Policy Brief: Delayed Starts and Face Masks: Updates on Reopening Plans for Florida Schools
Delayed Starts and Face Masks: Updates on Reopening Plans for Florida SchoolsF. Chris Curran, PhDChloe O'SullivanSelena ChoUF Education Policy Research Center Policy Brief This policy brief provides updated evidence on Florida school districts’ plans for...
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Video Policy Briefs
What are SROs and Why are They in Schools?
Center Co-Director and Associate Professor, F. Chris Curran, explains what school resource officers (SROs) are and why they are an increasingly common fixture in schools.
School Resource Officers and School Discipline
Center Co-Director and Associate Professor, F. Chris Curran, discusses the roles of school resource officers (SROs) in the school discipline system.
School Resource Officers and Student Interactions
Center Co-Director and Associate Professor, F. Chris Curran, discusses the ways that SROs engage with students and the potential implications.
Policy Brief: Florida School Reopening Plans: Initial Plans from Mid-July
This policy brief provides preliminary evidence on Florida school districts’ plans for reopening of schools for the coming academic school year. Drawing on the UF Education Policy Research Center’s Florida School Reopening Plans Database, this policy brief documents that, as of mid-July, about one quarter of Florida schools had not publicly released reopening plans. Of those that had, about three quarters detailed plans for a new digital/virtual learning option. Of districts with public plans, very few had plans to limit class sizes, about one third detailed plans to require masks in some situations, and a handful of districts had plans to mandate masks at all times. This brief is the first in a series that will track the development of reopening plans through the beginning of the 2020-2021 school year.
read morePolicy Brief: School Preparedness Plans for Pandemics and Continuity of Education
The recent and ongoing COVID-19 global health pandemic has drastically altered the learning environment of K-12 students nationwide, resulting in disrupted education for students and rapidly evolving responses by the public education system. While difficult to prepare for a pandemic of this scale, this policy brief demonstrates that about a quarter of school districts and the majority of schools nationwide did not have response plans in place for an infectious disease pandemic prior to COVID-19. Furthermore, the prevalence of these plans had been on the decline for the past decade following a rapid increase between 2008 and 2010. This policy brief also demonstrates that, of potential crises examined in national surveys, response plans for pandemics or infectious diseases were among the least likely to exist compared to other disasters (i.e. natural disasters, school shootings, etc.). Finally, this brief highlights the fact that the majority of schools did not report having plans in place to ensure the continuity of education in the face of a disruption to in-person instruction.
read moreResearch Study: Supporting Early Career Alternatively Certified Teachers: Evidence from the Beginning Teacher Longitudinal Survey
Alternatively certified (AC) teachers have generally been found to turn over at higher rates than traditionally certified (TC) teachers. These higher turnover rates are generally attributed to lower levels of preparedness and less of a commitment to remain in teaching than TC teachers, both of which may be compounded by AC teachers’ increased likelihood of beginning their career in schools that enroll traditionally underserved students.
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