COVID-19

While students are the center of dual enrollment programs, high school counseling professionals, often called guidance counselors, and college/university administrators are vital to the success of these programs. High school guidance counselors coordinate schedules and ensure student awareness, registration, and participation in the program. College/University administrators facilitate dual enrollment partnerships between the school district and the post-secondary institution, guided by formal articulation agreements. COVID-19 has impacted both secondary and post-secondary school systems. Since dual enrollment is a formal bridge program between these systems, the pandemic may have long-term effects on access, equity, and the learning environment associated with dual enrollment.
This case study focused on high school guidance counselors and school district administrators in Broward County, Florida schools as well as the college/university staff and administrators who oversee dual enrollment programs at three post-secondary institutions that offer classes for Broward County students. By collecting the participants’ perceptions of the impact of COVID-19 on dual enrollment programs, this study found out what worked, what did not work, and the lessons learned.

In this qualitative grounded theory study, I interviewed participants from and analyzed documents associated with three community/state colleges in Florida. Additionally, I have included the perspective of key informants from the state and/or the Florida College System. The purpose of this qualitative grounded theory study was to develop a substantive theory to explain the process by which senior administrative leaders engaged in fiscal decision-making due to shifting funding sources during the COVID-19 pandemic. Although prior decision-making theories exist, such as rational choice theory and garbage can theory, these theories do not address how fiscal decisions are made in higher education institutions during times of extended crisis exemplified by the COVID-19 pandemic. This research study found that during the COVID-19 pandemic leaders sought to establish resilience as part of their fiscal decision-making process to ensure their ability to lead and maintain viable institutions of higher education. Moreover, through the fiscal decision-making process, the leaders in this study did not permit themselves or their institutions to accept the status quo, rather they extended themselves and their organizations to stretch beyond prior capabilities to respond to ever changing needs of students as well as external stakeholders brought about from the COVID-19 pandemic. The collective experiences of these leaders during the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in the resilient stretching theory of community college fiscal decision-making, which will be further expounded upon throughout this research study.

This study investigates the profound repercussions and adaptive measures stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic in Fort Pierce, Florida. Through comprehensive ethnographic interviews with 31 residents, Fort Pierce is showcased as a representative microcosm, reflecting the broader spectrum of the state’s diversity.
The analysis underscores how daily routines were drastically altered, and it sheds light on the innovative ways residents navigated these challenges. The effects of economic downturns, disruptions in consumption patterns, reduced social circles, and mental health challenges became evident, particularly among marginalized communities. The pandemic-induced environment led to job losses, supply chain disturbances, and jeopardized essential needs. As a result, feelings of isolation, anxiety, and depression flourished, and traditional social ties weakened.
Yet, the resilient spirit of Fort Pierce was also in evidence. Residents displayed remarkable ability to adapt and innovate. Outdoor activities emerged as therapeutic escapes, and digital platforms filled the void in social and professional interactions. New behaviors, such as enhanced hygiene practices, became integral. However, as the pandemic’s timeline extended, a sense of fatigue with ongoing restrictions permeated the community.

Parental sensitivity, parental intrusiveness, child involvement, and dyadic synchrony are factors associated with important developmental outcomes. The current study uses the CIB (Feldman, 1998) for a behavioral approach to investigating the effects of parental loneliness and perceived social support during the COVID-19 pandemic on parent-infant (12 􀂱 24 mo) behaviors during a free-play interaction (N = 43). The results of this study demonstrate that parental loneliness has an adverse effect on parental sensitivity and intrusiveness, but not child involvement and dyadic synchrony. Mediation analyses revealed the specific mechanisms by which low levels of perceived social support increase loneliness, which in turn, influences parents to behave more intrusively towards their infants. The findings of this study hold value for interventions that seek to reduce risk for adverse developmental outcomes. These results also hold important implications about the COVID-19 pandemic and its negative impact on parenting behaviors towards infants.

In the last two years, the United States has been greatly impacted by the global health pandemic of COVID-19 and a renewed national recognition of racial injustice catalyzed by the murder of George Floyd. These crises have created extensive pressures for school leaders to revamp their policies and procedures to ensure physiological safety and address systemic racism in schools, respectively. The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore how school principals dealt with and reacted to COVID-19 and the murder of George Floyd and the pressures of this crisis context. Guided by multiple contextual lenses and theoretical frameworks, this study used an abductive analysis approach to uncover surprising and anomalous data to build renewed understandings in educational leadership. In doing so, I discovered elements of healthcare and sensemaking around life and death that led to the integration of a healthcare humanization framework. Together, this study found that principals adopted new or shifted roles and identities that focused on humanizing practices. Principals became first responders; mediators of health, political, and humanizing communications; needs-based leaders; civil rights leaders; and leaders who sought agency by supporting others in uncontrollable situations. These changes were embedded in systems that remained acontexual and dehumanistic that created tensions for leaders to navigate. These findings supported the early developments of a humanizing leadership peri-crisis framework to elucidate leaders’ responses in crisis contexts particularly when loss is imminent. This research is significant because the literature on theoretical frameworks for crisis school leadership is small and even fewer studies have operationalized humanizing school leadership practices. Recommendations based on the findings are also proposed for researchers,
practitioners, and policy-makers.

Citywide initiatives to promote educational opportunities are levers for social change (Appio et al., 2019) that also risk reproducing social inequalities (Godec et al., 2021). Out-of-school time networks have developed in many cities to promote access to youth programs and activities that foster development, bolster academic outcomes, and open career pathways (Allen et al., 2017). Networks have long been shown to play a role in the adoption of innovations (Ryan & Gross, 1943). Community educational networks or STEM ecosystems specialize in promoting content relating to topics of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). There has been increasing demand for STEM programs which exists alongside a scarcity of resources and expertise (Afterschool Alliance, 2014; Liou & Daly, 2021; Henderson et al., 2011). To overcome these hurdles, networks make strategic efforts to mobilize resources with the “goal of creating institutional and broad infrastructure support for activities and programs that contribute to child and youth development in the out-of-school time hours” (Hall & Harvey, 2002, p. 3).
The maintenance of innovations, including educational services, can be a challenge especially in times of social crisis (Pemberton, 1937). There is little known about the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the factors that influence the sustainability of STEM programs in OST. While there is a growing demand for access (Afterschool Alliance, 2014), there is also a lack of research on the sustainability of STEM educational activities in OST settings. Evaluating disparate organizations each with unique goals and strategies relating to a single citywide initiative presents a challenge for researchers (Baum, 2001). The present research utilizes an implementation science framework to fill a gap in the literature on the factors relating to the sustainability of STEM in OST. This empirical research explores STEM networks in two US cities in 2020. This research describes facilitators and barriers to sustaining STEM education in various contexts (e.g., school-related programs, community-based programs).

In this research, three methods of aerosol generation, and their subsequent propagation, are investigated experimentally. These experiments provided insight into the potential risk aerosol can have pertaining to the spread of infectious disease such as COVID – 19. The first of which investigated an alternative generation route that may exist given the discovery of small numbers of viable viruses in urine and stool samples. Flushing biomatter can lead to the aerosolization of micro-organisms; thus, there is a likelihood that bioaerosols generated in public restrooms may pose a concern for the transmission of COVID-19, especially since these areas are relatively confined, experience heavy foot traffic, and may suffer from inadequate ventilation. The results indicate that the particular designs tested in the study generate a large number of droplets in the size range 0.3 𝜇𝑚 – 3 𝜇𝑚, which can reach heights of at least 1.52 m. This highlights the need for incorporating adequate ventilation in the design and operation of public spaces, which can help prevent aerosol accumulation in high occupancy areas and mitigate the risk of airborne disease transmission. Secondly, experiments were conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of facial coverings at various distances around a simulated cough. These concluded that due to the gaps along the seal of a face mask, aerosols can escape 360° around a coughing individual. In the final portion of the thesis study, an experimental method was developed and conducted to break up a droplet via mechanical excitation. The results of these experiments showed that when a droplet is placed on a vibrating string, the droplet can be broken into many secondary droplets which is analogous to one speaking or singing thus providing insight as to how vocal cords can generate respiratory aerosols.