Race, Gender, and Networks: How Teachers' Social Connections Structure Access to Job Opportunities in Districts With School Choice.

Research in sociology demonstrates the way social connections shape access to information about job opportunities. In education, we understand less about how social networks impact the job process for marginalized teachers and teachers in nontraditional labor markets. This study examines how teachers in New Orleans and Detroit, cities with high concentrations of charter schools, use their networks to search for jobs, and how their experiences vary by race and gender. We find that in choice-rich environments, there was an extensive reliance on social networks in the hiring process, and teachers had different access to key social networks that can help to land jobs. Hiring decisions and unequal access to job opportunities among teacher candidates, in part due to the reliance on networks, created conditions where teachers who cultivated stronger networks, or with access to the "right" networks, had greater opportunity, with implications for racial and gender equity and diversity.

A multi-tiered systems of support blueprint for re-opening schools following COVID-19 shutdown.

The COVID-19 pandemic will create enormous disruptions for youth and families with respect to economic and health status, social relationships, and education for years to come. The process of closing and intermittently reopening schools adds to this disruption and creates confusion for parents and school officials who must balance student educational progress with health and safety concerns. One framework that may serve as a roadmap in this regard is a multi-tiered systems of support (MTSS) model. This article briefly addresses four main domains of functioning (adjustment, traumatic stress, academic status, health and safety) across three tiers of support (universal, targeted, intensive). Each section draws on existing literature bases to provide specific recommendations for school officials who must address various and changing logistical, academic, and health-based challenges. The recommendations are designed to be flexible given fluctuations in the current crisis as well as focused on maximum-value targets. An MTSS approach adapted for contemporary circumstances can also be used to help address longstanding disparities that have been laid bare by the pandemic.