Reaching at-Risk Student Populations During a Pandemic: The Impacts of Covid-19 on Prison Education

Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, higher education programs in prisons have suffered due to continued overcrowding, modified schedules, limited access to facilities, 21,183 documented COVID-19 positive cases in the United States Correctional Facilities, an over 11 million documented COVID-19 positive cases in Correctional Facilities across the globe and seemingly uncontrollable outbreaks. Existing challenges for prison education programs have been substantially exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, emphasizing a need to reinvigorate correspondence instruction modalities of teaching so that effective instruction in prison systems can continue. This study analyzes the current situation, strengths, weakness and opportunities available for best communication practices within the established instructional modality in prison and correspondence education during the current pandemic.

Exploring the “At-Risk” Student Label Through the Perspectives of Higher Education Professionals

Institutions of higher education often use the term “at-risk” to label undergraduate students who have a higher likelihood of not persisting. However, it is not clear how the use of this label impacts the perspectives of the higher education professionals who serve and support these students. Our qualitative study explores the descriptions and understandings of higher education professionals who serve and support at-risk students. We use thematic analysis (Braun & Clark, 2006) to interpret our data and develop our themes. These themes include conflicting views of the “at-risk” definition, attempts to normalize at-risk, fostering relationships, and “at-promise.”

School-Age Coping: Themes Across Three Generations of Sexual Minorities

Sexual minority youth (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and queer) are at-risk student population, and school counselors are responsible for helping them cope in a heterosexist society. This article reports the qualitative findings of a study that examined the process of coping during the school-age years among 81 sexual minority people. Data were collected across three cohorts of participants (a Marriage Equality cohort, an HIV/AIDS epidemic cohort, and a Stonewall Rebellion cohort). The authors identified five themes across all cohorts from the interviews: influence of relationships; experiencing emotions; coming out; actions to cope with being a sexual minority, including involvement in extracurricular activities; and cognitive coping (younger participants). Implications for school counseling practice and research are provided for educators, researchers, and helping professionals.

Chapter 6

In this chapter, participants from the Courage and Moral Choice Project share personal essays about their experiences with the project. Teachers describe the ways in which they sought to connect the stories of moral courage with a deepened awareness of the needs and challenges in the school and wider community. One teacher described the stories as “reminders” that courage and goodness exist in the world, a world often filled with stories of despair. Another teacher, who was once described as an “at risk” student herself, also noted that the stories provide a perspective of hope. One student described how meaningful it was for her to hear stories about the many Danish citizens to shelter and transport their neighbors during the Nazi occupation. She notes, “I think more people need to be like that.”

The Transformative Nature of Community Engagement in the Arts

Art educators have engaged in various community-engagement experiences with undergraduate classes for many years. In addition to the curricular reward, the authors have found that students are experiencing community in new ways through these opportunities. In this study, researchers used a mixed methods approach to carefully examine several key aspects of community work in afterschool programs in two community centers. First, the context was explored, and ethnography was used to describe experiences with art, community, and engagement in an area facing severe socioeconomic challenges. Outcome data from one site helped to link community work to at-risk student achievement on end of grade testing. Outcome data from the second research site suggests that resilience increased in students engaged in afterschool programming, perhaps through the incorporation of visual art. Last, university students' response papers were content analyzed to illustrate gains achieved through these opportunities.