DPI and NC Collaboratory address COVID's impact on Student Learning

North Carolina Public Schools sent this bulletin at 10/13/2022 11:11 AM EDT

Having trouble viewing this email? View it as a Web page.


banner

For immediate release

Oct. 13, 2022

 

DPI and NC Collaboratory address COVID's impact on Student Learning 

 

nc collaboratory

The N.C. Department of Public Instruction (NCDPI) and North Carolina Collaboratory are leading a joint $6.73 million effort to spur research on the impact of COVID-19 on student learning in the state, with the goal of helping educators and students recover from pandemic-related disruptions and lost instructional time.

  

Based on priorities identified by NCDPI’s Office of Learning Recovery and Acceleration (OLR), the partnership will fund 20 academic research teams across North Carolina to understand the effectiveness of existing state and local programs and policies that were supported through federal Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) legislation. 

 

NCDPI will work closely with all funding recipients throughout their projects. As a result, this unique program will strengthen partnerships between state education leaders and academic researchers on a priority issue that impacts many North Carolinians.   

 

“This joint effort will be instrumental for policymakers as we seek to address the most pressing challenges K-12 students and educators face as a result of the pandemic,” State Superintendent of Public Instruction Catherine Truitt said. “More importantly, this research provides a unique opportunity for the K-12 system to harness the research power of North Carolina’s great institutions of higher education.”  

 

The 20 research teams, many of which will collaborate with key stakeholders such as elementary schools, will receive between $150,000 and $500,000 to conduct the projects listed below. Each project will last approximately two years, with many slated to start as early as next month.  

 

To transform this large volume of research into useable information for policymakers and communities across North Carolina, a group of faculty based at the University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill, led by Drs. Ethan Hutt, Matthew Springer and Thurston Domina in the College of Education, will work closely with the OLR to build a network across all research teams and lead targeted communication and outreach efforts to state, local and institutional leaders.  

 

The Collaboratory, headquartered at UNC-Chapel Hill, was established by the North Carolina General Assembly (NCGA) in 2016 to facilitate the transformation of academic expertise into practical information for use by state and local governments. The $6 million supporting this partnership is part of a $30 million appropriation made by the NCGA to the Collaboratory in November 2021 for research and other activities that monitor, assess and address the public health and economic impacts of COVID-19 across the state.  

 

“Utilizing a large portion of our most recent funding to better quantify learning loss and develop mitigation strategies for our state’s K-12 students is of critical importance to us,” said Dr. Jeff Warren, executive director of the Collaboratory. “The OLR’s guidance on research needs within our educational landscape have helped us build a robust, multi-institution research portfolio to expedite post-pandemic learning recovery for our students and their families.”  

 

Dr. Michael Maher, Deputy Superintendent of Standards, Accountability, & Research for NCDPI, said he’s confident that the joint effort will produce actionable research of value for schools across the state. 

 

“Ultimately, students and teachers will benefit from this wide range of research that aims to strengthen North Carolina’s public schools,” Maher said. “This is a real opportunity to help the state learn from the disruptions of the last two years and empirically identify strategic investments in K12 after ESSER funds expire.” 

 

More information about the Collaboratory, funding opportunities and COVID-19 initiatives is available online: https://collaboratory.unc.edu.  

 

More information about NCDPI’s continued work on https://www.dpi.nc.gov/.  

 

Projects Funded Focusing on Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Students, Schools: 

 

Project Title - Project Summary  

Principal Investigator, Institution  

(Subawards)  

NCDPI Focus Area  

   

Award Amount   

Enrollment of Nontraditional Culturally and Linguistically Undergraduates for Diversity and Equity at Historically- Minority Serving institutions in School Mental Health Professions - Developing an empirically based pathway for college juniors from historically minority serving institutions in the UNC System to receive mentorship and preparation for acceptance into a school psychology program.   

Isaac Woods at NCSU   

Office of Exceptional Children  

$119,185   

Effective World Language Teaching Strategies: Lessons from a Global Pandemic - Working with 9 school districts and NC Virtual to determine effective practices that emerged from the collaboration between NCDPI and NC Virtual Language educators, with the goal of providing districts and teachers with data on effective online teaching strategies to recover from and mitigate further learning loss.   

Scott Kissau, Kristin Davin at UNCC 

Office of Academic Standards; Digital Teaching and Learning  

$148,492   

   

Assessing the Impact of COVID on the Applications to and Enrollment in UNC System Institutions - Investigating the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on first-time undergraduate enrollment in postsecondary institutions in NC to examine the extent to which college enrollment decisions are associated with individual and familial factors, school experiences, as well as experiences with college admission, and how such associations vary as a function of the timing of COVID-related experiences.  

Yudan Wang, Maylee Vazquez, Shirlene Coopwood at   

NCA&TSU  

(Subawards: UNC-CH, UNCG, UNCC, WSSU, Guilford College)  

   

Advanced Learning & Gifted Education  

  

$148,833   

Leading Workforce Effectiveness: Inhibiting and Supporting Factors - Identifying the supporting and inhibiting factors influencing teacher retention in the five LEAs with the highest and the lowest teacher attrition in North Carolina (10 total)  

Laura Lunsford, Terrie Hampton-Jones, Kathleen Castillo-Clark at Campbell University  

Office of Licensure and Educator Preparation  

$149,717   

The Impact of COVID on North Carolina Students’ Postsecondary Trajectories - Exploring postsecondary experiences of high school students graduating in 2020 and 2021, including enrollment patterns, selection of majors, performance in college classes, and completion of FAFSA for all students in the state.  

Julie Edmunds, Dora Gicheva at UNCG   

   

Advanced Learning & Gifted Education  

  

$149,973   

The COVID-19 Pandemic and Patterns of Post-Secondary Enrollment in NC - Producing a description of the changes in pathways to college or secondary education for all NC high school students to help the UNC System, NC DPI and other state and local leaders target research-driven policies and resources to students.   

Daniel Klasik, Matthew Springer, Steven Hemelt, Sarah Fuller at  

UNC-CH   

  

Advanced Learning & Gifted Education   

$227,677   

Factors Driving School Choice in North Carolina During the COVID-19 Pandemic - Analyzing statewide changes in characteristics of applicants and families’ motivations for leaving the public school system during the pandemic system via the NC Opportunity Scholarship Program in partnership with NC State Education Assistance Authority.   

Anna Egalite at  

NCSU   

(Subawards: Texas A&M, University of Missouri)    

Office of Innovation  

$244,542   

Teacher Attrition, Health and Well-Being: Exploring the mismatch between teacher preparation (and teacher expectations) and district realities in the midst of Covid-19 - In partnership with NC Independent Colleges and Universities (NCICU), this study will focus on exploring how the pandemic has impacted the educator workforce and determining which interventions – such as Educator Preparedness Programs – are helping districts retain existing teachers and recruit new hires.   

Lorrie Schmid, Kristen Stephens, T. Scott Holcomb, Jessica Sperling, Jan Riggsbee at  

Duke University  

(Subawards: NCICU, Lenoir Rhyne University)  

Office of Licensure and Educator Preparation, NCDPI  

$249,450   

Mitigating Educator Workforce Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic Through Coaching - Identifying teacher coaching practices that support teacher retention and mitigate negative impacts of the pandemic in partnership with the NC New Teacher Support Program.  

Anna Cash, Kyle Cox, Jae Hoon Lim at UNCC (Subawards: NCSU)  

Office of Licensure and Educator Preparation  

$249,624   

Preventing Teacher Burnout: Supporting Teachers to Help Students (And Teachers) Thrive During the Pandemic and Beyond - Informing interventions and supports that can protect educators during challenging times such as the COVID-19 pandemic and help workforce recovery. Focusing particularly on retention of highly qualified educators and effects on teacher working conditions, we will examine the effect of Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS) and support staff (counselors, social workers, psychologists, and nurses) on the educator workforce.  

Jane Fruehwirth, Shauna Cooper at   

 UNC-CH; Camille Goins at UNC Pembroke (Subawards: Project AWARE evaluator)  

Integrated Academic and Behavior Systems; Office of Licensure and Educator Preparation  

$249,838   

Strategies and Innovations for Multilingual Learner Success - Exploring strategies and innovations that contribute to multilingual learners’ academic achievement to inform multilingual learner-focused policies across North Carolina.  

Ye He,   

UNCG   

Office of Academic Standards  

$249,924   

Keeping Students Safe in the Digital World: Examining Monitoring Technologies Used by K-12 Schools During the Pandemic - Examining the effectiveness and impact of software applications to monitor student internet activity in NC districts and charter schools, with the goal of protecting young children from related threats.   

Florence Martin, Callie Edwards, Rebekah Davis at NCSU; Sejal Foxx, Chao Wang at UNCC  

Digital Teaching and Learning  

$297,953   

Implementation and Impact Evaluation of ESSER III funded supports for educators in North Carolina’s recurring low-performing schools and districts - Providing a deeper understanding of implementation decisions, challenges, and impacts of ESSER III funded supports to recurring low-performing schools and districts, including hiring district and school leadership coaches and providing professional development for teachers.   

Julie Marks at  

UNC-CH   

(Subawards: NCCU)  

Office of District & Regional Support  

$499,232   

EC Collaboratory: Collaborating with School Partners to Identify Evidence-based Practices for Learners with Extensive Support Needs during School Closures - Addressing academic learning needs for students with extensive support needs (significant cognitive disabilities) by studying the effect of a Unique Learning System and the provision of coaching to special educators in Hyde, Jones, Wayne, Duplin, Greene county schools.   

Melissa Hudson, Sandra Warren, Tosha Owens, Kristen Burnette at 

ECU   

Office of Exceptional Children  

$499,668   

A Comprehensive Evaluation of North Carolina’s Supplemental Salary Fund - Examining how PSUs statewide used strategic compensation funds received through SB 105 as part of NC’s response to the pandemic, and determining effects on student outcomes and educator turnover, mobility, and quality.   

Matthew Springer at UNC-CH; Lam Pham at NCSU  

Finance and Business Services, Federal Programs  

  

$499,870   

High Dosage Tutoring to Support Pandemic Learning Recovery and School Improvement in Union County - Implementing and evaluating high dosage tutoring to address pandemic learning loss in a year-long math program for 4th graders in Union County.   

Douglas Lauen, Helen Rose Miesner, Eric Houck at UNC-CH    

Office of Innovation  

$499,936   

Mitigating COVID-19 Impact: Implementing Community School Framework in Rural Schools - Over the two year period, ECU Rural Education Institute (REI) will engage in a research-practice partnership with Elizabeth City Pasquotank Public Schools to closely examine the Community School framework in rural settings, intentionally plan implementation of the framework in selected school(s)and engage in evaluative activities to determine impact of initial implementation on the critical outcomes of student learning, school engagement, and community involvement.  

Amy Swain, Kristen Cuthrell, Jerry Johnson at ECU   

Office of Innovation  

$499,989   

Project READS NC (Reading Evaluation Across Diverse Stakeholders in North Carolina) - Understanding the impact of LETRS training on teacher and administrator knowledge of effective literacy instruction and implementation of LETRS instructional practices in North Carolina schools.   

Paola Pilonieta, Alicia Stewart, Erin Washburn, Michael Putman at UNCC   

(Subawards: UNC-CH)  

Office of Early Learning   

  

$500,000   

Fayetteville State University (UNCFSU) Bronco Explosion – Implement and study new enrichment program at Walker Spivey Elementary School to support parents and teachers and foster student academic success while promoting social and emotional learning in partnership with Cumberland County Schools.   

Tanya Hudson, Chandrika Johnson, Jocelyn Smith-Gray, Jesse Baker at FSU   

   

Integrated Academic and Behavior Systems  

$500,000   

Pandemic Priorities: An Analysis of ESSER Budgeting Across North Carolina - This Project will support the Collaboratory’s goal of monitoring, assessing, and addressing the public health and economic impacts of COVID-19, as mandated by the North Carolina General Assembly (“NCGA”) in Section 8.12 of Session Law 2021-180, as amended by Section 2.4 of Session Law 2021-189.  

Ethan Hutt, Matthew Springer, Thad Domina at UNC-CH   

Finance and Business Services, Federal Programs  

$754,925 

 


###