Date of Graduation

5-2021

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Education in Curriculum and Instruction (MEd)

Degree Level

Graduate

Department

Curriculum and Instruction

Advisor/Mentor

Young, Heather D.

Committee Member

Endacott, Jason L.

Second Committee Member

Goering, Christian Z.

Keywords

COVID-19; Educational Technology; Policy Change; School Operation; Teacher Perspective; Teaching-Learning Process

Abstract

According to past and present studies, pandemics impacted many aspects of society, including education. The current COVID-19 pandemic, which lasted for more than a year during the study, has brought notable educational changes at every level of education. This research was conducted to explore the extent of educational changes during a pandemic and the deviation between the education plan and its implementation in Northwest Arkansas public school districts. The study's data was collected from school district public documents and teacher interviews from school districts classified as low to high SES in suburban and rural areas. Both sources were analyzed and coded to find the emerging themes, overlaps, and differences from both documents and interviews data collected. The changes found in education during the pandemic revolved around health and safety, the teaching and learning process, policy, and the involved parties' work-life balance. For the shift between educational planning and implementation, the same two themes emerged (health and safety, teaching and learning process) with the addition of communication. Overall, this study outlined different teachers' education experiences from different backgrounds, suggestions, hope, and encouragement for the current and future education.

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