning in 2021

In this report, we complement our latest fall 2021 survey research from the American School District Panel with in-depth interviews of leaders on the ground in five school systems. Our goal with these interviews was to learn from system leaders about the academic needs of children as they return to school, how districts and charter schools are addressing those needs, and how the pandemic has affected schools. In Brief: (1) Education leaders across the country recognize that students are falling behind academically during the pandemic. Some districts are responding by emphasizing grade-level instruction and just-in-time supports rather than remediation. We interviewed top leaders in five school systems committed to this approach to learn more about its implementation, (2) We found that implementing acceleration required school systems to work with schools in new ways, but the strategy was complicated by a host of factors that made getting to instruction difficult: challenging student behaviors, staffing shortages, and the politicization of health, safety, and education. All these pressures have made leading school districts in 2021-22 like playing a game of Whack-A-Mole, and (3) School districts across the country are working hard to catch students up. But the Whack-A-Mole experience of leading during the pandemic raises questions about how these pressures will affect system leaders and leadership and whether, in the future, schools alone will be able to do enough to help all students get the help they need to recover. [For latest fall 2021 survey research from the American School District Panel, "Flux in the Educator Labor Market: Acute Staff Shortages and Projected Superintendent Departures. Selected Findings from the Fourth American School District Panel Survey. Data Note: Insights from the American Educator Panels. Research Report. RR-A956-9," see ED617372.]

District Leaders' Concerns about Mental Health and Political Polarization in Schools: Selected Findings from the Fourth American School District Panel Survey. Data Note: Insights from the American Educator Panels. Research Report. RR-A956-8

Policymakers had hoped that the 2021-2022 school year would be a chance to recover from coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic--related disruptions to schooling. Instead, media reports of staff shortages, heated or even violent school board meetings, increased student misbehavior, low student and teacher attendance, and enrollment declines suggest increased -- rather than decreased -- problems during this third pandemic school year. To learn about the prevalence of these challenges nationwide, RAND researchers surveyed 359 district and charter network leaders in the American School District Panel between October 25, 2021, and December 10, 2021. Survey results suggest that districts are confronting serious challenges in the 2021-2022 school year that might be getting in the way of student learning. Although some challenges, such as student and staff mental health, are nearly universal across districts, other challenges are more localized. Historically marginalized districts are confronting extra challenges this school year, such as getting students back in school and low teacher attendance, while a higher percentage of historically advantaged districts are encountering political polarization about COVID-19. [For the companion report "Flux in the Educator Labor Market: Acute Staff Shortages and Projected Superintendent Departures. Selected Findings from the Fourth American School District Panel Survey. Data Note: Insights from the American Educator Panels. Research Report. RR-A956-9," see ED617372.]

Beyond the Headlines: Trends and Future Directions in the School Closure Literature

With the looming impacts of COVID-19 on district budgets, the growth of school choice options, and population shifts across urban, suburban, and rural contexts, an increasing number of districts have closed schools and more districts are expected to follow this trend. Rich scholarship has examined school closures, however, this field of research is limited in scope and methodological approach, and overwhelmingly focuses on the mass urban school closures of the mid-2010s. This offers a timely opportunity to consider new directions in the field. In this article, we identify trends in the scholarship on school closures by examining the empirical research in this area over nearly two decades. We conclude by offering a research agenda for future scholarship on school closures.