Enrollment Timing in Supplementary Online Courses: Do Students Who Enroll On-Time Have Better Course Outcomes?

Even prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, high school students across the United States were enrolling in online courses at increasing rates. As a result of pandemic related school closures, even more schools enrolled students in supplementary online courses as a method for delivering instruction during emergency remote learning. Despite enrollment increases in online courses for high school students, many questions remain about how to provide effective instruction virtually and the structures and supports that facilitate student success in their online courses. While previous studies have examined predictors of student success in online courses, there is less research on the influence of the enrollment process (e.g., which students enroll, who enrolls them, and when they are enrolled) on student outcomes. To fill this gap, this correlational study examines when students enroll in supplemental online high school courses and whether the timing of enrollment in an online course (i.e., prior to a semester, at the start of a semester, or during a semester already in progress) relates to students' subsequent course outcomes. The findings suggest that students who enroll on-time are more likely to complete their online courses than students who enroll late.

Assessing the Impact and Effectiveness of a Community Leadership Development Program on Black Leaders

Community leaders working in Black communities are faced with countless challenges yet require unique skills for which evidence-based training is often limited or difficult to find. The current study employed a mixed-methods approach using archival data to evaluate a promising and much needed neighborhood leadership program for Black community leaders, the Bunting Neighborhood Leadership Program. The three primary foci of the program were to examine who were selected as fellows, the goals fellows presented with upon entering the program, and the primary outcomes following immediate program completion and follow-up. Nineteen fellows have matriculated through the program, and all completed pre- and post-surveys, and were each contacted about current awards and other leadership successes. Additionally, seven fellows were interviewed about their experiences with and outcomes following the program. Surveys demonstrated important gains in knowledge and skill development for fellows. Following participation, many fellows developed their own organizations, and some secured funding and received awards for their community leadership work. Three key themes emerged from coded interviews, namely (1) characteristics of those who seek a community leadership training, (2) successes in community impact and activities observed among fellows following program completion, and (3) skills-based outcomes for fellows following program completion. The COVID-19 pandemic and killings of Black civilians by police also impacted participants' responses. The role of blackness in Black community leadership was observed across themes that emerged. Overall, this is a promising community leadership program with important implications for leaders who serve Black communities.

Why We Will Not Return to Exclusively Face-to-Face Tutoring Post-COVID: Improving Student Engagement through Technology

Online peer tutoring provided crucial social and academic engagement opportunities for students and peer tutors during COVID-19. This article describes our institution's transition to fully online academic support services and discusses their impact on student learning and retention. While the total number of unique students utilizing tutoring and supplemental instruction decreased slightly during pandemic-induced remote learning, the students who used these services generally made more online visits per person than students who took advantage of in-person tutoring before the pandemic. Although transitioning fully to online tutoring was not without difficulties, we have seen evidence of improved engagement among students and tutors made possible by some of the virtual processes we have put in place. In this article, we discuss these findings in terms of high-impact educational practices and consider what comes next with online tutoring and student engagement as we return to largely face-to-face classes and student support programs for the fall.

Supplementary education and the coronavirus pandemic: Economic vitality, business spatiality and societal value in the private tuition industry during the first wave of Covid-19 in England.

This paper challenges geographers to examine the lucrative, but vastly understudied, global supplementary education sector (e.g. private tuition; learning centres; cram schools). It marks a break from research in Geographies of Education on locational, socio-cultural and political-economy issues, by concentrating directly on the economic geography of this metaphorically monikered 'shadow education' sector. Centred on the first wave of the coronavirus pandemic, the paper's aim is to investigate the impact of COVID-19 on the economic vitality, business spatiality and societal value of private tuition in England. Methodologically, it utilises in-depth interviews with tutors providing one-to-one instruction in English, maths or science in the regionally-differentiated tuition market. The findings demonstrate business vitality was impacted: COVID-19 related disruption to schooling produced a profound economic shock for the tuition industry, though new opportunities also emerged from the crisis. Business spatiality was fundamentally rewritten, not only in terms of delivery but also as local markets became national ones. The social value of the industry was drawn into question, as the service was both vital and regressive in its distribution. In conclusion, the paper argues geographers of education must: (i) Embrace research on supplementary education in its own right and as it articulates with state education provision; (ii) Pursue economic analyses which consider both how markets work to produce unequal outcomes for potential consumers, and how they emerge as a space of educational entrepreneurship for those seeking to make a living; and (iii) Urgently examine how the coronavirus pandemic is rewriting processes across the education system.

Rethinking community participation in education post Covid-19.

Covid-19 has put education in a challenging place. With millions of children out of school, education needs to reinvent itself. During the pandemic, communities have used this opportunity to support children's education in various ways, including the launching of new online classes. This article takes the social capital theoretical model as its framework and applies it to help communities strengthen their education support systems. It also looks at models from the literature as best practices to operationalize social capital. The article highlights various models for community participation that could continue after the Covid-19 pandemic. It urges the school system to be flexible and incorporate community-driven parental engagement with project-based and experiential learning. These community-driven educational programs must be supported to provide much-needed place-based supplementary education opportunities to students.