Rauktis, Mary Elizabeth and Tang, Fengyan and Sgourakis, Aimee and Huguley, James and Robertson, Rachel
(2021)
Supporting the education of youth in foster care during the pandemic: foster parent and agency perspectives.
In: Pitt Momentum Fund 2021.
Abstract
Foster youth are at risk of poorer educational outcomes than their peers; foster youth take longer to graduate from secondary education, are less likely to obtain a high school diploma and less than 10% obtain a college diploma. Moreover, schools are a primary site for mental health services and counseling for this group of youth. The COVID-19 pandemic and educational closures has the potential to negatively impact educational and social gains for these youth, yet we know very little about how they have been impacted. The purpose of this exploratory study is to examine the educational/mental health and social developmental impact of the COVID-required changes in K-12 education (remote learning, fewer or no in-class sessions, no in-school supports and mental health services including IEPs) from the perspective of foster parents who are the primary education support in the home and from foster parent agencies. A second purpose is to obtain foster parent perception of how impactful the initial resources provided through the schools and the foster parent agencies have been for supporting foster parents and what else may be needed to continue to support youth learning at home. We will use a client-participatory, mixed methods approach which includes focus groups and surveys well as a systematic review of educational best practices and implementation. By involving foster parents and agency staff in creating the tools and collaborating on interpretation and writing, we will a have a more comprehensive and nuanced understanding and better products to share with the community. Approximately 150 foster parents from this region will be surveyed and foster-care agency staff will participate in focus groups. A systematic review will be conducted on evidence-based educational practices for vulnerable K-12 populations. The products will include one to two manuscripts published in a child-welfare focused journal or education journal; (2) feedback in the form of a brief graphic report to all the agencies who assisted or worked with us (3) a series of two to three data and policy briefs.
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