Call for Articles and Columns: ‘Education in a Pandemic Age: Evolution or Transformation?’
The Journal for Success in High-Need Schools, is seeking articles and columns for its Volume 16, Number 2, Issue theme – “Education in a Pandemic Age: Evolution or Transformation?”
The COVID-19 pandemic is the latest and by far the most severe of several pandemics (e.g., HIV, SARS, MERS, Ebola) global society has experienced in recent decades. COVID-19 has dramatically affected all sectors of education and society, including teaching and learning; how schools are structured; student, teacher, and parent/family relationships; and has thrust eLearning front and center in all aspects of education. In shuttering virtually all schools and colleges and with nearly all students “sheltering in place,” COVID-19 transformed, at least in the short term, the trajectory of the decades-long evolution of online and distance learning. As teachers scramble to develop their classes online and schools struggle to make technology more widely available, families must adjust to new realities with children at home. Already there are wider impacts on work, leisure, and family life, not to mention jobs, careers, social organization, governance, international relations, and the global economy. The timing and magnitude of these changes are open to speculation, but it appears that at some level they will be long lasting, even as the duration of COVID-19 and the likelihood of future pandemics on our complex, highly interactive Earth society are unclear.
Within the above wider context this issue of the journal is focused more narrowly on COVID-19 implications, outcomes, lessons learned, new best practices, and student achievement in education, especially regarding immediate issues such as these:
- new models of teaching and learning, e.g., remote, in-person, “blended”
- priorities and content of pre-service teacher preparation programs
- professional development of in-service teachers to meet eLearning challenges
- available eLearning curricula and software
- roles of schools and college campuses in student socialization
- innovations in school organization, finance, and support for students
- outcomes of educational research and experimentation inspired by COVID-19
The journal also invites articles and columns on larger long -erm issues that reflect the societal context of education’s response to COVID-19. Will the “new normal” build in a progressive way on lessons in response to pandemics, or in some sense be an unsustainable “return to normalcy” such as during the reactionary “Roaring Twenties” that followed the flu pandemic of 1918-19? Will lessons learned on the margins, such as in-home schooling and charter schools, play a role in shaping this future? Will change be evolutionary or transformational? What best practices will emerge? Consider the following:
- effects on student learning and society’s well being
- impacts on educational access and the digital divide
- appropriate balance of “high tech” and “high touch” pedagogies in future education and implications for student social and emotional learning
- impacts of changing work and career patterns on educational content and curriculum
- opportunities for education to address distinctions between “evidence-based knowledge” and “fake information”
- health and well being of democratic values and institutions
Articles and columns for this issue should be submitted as Word document email attachments to Jerry Berberet, editor (wgberberet@aol.com) by April 1, 2021.
Case studies are especially welcomed. Articles and case studies should be 2,500-5,000 words and include a short author bio (1-2 sentences), an abstract of 100-150 words, a brief review of relevant research literature bearing on the article subject, and a reference bibliography. Columns are opinion pieces, ordinarily of 500-1,000 words, reflecting the views of the author. Google “Success in High-Need Schools Journal” to review the current and past issues of the journal.
Tags: equity, research, teacher quality, technology
