scholarly journals A Light in Students’ Lives: K-12 Teachers’ Experiences (Re)Building Caring Relationships During Remote Learning

2021 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Karyn E. Miller

This study illuminates the experiences of K-12 educators as they strove to (re)build caring relationships with students during the COVID-19 pandemic. The study was conducted during a graduate course for experienced K-12 teachers in the spring of 2020 at a four-year comprehensive university in the United States. Data was collected from reflective learning journals and asynchronous peer discussions, which captured educators’ experiences as they transitioned to remote learning in real-time. Qualitative content analysis was used to identify pertinent themes. Findings suggest that remote learning revealed relationships in need of repair. Educators practiced authentic care and cultivated connectedness by 1) acting as warm demanders, 2) responding to students’ social-emotional needs, and 3) trying to bridge the digital divide. The article concludes with implications for practice and areas for future research as schools, districts, states, and countries consider the “new normal” in K-12 schooling. 

2021 ◽  
pp. 109830072110033
Author(s):  
Amy M. Briesch ◽  
Sandra M. Chafouleas ◽  
Jennifer N. Dineen ◽  
D. Betsy McCoach ◽  
Aberdine Donaldson

Research conducted to date provides a limited understanding of the landscape of school-based screening practices across academic, behavioral, and health domains, thus providing an impetus for the current survey study. A total of 475 K–12 school building administrators representing 409 unique school districts across the United States completed an online survey, which assessed current school-based screening practices across domains from the point of data collection to intervention selection. Whereas 70% to 81% of the respondents reported the use of universal screening across health and academic domains, respectively, only 9% of the respondents endorsed the use of universal social, emotional, and behavioral screening. In addition, discrepancies were identified across domains with regard to such factors as (a) who reviews screening data, (b) how screening data are used to determine student risk, and (c) how interventions are designed for those students demonstrating risk. The lack of consensus in practice calls for dissemination concerning best practices in the implementation of social, emotional, and behavioral screening; risk identification; and Tier 1 intervention.


2021 ◽  
pp. 088307382110402
Author(s):  
Maria Valicenti-McDermott ◽  
Molly O’Neil ◽  
Amy Morales-Lara ◽  
Rosa Seijo ◽  
Tammy Fried ◽  
...  

Owing to the COVID-19 pandemic, K-12 education in New York City quickly transitioned to remote learning. We performed a structured interview with 50 consecutive families of children with developmental disabilities about their experience with remote learning 2 months after COVID-19 lockdown. We observed that setting up the remote learning system was challenging for families who were born outside of the United States, spoke limited English, or had a lower level of education. Though some special education supports were in place, remote learning for children with developmental disabilities led to gaps in their therapeutic services. Children with more severe developmental disabilities joined less than 2 hours of remote learning per day and had a decrease in their therapeutic services. Most children (80%) relied on their parents for education. Additionally, for low-income communities, with families who spoke languages other than English, remote learning revealed a new barrier to access: technology.


Author(s):  
Taqueena Sharell Quintana

Throughout their K-12 educational experiences, military-connected youth often face a high degree of uncertainty and mobility due to their parent's service. These transitions often create stressors that impact the academic and social-emotional development of children and adolescents from military families. Because of their position and training, school counselors play an important role in addressing the educational needs of military-connected youth. Within this chapter, the author discusses military culture, describes the transitional challenges in which military-connected youth experience and highlights ways in which school counselors can utilize interventions to support this unique population. Recommendations and suggestions for future research are also explored.


2020 ◽  
pp. 194277512093391
Author(s):  
Julia Mahfouz ◽  
Jayson W. Richardson

This study was designed to gain a baseline understanding of how future K-12 building leaders in pre-service principal preparation programs address their own wellbeing. In this exploratory study, pre-service school leaders across the United States self-assessed their levels of stress and social–emotional competencies. Students from 30 pre-service principal preparation programs across the United States completed a survey that included four social–emotional learning scales. The findings indicate that this population may not be well equipped to deal with the stressors of the principalship. The findings can be used as a baseline to understand how changes in curriculum might impact these constructs.


2017 ◽  
Vol 33 (2) ◽  
pp. 61-80 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeniffer Sams ◽  
Doreen Sams

AbstractArts education has been part of the United States K-12 educational system for over a century. However, recent administrative policy decisions addressed theeconomic bottom lineand the 1983 report,A Nation at Risk, and complied with theNo Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act of 2001(U.S. Department of Education, 2001). These decisions resulted instandardisationof both core curricula and testing, leaving arts programs to function in a diminished capacity, curtailing both individuality and creative thinking. This study unpacks the role of the arts as change agents with the ability to: address current discourse; question ideologies and culture; convey complex problems in artistic form; engage the viewer in aesthetics; provide a perspective not found in regimented thinking; and empower creative problem solvers. This work also highlights the role of eco-art as a medium for addressing complex environmental challenges. The study also empirically examines, through a self-report survey, K-12 arts educators’ perceptions of integrating eco-arts into curricula. Findings revealed respondents’ desire to integrate eco-arts into the arts curricula and identified the most significantly perceived barriers to integration, as well as the role of policy on practicality. The authors also identify the study's limitations and recommend areas for future research.


2018 ◽  
Vol 56 (2) ◽  
pp. 204-209 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicola Marie Stock ◽  
Matthew Ridley ◽  
Ella Guest

Background: Cleft lip and/or palate (CL/P) poses many challenges for those affected throughout the school years, with recent studies pointing to a trend in poor educational outcomes. Previous research has highlighted the important role that teachers play in supporting young people with chronic health conditions yet studies in the field of CL/P suggest that teachers may lack knowledge of the condition, and underestimate pupils’ academic ability. Qualitative investigation of the impact of CL/P from the teacher’s perspective may provide additional insight as well as potential suggestions for improving the school experience for affected pupils. Methods: Twenty UK preschool, primary, and secondary school teachers with experience of teaching pupils with CL/P completed an open-ended survey, eliciting qualitative data. Results: Qualitative content analysis was performed. Data were presented under 5 key headings: Knowledge of CL/P and its effects, perceived impact of CL/P on education, teachers’ training needs, delivery of training, and impact of CL/P on teachers. Teachers were able to identify a number of potential social, emotional, and treatment-related challenges within the school setting, yet did not believe that CL/P would have a long-term impact on pupils’ educational achievement. Participating teachers reported that cleft-specific training and access to relevant resources would be highly beneficial. Conclusions: Acting as a platform for future research, this exploratory study provides insight into the challenges faced by teachers and offers suggestions for how to improve teachers’ understanding of CL/P, and their confidence in dealing with cleft-related issues.


Author(s):  
Bryan Powell

The recent increase in popular music education in K–12 school music programs is in part due to the expansion of modern band programming throughout the United States. Modern band is a term used to describe school music ensembles that include popular music instruments and focus on performing music that is meaningful to the students while incorporating songwriting. The purpose of this literature review was to examine relevant research related to modern band music programs in the United States and provide implications for music teaching and learning. Music researchers and professionals have recently addressed specific issues related to increasing the diversity of school music programs, addressing elements of culturally responsive curricula, and positively affecting the social and emotional development of students through modern band. Throughout this literature review, I provide implications for music teachers and discuss areas for future research.


Author(s):  
Joshua Wilson ◽  
Gilbert N. Andrada

Writing skills are essential for success in K-12 and post-secondary settings. Yet, more than two-thirds of students in the United States fail to achieve grade-level proficiency in writing. The current chapter discusses the use of automated essay evaluation (AEE) software, specifically automated feedback systems, for scaffolding improvements in writing skills. The authors first present a discussion of the use of AEE systems, prevailing criticisms, and findings from the research literature. Then, results of a novel study of the effects of automated feedback are reported. The chapter concludes with a discussion of implications for stakeholders and directions for future research.


2021 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Shanna Smith Jaggars

The COVID-19 pandemic began in December 2019, and within three months had spread across Europe, the United States, and almost every other nation in the world. To help contain the deadly virus, countries across the globe closed the doors of K-12 schools and colleges. Students residing on university campuses were sent home. School administrators and instructors scrambled to devise plans for teaching and supporting their students from their own homes. Depending on their local context, their experience and training, and their students’ desires and needs, some teachers turned to teaching by correspondence, some to asynchronous online learning, some to synchronous remote class sessions, and some to a unique mix of these elements. Administrators, teachers, and students may have expected these emergency distance education practices to be temporary – a few weeks at most – but many were required to continue with remote teaching through the spring of 2021. More than a year after it began, the pandemic may at last be coming under control as vaccines are distributed across the world, and teachers and students are cautiously looking forward to a return to “normal” schooling conditions in the autumn of 2021. However, lessons from this extended period of universal remote learning will influence student instruction and support practices for many years to come, for both online and in-person courses and programs. The articles in this Special Issue provide a rich portrait of the teaching and learning challenges which characterized the initial emergency transition in Spring 2020, and detail the approaches of administrators and teachers as they attempted to overcome those challenges. Along the way, these studies provide lessons in terms of how to better prepare for future public emergencies, as well as how to improve student success more generally, in both online and in-person settings. Throughout the issue, readers will also see a multitude of challenges related to the “digital divide” – or the fact that students have unequal access to reliable high-speed Internet and other academic technologies, due to underlying inequalities in household income and regional infrastructure.


Organization ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 135050842095632
Author(s):  
Thomas Greckhamer ◽  
Sebnem Cilesiz

Strategy has become ubiquitous in contemporary societies. Accordingly, the expansion of strategy discourse beyond corporate management and its colonization of various aspects of economic and organizational life are important phenomena for critical management research. In this study, we explore how strategy discourse is ushered into and naturalized in the realm of educational administration. Taking a critical approach to discourse analysis, our study reveals the nature and functions of a set of texts representing a discourse that expands strategic management to public K-12 education produced by a key institutional entrepreneur in the United States. Our findings disentangle how this expansion of strategy discourse into public education administration is accomplished through the discourse’s different building blocks. They expose and denaturalize the discourse’s ideological position and exercise of power in its normative construction of the necessity of strategic management for public education. We conclude with a discussion of our study’s contributions to theory and research on the expansion of strategy discourses. In doing so, we cultivate a discussion of alternative discourses and highlight possible future research directions.


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