Education Commons^™

A Phenomenological Study Of Complexity Leadership Interactions Of An International Protestant Convention During Covid-19, Thomas S. Narofsky

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This phenomenological study aimed to explore the in-depth perceptions and insightful reflections of 12 International Protestant Convention leadership team members to explore and investigate their lived experiences and leadership decisions during the COVID-19 pandemic through the lens of Complexity Leadership Theory. The 2020-2023 COVID-19 pandemic changed the world when the emergent fast-paced virus disrupted and overwhelmed societal life, creating pre- and post-COVID bifurcation points that will shape world dynamics and social interactions for years (Warren, 2022; Christianson & Barton, 2021; Harari, 2020; Pierce, 2020). For this research, complexity leadership interactions, social network dynamics, and information flow were studied to discover …

A Phenomenological Multi-Case Study Of Perceptions Of Older Adults’ Loneliness During Covid-19 Within Selected Online Churches, Bethney Wright Sikes

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this phenomenological multi-case study was to understand the perceptions of older adults regarding their feelings of loneliness related to the lockdown during COVID-19 and to discover if online church platforms for the older adult Christian population at Crosspoint Church in Niceville, Florida, Cross Church in Northwest Arkansas, and Community Life Church in Gulf Breeze, Florida, minimized those feelings of loneliness which may have caused mental, physical, and emotional concerns. Isolation from the church body was generally defined as nonattendance via traditional means or online platforms. The theory guiding this study was Lev Vygotsky’s zone of proximal development. …

The Experiences Of Tier 3 Early Reading Intervention Providers Three Years After A School Closure: A Phenomenological Study, Sue Ellen Nilena Washington

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this transcendental phenomenological study was to describe the lived experiences of Tier 3 early reading intervention providers at the Urban Independent School District in Texas three years after a school closure. The central research question was, what are the lived experiences of Tier 3 early reading intervention providers in the Urban Independent School district three years after a school closure? Sub-questions explored early reading intervention providers’ beliefs, attitudes, mental states, and actions three years after a school closure. This study was guided by two central theories: the Vygotskian sociocultural theory of human learning and Bandura’s self-efficacy theory. …

Examining The Relationship Between Psychological Well-Being And Academic Performance Among First-Year College Students In A U.S. Mid-South University, Ya-Hsin Hsiao

Dissertations

This study examined the relationship between psychological well-being and college students. In addition, I looked at how COVID-19 impacted their psychological well-being. I used Ryff and Keyes’ (1995) 18-item Scale of Psychological Well-Being (SPWB-18) to measure participants' psychological well-being. Other demographic information such as race, gender, first-generation college student status, college readiness, and Pell Grant eligibility were collected from the WKU’s Institutes of Research.

Data were analyzed using multiple regressions that controlled for the effects of ethnicity, gender, first-generation status, and socioeconomic status. Moreover, the impact of COVID-19 on psychological well-being was evaluated and reported. In this dataset, the internal …

Teacher Turnover During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Andrew Camp, Gema Zamarro, Josh B. Mcgee

Education Reform Faculty and Graduate Students Publications

Teachers' levels of stress and burnout have been high throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, raising concerns about a potential increase in teacher turnover and future teacher shortages. We examine how the COVID-19 pandemic affected teacher turnover in Arkansas from 2018-19 to 2022-23 using administrative data. We find no major changes in turnover entering the first two pandemic years, but a large increase of 5.3 percentage points (26%) entering the third year, with variation by teacher and student characteristics. We also find that increases in teacher turnover are related to instructional mode and that this turnover may partially be explained by the …

K-12 Florida Christian Schools In Crisis: A Correlational Study Of Educational Leadership During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Cesar O. Irizarry

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

K-12 Florida Christian schools were disrupted due to the advent of a global crisis brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic. Flexibility was needed by educational leadership during this time of crisis. For that reason, this study will aim to understand the leadership principles necessary to provide leaders with the flexibility to adapt to extreme circumstances. The literature addresses the leader’s importance of being flexible during a crisis (Ruffner & Huizing, 2016). However, the literature continues to examine the effects of the pandemic on education but has not identified those contingencies that are necessary for leaders in the Christian educational system …

Revisiting Ethnic Differences In In-Person Learning During 2021-2022, Andrew Camp, Alison H. Johnson, Gema Zamarro

Education Reform Faculty and Graduate Students Publications

During the 2020-21 school year, Black and Hispanic students were less likely to attend school in-person than white students. Prior research indicated multiple factors helped explain this gap. In this study, we revise these observed racial gaps in in-person learning to examine whether the relationship between these gaps and explanatory factors observed earlier in the pandemic changed during the 2021-2022 school year. We find that, while in-person gaps decreased, Black respondents continued to be less likely to report in-person learning than white respondents. Political leanings and COVID-19 health risks, which helped explain observed gaps in 2020-2021, lose explanatory power. But …

Leadership, Teaching And Learning In Times Of Crisis In Southern Tanzania, Nipael Mrutu, Peter Kajoro, Hamis Pintson Nkota

Institute for Educational Development, East Africa

The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on education provision worldwide. School leaders, teachers and parents found themselves in uncharted circumstances, which hugely impacted their roles in promoting children’s learning. The purpose of this study was to investigate the roles played by leaders, teachers, and parents during the COVID-19 crisis. This paper discusses teaching and learning in this time of crisis. The study sampled 10 head teachers, 60 schoolteachers and 57 parents representing 10 primary schools in five districts in the Lindi region of Tanzania. A postmodernism lens was applied to respond to questions about the …

Revisiting Ethnic Differences In In-Person Learning During 2021-2022, Alison Heape, Andrew Camp, Gema Zamarro

Education Reform Faculty and Graduate Students Publications

In the spring of 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic closed schools throughout the United States, forcing a shift to remote learning that lasted the rest of the academic year. In the fall of 2020, schools reopened using combinations of in-person, hybrid, and remote learning models with great geographic variability in access to in-person learning. A growing body of research shows important racial differences in the use of in-person learning during the 2020-2021 school year, with Black and Hispanic students returning to in-person learning at lower rates than white students (Camp and Zamarro, 2021; Kurmann and Lalé, 2022). This in-person learning gap …

School Teachers And Principals’ Experiences During Covid-19 In Pakistan, Azra Naseem, Mirat Al Fatima Ahsan, Sohail Ahmad, Tasneem Anwar, Razia Fakir Mohammad

Institute for Educational Development, Karachi

As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, educational activities were disrupted globally. In Pakistan, schools were also closed, and though some schools had started teaching online, the staff (including principals and teachers) and students' readiness for education during the pandemic remained unexplored. An internet-based survey was conducted to explore the experiences of the teachers and principals during the lockdown. The survey included both open-ended and closed-ended questions. Responses were collected from respondents in different parts of Pakistan, with the majority coming from Sindh and coming from both the private and public sector. While the respondents from private schools reported that …

Changes In Teachers’ Mobility And Attrition In Arkansas During The First Two Years Of The Covid-19 Pandemic, Andrew Camp, Gema Zamarro, Josh B. Mcgee

Education Reform Faculty and Graduate Students Publications

The COVID-19 pandemic has been a trying period for teachers. Teachers had to adapt to unexpected conditions, teaching in unprecedented ways. As a result, teachers' levels of stress and burnout have been high throughout the pandemic, raising concerns about a potential increase in teacher turnover and future teacher shortages. We use administrative data for the state of Arkansas to document the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on teachers’ mobility and attrition during the years 2018-19 to 2021-2022. We find stable turnover rates during the first year of the pandemic (2020-2021) but an increase in teacher mobility and attrition in the …

Digital Skills Profile And Academic Staff Service Delivery During Covid-19 Pandemic Lock Down In Universities In Cross River State, Garieth Omorobi Omorobi, Winifred Emu Harry Ph.D, Francisca Alah Kenn-Aklah

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

This study assessed the academic staff digital skill profile and service delivery during COVID-19 pandemic lock down in universities in Cross River State. Ex-post facto research design was adopted for the study. The population of the study was 2427 academic staff of the university of Calabar and University of Cross River State. The sample for the study was 755 academic staff who were drawn through the simple random sampling technique. The instrument for data collection was the researchers’ made Academic Staff Digital Skill Profile and Service Delivery Questionnaire (ASDSPSDQ). The instrument was validated by three experts from Educational Management and …

Elementary Public School Teachers’ Coping Mechanisms Used During The Covid-19 Pandemic In North Texas: A Phenomenological Study, Timothy Michael Eastman

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this transcendental phenomenological study was to describe elementary public school teachers’ experiences coping with stress during the COVID-19 pandemic. Using Lazarus and Folkman’s transactional model of stress and coping theory, the study answered the central research question: How do elementary public school teachers describe their experiences coping with stress during the COVID-19 pandemic? The sub-questions addressed: What psychological, physical, and emotional mechanisms are elementary public school teachers using to cope with stress during the COVID-19 pandemic? Purposeful sampling and maximum variation sampling were used to select 14 elementary public school teachers’ who experienced teaching during the COVID-19 …

Understanding How Covid-19 Has Changed Teachers’ Chances Of Remaining In The Classroom, Gema Zamarro, Andrew Camp, Dillon Fuchsman, Josh B. Mcgee

Education Reform Faculty and Graduate Students Publications

The 2020-2021 academic year was a trying year for teachers. We use a nationally representative sample of teachers from the RAND American Teacher Panel to document that teachers’ stated consideration of leaving the profession increased during the pandemic. We also study factors associated with teachers’ consideration of leaving the profession and high levels of job burnout during the pandemic. Approaching retirement age (being 55 or older), having to change instruction modes, health concerns, and high levels of job burnout all appear to be important predictors of the probability of considering leaving or retiring from teaching. Hybrid teaching increased consideration of …

Covid-19 Pandemic Leadership A Case For Return To Platonic Values, Richard Runyon, Daryl Watkins

Publications

In western education, Plato is often cited as a foundational thinker for education of leaders. 2,395 years later, many leaders in governments of the world are struggling to address the COVID-19 global pandemic. The 2019–2021 global pandemic has provided academics with a wonderful opportunity to evaluate government leadership at many levels. All the different forms of governance as well as theoretical economic systems are being tested in real-time. Success can be measured on a government’s ability to reduce both deaths and spread of the COVID-19 virus among their citizens. This article will discuss these concepts focused on successful government leadership.

Leadership Crisis Communication During The Pandemic Of 2020, Daryl Watkins, Steven Walker

Publications

COVID-19 provided a unique opportunity to examine leadership communication strategies during an extended crisis. The authors used political discourse analysis to review the crisis communication of President Donald Trump and seven U.S. governors using the U.S. Center for Disease Control crisis communication framework. The findings demonstrated that U.S. governors typically used effective communication strategies during their press briefings. President Trump often did not use effective crisis communication. The governors’ crisis communication styles were consistent with the CDC’s guidelines. The governors’ communication styles demonstrate that they are “in the arena,” while President Trump has attempted to remove himself from the arena.

Did Spending Cuts During The Great Recession Really Cause Student Outcomes To Decline?, Jessica Goldstein, Josh B. Mcgee

Education Reform Faculty and Graduate Students Publications

Jackson, Wigger, and Xiong (2020a, JWX) provide evidence that education spending reductions following the Great Recession had widespread negative impacts on student achievement and attainment. This paper describes our process of duplicating JWX and highlights a variety of tests we employ to investigate the nature and robustness of the relationship between school spending reductions and student outcomes. Though per-pupil expenditures undoubtedly shifted downward due to the Great Recession, contrary to JWX, our findings indicate there is not a clear and compelling story about the impact of those reductions on student achievement. Moreover, we find that the relationship between K-12 spending …

Covid-19 Impact Research Brief: Virtual Exchanges At Community Colleges, Kimberley Cossey, Heidi Fischer

Educational Foundations & Leadership Faculty Publications

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected higher education worldwide. Two NAFSA member leaders, Kimberley Cossey, MA, (2021 registrar for Region VIII) and Heidi Fischer, PhD (2021 chair for Region VIII), have coauthored a research brief detailing how the COVID-19 pandemic impacted virtual exchange program development and delivery at community colleges in the United States. The research brief summarizes key takeaways from mixed-methods research (i.e., survey and interviews) with practitioners from U.S. community colleges, requesting information about:

The pandemic's impact on existing virtual exchange programs (VEPs), The impact on developing new VEPs, and New (virtual) models for international education. Key takeaways include …

Reopening America's Schools During The Covid-19 Pandemic: Protecting Asian Students From Stigma And Discrimination, Daisuke Akiba

Publications and Research

The COVID-19 outbreak has prompted a rise in stigma and discrimination against people of Asian descent in many areas in the world, including the United States1. Anti-Asian hate incidents, which have ranged from verbal attacks, refusal of service to physical assault, continue to transpire in the U.S., and they put psychological and physical well-being of Asian children at increased risk. Discussions toward reopening of U.S. schools thus far, however, seem to have exclusively included the infection-related concerns and pedagogical consequences of continued disruptions in face-to-face instructions. Hence, educators, policymakers, and other stakeholders need to have plans in place …

Gather Us In: Building Meaningful Relationships In Catholic Schools Amid A Covid-19 Context, Ronald D. Fussell

COVID-19 and Catholic Schools

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Catholic schools in the United States pivoted from traditional learning to a remote learning model to maintain continuity of instruction for students. This pivot has served as a catalyst for academic innovation in many Catholic schools. As Catholic schools turn their attention to the possibility of remote learning in the fall of 2020, it is important now to consider how remote learning impacts interpersonal relationships within the school community. This reflective essay examines implications of relationship building in a remote learning context using Cook and Simonds's (2011) framework for relationships for Catholic schools as a lens. …

A Spiritual Vision For Catholic Educator Prep In A Time Of Disruption: A Reflective Essay, Angela T. Moret, Ronald R. O'Dwyer S.J.

COVID-19 and Catholic Schools

This essay reflects on the spiritual lessons learned as a Catholic graduate-level teacher prep program guided novice teachers through the first months of the COVID-19 pandemic. We observed the importance of articulating a clear spiritual vision rooted in scripture, history, and personal experience. The guiding spiritual lens has been the Emmaus story which helps us look to the past and to the future as we form and support early-career educators in Catholic schools.

Service-Learning In Catholic Higher Education And Alternative Approaches Facing The Covid-19 Pandemic, Qianhui Tian, Thomas Noel Jr.

COVID-19 and Catholic Schools

Drawing on a review of the literature on service-learning in Catholic higher education and the development of online service-learning, as well as an empirical case study of 2020 Vincentian Service Day at DePaul University, this article examines an alternative way to develop service-learning in Catholic schools in response to the reality and needs of the world in front of us. Service-learning is widely practiced in higher education institutions and plays an essential role in Catholic schools as it integrates students’ faith, morals, and spiritual growth with social justice commitments. School closures due to COVID-19 significantly impede service-learning. However, a successful …

Schooling After Covid-19: Challenges In India, Vimala Ramachandran

Teacher India

With schools set to reopen after the COVID-19 nation-wide school closures, education authorities need to support teachers in these crucial times. To tackle new challenges, teachers’ roles and responsibilities will expand and play a prominent role in the recovery, explains Vimala Ramachandran.

Reflections I And Ii: Reflexiones Desde La Educación Y Las Artes En La Era Covid-19 | Reflexões Da Educação E Das Artes Na Era Da Covid-19 | Reflections From Education And The Arts In The Covid-19 Era, Peter Mclaren, Wang Yan, Petar Jandrić

Education Faculty Articles and Research

Reflection I comes from the North American context, from Chapman University (USA). Peter McLaren is a professor at Chapman University, a researcher of reference in the international field of critical pedagogy. Wang Yan is a researcher in the Faculty of Educational Studies at Chapman University, her current research interest include Culture and Curricular Studies. Reflection II is developed by Petar Jandrić, professor at University of Applied Sciences of Zagreb (Croatia), researcher and expertise in understanding the intersections between critical pedagogy and information and communication technologies.

Catholic School Educators As Adaptive Leaders: A Structure For Prophetic Action In Response To Covid-19, John T. James

COVID-19 and Catholic Schools

This article shares the perspectives of Catholic educational practitioners in the United States as they responded to the challenges of COVID-19. The article then turns to the challenges for practitioners ahead and suggests a prophetic response utilizing the adaptive leadership framework. It outlines some of the issues and questions that must be addressed for the Fall semester. It concludes with references to scripture, Pope Francis, and others regarding a prophetic response to COVID-19 as a tempestuous sea.

Embracing Digital Learning In The Covid-19 Era, Ashok Kumar Pandey

Teacher India

The COVID-19 outbreak has led to school closures across the globe. Dr Ashok Kumar Pandey writes about ways in which school leaders can respond to this emergency.

Student Employability In Covid-19 Project Summary, Melody Viczko Dr., Shannon Mckechnie

Education Publications

The impacts of the COVID-19 global pandemic on higher education could be seen in education in early 2020. Significant labour market disruptions places students among the group experiencing the heaviest burden from layoffs and work insecurity during this time. Higher education institutions also face financial uncertainty, bracing for shifts in enrolment and tuition revenue, particularly related to international student cohorts. The impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on student employability are on the radar of policymakers, university faculty and administrators, employers, and students alike.

Supporting Student Mental Health During And After Covid-19, David Bryant Naff, Shenita Williams, Jenna Furman, Melissa Lee

MERC Publications

This report by the Metropolitan Educational Research Consortium (MERC) in the VCU School of Education offers a rapid review of research about supporting student mental health as they return to school during COVID-19. It pulls from literature on natural disasters like hurricane Katrina, the psychological impacts of quarantine, and emergent research on the mental health impacts of the Coronavirus. The report is structured to answer three overarching questions: 1) Why is it important to address the mental health needs of students in schools? 2) How can we expect COVID-19 to impact the mental health of students? 3) What are some …

School Leaders’ Work During The Covid-19 Pandemic: A Two-Pronged Approach, Katina Pollock

Education Publications

The COVID-19 pandemic has altered the nature of school principals’ work. Today, principals are expected to be exceptional managers and excellent leaders in a time where the pace of change has increased exponentially. Preliminary data suggest that principals in Ontario, Canada are pivoting their work: They are engaging in a two-pronged approach to lead public schools during the pandemic crisis. They are extending their roles around (a) safe schooling and setting the context for future schooling while (b) simultaneously extending their role of instructional leader to digital instructional leader. This paper, informed by preliminary focus group data, poses thought-provoking questions …

Digital Equity In The Time Of Covid-19: The Access Issue, Jonathan D. Becker, Joy Washington, David Naff, Andrea Woodard, Joan A. Rhodes

MERC Publications

This report is a part of a series of reports on digital equity in the time of COVID-19 written by members of the MERC SY20 study team. MERC launched the SY20 project to provide rapid response, iterative research to help address immediate and enduring needs by school divisions in metropolitan Richmond. The project has the following goals: (1) To convene conversations between scholars and practitioners on critical topics in public education relevant to the moment, (2) To share examples of local efforts that illustrate innovation and best practice, (3) To encourage community engagement and dialogue on our work through broad …