TeleNGAGE: Enhancing Collaboration between Families and Schools

Findings in the literature strongly support the importance of family engagement in education. However, effective partnerships between families and schools are rare, especially in ethnically diverse communities where families may lack efficacy or face structural challenges for engagement. Additionally, educator perspectives toward engagement are often framed by White, middle-class paradigms. Educators often fail to acknowledge structural challenges faced by low-income families or the cultural contributions low-income and/or minoritized families can bring. To facilitate engagement between families and schools, a new ECHO® line, TeleNGAGE, was developed at Oklahoma State University, Educational Leadership program. ECHO®, traditionally used in the field of medicine, has utility for professional development for educators because it offers a platform for case-based learning where real problems are addressed in real-time. Additionally, didactic presentations provide professional development for collaborative learning. Through the lens of Communities of Practice (CoP), this qualitative case study explores how relationships between families and schools changed as a result of participation in TeleNGAGE. Tenets of CoP, negotiated meaning, mutual engagement, and a shared repertoire, support a collaborative approach to addressing complex problems. Findings suggest that a CoP has emerged through TeleNGAGE and has resulted in changes in perspectives across families and educational leaders about "what it means to be engaged," enhanced family efficacy for engagement, and changes in engagement practice as family voice has expanded through sharing of concerns/perspectives. These findings have important implications for equitable engagement in a convenient, cost-free environment where educators and families can communicate and develop mutually supportive understandings and practices.

"Let Nature Be Your Teacher": An Ecocritical Analysis of Outdoor Play in Award-Winning Picturebooks in the United States

Access to green space has always been a social inequity, but the recent global pandemic has exacerbated this injustice for lower-income families even more. Environmental access strengthens mental health, encourages exercise and healthy social habits, and reduces pollution. Many have argued that children not only need play, but they need play in outdoor environments for physical, sociological, and social development. And yet, researchers have reported a dramatic decline in children's outdoor play over the past three decades. As the COVID-19 pandemic ravages the world, the author worries about children's access to outdoor spaces. Researchers have argued that people in urban and minoritized communities lack access to quality outdoor spaces near their homes. When gyms, schools, and parks are closed, who gets the privilege of exploring natural spaces? The author set out to determine if recently published children's books depicted outdoor play more frequently than she had found in books as a teacher. Thus, the research question for this study was this: How many award-winning and honor picturebooks published from 1995 to 2020 include depictions of outdoor play, and what does a critical multicultural analysis reveal about these portrayals? The author begins with an overview of critical multiculturalism and ecocriticism, as they undergirded her analysis of 189 award-winning and honor books, and describe some of the literature that supported this critical content analysis. Then, the author describes her process and findings, followed up with a discussion of future considerations for children's literature readers as they examine depictions of outdoor play

Barriers to Refugee Adolescents' Educational Access during COVID-19: Exploring the Roles of Gender, Displacement, and Social Inequalities

As of 2021, more than 80 million people worldwide have been displaced by war, violence, and poverty. An estimated 30 to 34 million of these are under age 18, and many are at risk of interrupting their education permanently--a situation aggravated in recent years by the global COVID-19 pandemic. In this article, we adopt an intersectional conceptual framework to explore the roles gender and other social inequalities have played in shaping adolescents' access to education during the COVID-19 pandemic. We examine two refugee populations: the Rohingya, who have been excluded from formal education opportunities in Bangladesh, and Syrian refugees in Jordan, who have access to formal education in their host country. We provide novel empirical data, as well as insights into the adolescent refugee experience and the short-term consequences for education resulting from the pandemic. In the article, we draw from quantitative survey data on 3,030 adolescents, and from in-depth qualitative interviews we conducted in the spring of 2020 with a subset of 91 adolescents who are part of an ongoing longitudinal study. We also conducted 40 key informant interviews with community leaders and service providers.

Data Disaggregation for Inclusive Quality Education in Emergencies: The COVID-19 Experience in Ghana

The process of data analysis provides, undoubtedly, some of the major challenges facing organizations during the implementation of interventions in emergencies. The challenges are primarily due to the lack of direct access to beneficiaries and the rapidly evolving nature of emergencies. This paper outlines how Plan International's Making Ghanaian Girls Great! (MGCubed) project used phone-based surveys to assess the uptake of a Ghana Learning TV (GLTV) programme implemented in partnership with the government. Due to the emergency context and the need for real-time information to guide the implementation of this intervention, there was little time to undertake a major statistical analysis of survey data. This paper discusses how the MGCubed project adopted a simple data disaggregation method using a logic tree technique to gain valuable insights from the survey data. The method allowed for exploring the insights of the data set in real-time without requiring more complex and time-consuming analysis. All views expressed in this article are the author's and not of FCDO.

An Anti-Ableist Framework in Art Education

The study of ableism, often defined as disability discrimination and prejudice, is still nascent when compared with racism, homophobia, and sexism. Anti-ableism highlights the inequities of institutions, including public education, in the United States that are structured for the success of the White middle class and offer little hope and resources for children of color and with disabilities. In this article, Alice Wexler examines ways to conceive drawing with children with disabilities that would not require accommodation, which is an unintentionally ableist practice because it separates them from their peers--both physically and emotionally. She inquires what kind of drawing methods might be interesting to all students and invite children with diverse disabilities to participate. She suggests two examples of anti-ableist drawing methods: collaborative doodles and walking a/r/tography. Doodling, however, has been central in two of her recent teaching experiences, which she describes in this article. She argues that in art education, unlike other subjects, educators can use the visual arts to advance anti-ableism. The purpose of this article is to acknowledge that art education practices rarely take advantage of this possibility.

Fostering Long-Lasting International Partnerships Based on Mutuality

The COVID-19 pandemic, the climate and refugee crises, and the global supply chain disruption, among others, have exemplified the high level of planetary connectedness the world endures today, making the phrase "we are all in this together" an undeniable fact. A joint statement from the U.S. Department of State and the U.S. Department of Education on July 26, 2021 highlights the impact of internationalization on national security and the economy. These impacts occur because all forms of ties among people across national borders pave the way to partnerships and alliances in government, business, trade, science, innovation, and the arts and culture. While international partnerships can be problematic, those grounded in mutuality can be transformational for both partners. In this article, Pilar Mendoza describes her journey to build a joint research center that reflects mutuality and she offers recommendations based on her experiences that can help faculty and administrators develop and support similar international collaborations.

Overview of Research Project: Assistive Technology in Humanitarian Settings

There are 240 million children with disabilities in the world, half of them are out of school. Many are invisible, stigmatized, hidden by their families and abandoned by their governments. Children with disabilities, especially in humanitarian settings, are among the poorest members of the population and one of the most marginalized and excluded groups in society. With only an estimated 1 in 10 children with a need for assistive devices having access, UNICEF's Office of Research -- Innocenti undertook a study to better understand the nature and drivers of Assistive Technology (AT) access in humanitarian settings. This document provides a synthesis of the project's various reports and papers: (1) a thematic literature review summarizes the academic evidence base regarding the provision of AT in humanitarian settings, including the nature and scale of provision and barriers and facilitators of access and provision, and (2) three case studies of countries affected by crisis to triangulate the findings of the literature review and fill identified knowledge gaps with real-world examples: Afghanistan, South Sudan, and the State of Palestine. [For the literature review, see ED620416. For the Afghanistan and South Sudan case studies, see ED620403 and ED620415, respectively.]

Barriers and Facilitators to Providing Assistive Technologies to Children with Disabilities in Afghanistan

Due to the impacts of the ongoing conflict, Afghanistan's child population is at high risk of being born with or acquiring a primary or secondary disability. According to a recent estimate, up to 17% of Afghanistan's children live with some form of disability. Assistive Technologies -- the systems, services and products that enhance the functioning of people with impairments -- are likely to be required by a large proportion of children with disabilities in Afghanistan. Afghanistan has signed and ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which includes a commitment to provide assistive technologies equitably to all who need it. However, little action has been taken to meet this commitment, and there continues to be a vast gap between need and provision. This work presents the the barriers and facilitators to provision and provides recommendations to begin to close the gap.

COVID-19 Disruptions: Attainment Gaps and Primary School Responses. Research Report

The study uses data from five assessment points for reading and maths. It focuses on a constant sample of students, all of whom completed a Rising Stars assessment in 2019 prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. The study also administered three teacher surveys: the first focused on the initial period of lockdown, the second focused on the autumn 2020 term when students returned to face-to-face instruction, the third focused on the second period of school closures from January to March 2021. This descriptive, longitudinal study focuses on primary schools in England. It has three aims: (1) to quantify changes in attainment gaps since the onset of COVID-19: the focus is on gaps between economically disadvantaged pupils and their peers in Years 2 to 6, (2) to describe how teachers and schools responded to the challenges of COVID-19, and (3) to explore associations between school responses to COVID and changes in attainment gaps. [The report was published with FFT and Teacher Tapp.]

Considering the Role of Social Media: #BlackLivesMatter as a Pedagogical Intervention to Decolonise Curriculum

The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in a drastic transformation to schooling for students throughout the world. During this period, a number of issues arose in our local, national and global communities, including the death of George Floyd and subsequent protests and rallies organised by #BlackLivesMatter. Living through and witnessing many social issues, coupled with the new and enduring pandemic, furthered our understandings of how young people were engaging with these topics without the structures of schools to support them. This article presents the results of a case study where youth aged 15-17 years shared their experiences and understandings about many social justice issues they were observing. The most significant learning around these issues for youth occurred informally through social media as opposed to in the classroom, reinforcing that schools are not ethical spaces from which to challenge institutional, structural and systemic barriers to justice. As such, this article discusses the potential for formal education to be transformed into an ethical and decolonising space to learn about and challenge injustice.

Pre-Service Teachers' Levels of Adaptations to Remote Teaching and Learning at a University in a Developing Country in the Context of COVID-19

The outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic has not only caused fear and uncertainty in the education systems across the globe, but it brought about a fundamental paradigm shift in the mode of teaching and learning. Higher education drastically transitioned to remote/online delivery even for the students who had enrolled for face-to-face mode of teaching and learning. The paper is premised in the context of a developing country that such a drastic change could have widened the digital divide between students from privileged homes and those from disadvantaged families as students did not receive adequate technological training and to even acquire the necessary electronic devices. Consequently, the study sought to establish the levels of adaptation to remote teaching and learning by university students herein referred to as pre-service teachers. Following a quantitative research design, an online questionnaire survey was administered to 157 pre-service teachers enrolled in a Life Sciences Methodology module at a South African university. Data was analysed using SPSS version 26 and descriptive statistics, exploratory analysis of the questionnaire constructs and One-Way ANOVA tests were conducted to compare pre-service teachers' perceptions, experiences and preparedness. The results showed that the disparities and inequalities that exist in different South African contexts in which pre-service teachers hail from, dictated their levels of adaptations to remote teaching and learning. Those from disadvantaged backgrounds were less adapted as they struggled more when it comes to acquisition of electronic gadgets and connectivity to facilitate remote learning compared to those from advantaged backgrounds. This study affirms the call for education institutions and governments to rethink ways of closing the gap between the poor and the rich in education in terms of resource and other support mechanisms.

When the Façade of the Normal Falls Away

The pandemic made us hold our breath for a return to "normal." But education in "normal" times involves race-based violence and class-based inequality that the pandemic simply made plainer to see. Reviewing the impacts of the pandemic and action for racial justice over the last two years, I show how the dislocation of the "normal" laid bare what Riz Ahmed has called "a 'normality' of entitlement and extraction.

Buffering or Perpetuating: The Perceived Role of Academic Institutions in Chinese International Doctoral Students' Double Pandemics Experiences in the United States

This study adopted a systemic perspective to examine the perceived role of academic institutions in responding to Chinese international doctoral students (CIDS) double pandemic experiences. A hermeneutic phenomenological approach was utilized to guide the research process. The results showed the interlocking relations regarding how individual academic experiences interacted with the social-political-institutional environment during this time of crisis. The discussions highlight the systemic influences on CIDS' experiences. The theoretical and practical implications were included in order to inform systemic interventions.

Empowering Latinx Families to Help Children with Mathematics

The authors' experiences with Latinx families confirm research that shows parents are willing and have the desire to help their children with their mathematics schoolwork (Colegrove and Krause 2016). However, structural barriers make it challenging for Spanish-speaking parents to support their children's mathematics learning. For example, districts that offer computer and high-speed internet access fall short when they fail to give technical assistance and instructions in families' native languages (Chandra et al. 2020). Parents cannot then access school communication about academics and parent meetings. When parents cannot participate in their children's learning, this reinforces deficit attitudes that schools have toward immigrant families (Colegrove and Krause 2016). However, social media can support communication with families and increase their mathematics resource use at home. In the United States, 72 percent of Hispanic adults regularly use social media, and smartphones are often their primary means of access to digital resources (PEW Research Center 2019). This article describes the authors' innovative approach to support and empower Latinx families with preschool-age children and leverages their high use of mobile phones by sharing videos modeling conversations about mathematical concepts. To study the usefulness, accessibility, and usability of this approach, they conducted a pilot program with Spanish-speaking families in Massachusetts.

A Case Study in Mitigating COVID-19 Inequities through Free Textbook Implementation in the U.S

COVID-19, in addition to disrupting the global education system in general, is widening the economic and racial gaps institutions have spent years trying to address. The economic reality is that students who work to support themselves, their families, and purchase educational materials needed to succeed have been disproportionately harmed. This article discusses how the global COVID-19 pandemic is compounding structural inequities inherent in higher education. This requires faculty to reevaluate their role as agents of change in a world that is fundamentally different than it was a short time ago. The experience of one liberal arts institution in the U.S. who moved all courses to free materials in under six months will be recounted as an example of what is possible during extraordinary circumstances if students are truly prioritized during strategic planning.

Transgender Student Experiences of Online Education during COVID-19 Pandemic Era in Rural Eastern Cape Area of South Africa: A Descriptive Phenomenological Study

COVID-19 affected education in many ways. As a response, various strategies were introduced to ensure students' access to education, including online education. For most of the students, fulltime online education brought diverse challenges. This descriptive phenomenological study explored the experiences of transgender students regarding online education during the COVID-19 pandemic in Buffalo City Metro Municipality, South Africa. Data were collected by means of individual telephonic interviews with eight purposively selected transgender students using the snowballing technique. Data were thematically analysed using the interpretative phenomenological analysis framework for data analysis. The findings indicate that transgender students faced barriers in accessing online education, including (i) limited interaction, (ii) unconducive home environment because of stigmatisation, abuse and disruptions, and (iii) lack of access to the internet owing to the centralisation of internet access points, the unaffordability of data, unstable internet connections and an intermittent electricity supply. The findings further highlighted that transgender students face stigmatisation and abuse which hinder their learning. The situation is exacerbated by a lack of sources of income for transgender students, especially those who must make means for money to buy educational resources such as data for internet connection needed for online classes. Based on the findings, the researchers recommend continuous support for transgender students to ensure their continued engagement in online education, amidst the challenges they face. To this end, educational institutions should ensure that students have alternative means of accessing education so that those from diverse populations, settings and socioeconomic statuses are reached.

An Interview with Eric Waldo

Students need to be able to complete a meaningful higher education degree without crushing debt. That is the simple, straightforward perspective of Eric Waldo, Chief Access & Equity Programs Officer at the Common App and Executive Director of Michelle Obama's Reach Higher initiative. In an age where higher education may feel out of reach for far too many students, it's time for some long-overdue conversations about what is really driving this "hard sell" of college applications and admissions. Waldo has quite a bit of practical experience working in higher education and helping to lead the charge to improve college access and graduation rates. In this interview, he addresses questions on affordability.

The Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Students with Special Needs: A Case Study of Kakamega County, Kenya

Many countries suspended physical learning due to COVID-19 and switched to virtual learning to mitigate the spread of the pandemic. Grounded on social learning theory, this quantitative study examined the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on the education of students with special needs in Kenya. Statistical analysis revealed negative consequences of school closure on the academic performance and the level of inclusion of remote learning of students with special needs. COVID-19 affected academic performance of participants distinctly 90% (n = 27), greatly 36.7% (n = 11), considerably 16.7% (n = 5), moderately 26.7% (n = 8), slightly 10% (n = 3), and not at all 10% (n = 3). Besides, school dropout after lockdown showed that COVID-19 significantly affected the education of students with special needs, 60% (n = 6). Additionally, COVID-19-induced remote learning hurt the education of students with special needs--P-value = 0.00403<0.05. Education is a significant component in poverty eradication. However, the sudden change to virtual learning created accessibility difficulties that compounded the historical deficit culture-induced schooling problems students with special needs faced. Then, the Kenyan government should include children and youth with special needs and their families in all the community disaster management and recovery programs.