School (Dis)Connectedness During Comprehensive Distance Learning
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.32674/jsard.v7i2.3630Keywords:
Connectedness, Chronic Absenteeism, Comprehensive Distance LearningAbstract
Previous studies suggest that students who attend school consistently are more likely to perceive a connection to their school, teacher, and peers. This mixed-methods study was set in a public middle school in the Pacific Northwest. Extant attendance data and responses to a researcher-generated survey of students who met the state’s definition for chronic absenteeism were analyzed to explore changes in students’ self-reported feelings of being connected to school, teacher relationships, peer relationships, and school climate before the COVID 19 pandemic and during Comprehensive Distance Learning (CDL). Survey responses from 105 middle school students, all identified as chronically absent in the current school year based on attendance data, suggest a decrease in the way in which positive school relationships are formed, peer relationships are nurtured and maintained, and school climate is cultivated during Comprehensive Distance Learning (CDL). These changes have had a significant impact on the degree to which students feel connected to school in a virtual environment. Implications for practice are discussed.
Downloads
References
Adams, C. M., Ware, J. K., Miskell, R. C., & Forsyth, P. B. (2016). Self-regulatory climate: A positive attribute of public schools. Journal of Educational Research,109(2), 169–180. https://doi.org/10.1080/00220671.2014.934419
Balfanz, R. & Byrnes, V. (2013). Meeting the challenge of combating chronic absenteeism: Impact of the NYC mayor’s interagency task force on chronic absenteeism and school attendance and its implications for other cities. John Hopkins School of Education. https://www.attendanceworks.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/NYC-Chronic-Absenteeism-Impact-Report-Nov-2013.pdf
Balfanz, R., Herzog, L., & Mac Iver, D. (2007). Preventing student disengagement and keeping students on the graduation path in urban-middle grades schools: Early identification and effective interventions. Educational Psychology, 42(4), 223-225. https://doi.org/10.1080/00461520701621079
Berkowitz, R., Moore H., Astor, R.A., & Benbenishty, R. (2017). A research synthesis of the associations between socioeconomic background, inequality, school climate, and academic achievement. Review of Educational Research, 87(2), 425-469. https://doi.org/10.3102/0034654316669821
Catalano, R. F., Haggerty, K. P., Oesterle, S., Fleming, C. B., & Hawkins, J. D. (2004). The importance of bonding to school for healthy development: Findings from the Social Development Research Group. Journal of School Health, 74, 252–261.
Garcia, E. & Weiss, E. (2018). Student absenteeism: Who misses school and how missing school matters for school performance. Economic Policy Institute. https://files.epi.org/pdf/152438.pdf
Gottfredson, G. D., Gottfredson, D. C., Payne, A. A., & Gottfredson, N. C. (2005). School climate predictors of school disorder: Results from a national study of delinquency prevention in schools. Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, 42(4), 412-444. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022427804271931
Henry, K.L. & Thornberry, T.P. (2010). Truancy and escalation of substance use during adolescence. Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs 71(1), 115-124. https://doi.org/10.15288/jsad.2010.71.115
Hamlin, D. (2020). Can a positive school climate promote student attendance? Evidence from New York city. American Educational Research Journal, 20(10), 1-28. https://doi.org/10.3102/0002831220924037
Holt, S. B., Gershenson, S. (2015). The impact of teacher demographic representation on student attendance and suspensions. Policy Studies Journal, 47, 1069-1099. https://doi.org/10.1111/psj.12229
Hughes, M. R., Gaines, J. S., & Pryor, D.W. (2015). Staying away from school: Adolescents who miss school due to feeling unsafe. Youth Violence and Juvenile Justice, 13, 270–290. https://doi.org/10.1177/1541204014538067
Ladd, H.F. & Sorensen, L.C. (2017). Returns to teacher experience: Student achievement and motivation in middle school. Education Finance and Policy, 12, 241-279. https://doi.org/10.1162/EDFP_a_00194
Kieffer, M. J., Marinell, M. H., Neugebauer, S. R. (2014). Navigating into, through, and beyond the middle grades: The role of middle grades attendance in staying on track for high school graduation. Journal of School Psychology, 52, 549-565. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsp.2014.09.002
Kidger, J., Araya, R., Donovan, J., & Gunnell, D. (2012). The effect of the school environment on the emotional health of adolescents: A systematic review. Pediatrics, 129, 925–949. http://dx.doi.org/10.1542/peds.2011-2248
Oregon Department of Education. (2020). Oregon Statewide Report Card: 2018-2019. Oregon Department of Education. www.oregon.gov/ode
Osterman, K. F. (2000). Students’ need for belonging in the school community. Review of Educational Research, 70(3), 323-367. https://doi.org/10.3102/00346543070003323
Ready, D. (2010). Socioeconomic disadvantage, school attendance, and early cognitive development: The differential effects of school exposure. Sociology of Education 83(4), 271-286. https://doi.org/10.1177/0038040710383520
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. (2016). The Relationship Between School Attendance and Health. Health Policy Snapshot. https://www.rwjf.org/en/library/research/2016/09/the-relationship-between-school-attendance-andhealth.html#:~:text=The%20effects%20of%20chronic%20absenteeism,likely%20to%20finish%20high%20school.
Stein, M., & Grigg, J.A. (2019). Missing bus, missing school: Establishing the relationship between public transit use and student absenteeism. American Educational Research Journal, 56(5), 1834-1860. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.3102/0002831219833917
Ryan, R. M., & Deci, E. L. (2000). Self-determination theory and the facilitation of intrinsic motivation, social development, and well-being. American Psychologist, 55(1), 68-78. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.55.1.68
Thapa, A., Cohen, J., Guffey, S., & Higgins-D’Alessandro, A. (2013). A review of school climate research. Review of Educational Research, 83(3), 357–385. https://doi.org/10.3102/0034654313483907
Triplett, N., & Ford, J.E. (2019). E(race)ing inequities: The State of Racial Equity in North Carolina Public Schools. Center for racial Equity in Education. https://www.ednc.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/EducationNC_Eraceing-Inequities.pdf
Van Eck, K., Johnson, S.R., Bettencourt, A., Johnson, S.L. (2017). How school climate relates to chronic absence: A multi–level latent profile analysis. Journal of School Psychology 61(2017), 89-102. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsp.2016.10.001
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2022 Journal of School Administration Research and Development
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
All published articles are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 Unported License.
.png)
