Teaching Under Crisis: Impact and Implications of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Education in Minnesota

Abstract

A mixed-methods exploratory study was conducted to explore the impact that the COVID-19 pandemic had on Minnesota teachers. A convenience sample of 976 teachers were surveyed in mid-April 2020 via the Qualtrics version of the Swaggert Instructional Practice Under Crisis (SIPUC) questionnaire containing 43 questions. The SIPUC data were analyzed following the Leadership in Times of Crisis Framework for Assessment (Boin et al., 2013), that is, an emergency instructional triage to determine which teachers had been mostly impacted and the scope and effect the pandemic had on their instruction and lives. Teachers described the pandemic as an event that disrupted their teaching practices as well as their personal lives. Teachers remained focused on providing relevant learning experiences to their students in spite of the instructional challenges and the educational equity issues that became evident very early on. Resilience as well as confidence in their educational leaders was reported by the majority of teachers. A detailed description of the findings is provided as well as recommendations for educational leaders.