RAPID: Investigating School District Resilience and the Impact of Hurricane Exposure on Student Outcomes

在过去的20年里，北卡罗来纳州经历了11次由飓风或热带风暴引起的重大灾害。此外，自1851年以来，每两年就有一个热带气旋袭击该州。虽然自然灾害频繁发生，但理解和支持公立学校应对此类灾害的努力却很少。本快速反应研究（Rapid）项目是一项探索性混合方法研究，旨在调查脆弱性和复原力对北卡罗来纳州受飓风佛罗伦萨（2018年）和马修（2016年）影响的学校恢复的影响。具体来说，该研究评估了受两次风暴影响的学校是否使用了组织学习策略，比仅受佛罗伦萨飓风或马修飓风影响的学校恢复得更快。该项目追求三个研究问题：(1)哪些特征可以预测学区的弹性？(2)以前的灾难经历如何帮助/阻碍有弹性的恢复？(3)弹性学区的学生表现出较少的学习损失还是更快地从学习损失中恢复过来？这个混合方法的项目将包括对北卡罗莱纳州15个地区的学校和地区工作人员进行访谈、焦点小组和调查，这些地区受到两次风暴的严重影响，而那些只受到一次风暴的影响。这些定性数据将用于得出复原力的标记，然后用于定量分析。全州范围内的学生成绩数据（例如，成绩、出勤率）也将在三种地区进行定量比较：受两次风暴影响的地区、只受一次风暴影响的地区和完全没有受到影响的地区。定量数据将从现有的纵向数据库中获取，该数据库包括北卡罗来纳州所有学生的个人特征、出勤率、停学和学习成绩。在北卡罗来纳州的15个地区进行有目的的抽样，可以对两次灾难和一段时间内的影响、恢复和组织学习进行新颖的比较。灾难可以为组织变革创造机会，从而在未来的危机中获得更大的弹性；然而，现有的研究很少关注学校在飓风等自然灾害之后是否以及如何恢复和保持弹性。该项目可以为遭受自然灾害反复影响的学校提供经验教训和行动路线图，从而使处于危机中的学校受益。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

North Carolina has experienced 11 major disasters due to hurricanes or tropical storms over the past 20 years. Moreover, one tropical cyclone has hit the state every two years since 1851. Although natural disasters are frequent, efforts to understand and support public schools' responses to such disasters are rare. This Rapid Response Research (RAPID) project is an exploratory mixed methods study investigating the impact of vulnerability and resilience in the recovery of North Carolina schools affected by both Hurricanes Florence (2018) and Matthew (2016). Specifically, the study assesses whether schools that were impacted by both storms used organizational learning strategies to recover faster than schools that were impacted by either Hurricane Florence or Matthew alone. The project pursues three research questions: (1) What characteristics predict school district resilience? (2) How does prior disaster experience aid/hinder a resilient recovery? (3) Do students in resilient districts show less learning loss or rebound from learning loss more quickly?This mixed methods project will involve interviews, focus groups and surveys with school and district personnel in a purposive sample of 15 districts across North Carolina that were heavily impacted by both storms and those that were affected by only one. These qualitative data will be used to derive markers of resilience that will then be used in quantitative analyses. Quantitative comparisons of state-wide data on student outcomes (e.g., achievement, attendance) will also be made across three kinds of districts: those that were affected by both storms, those that were affected by only one storm and those that were not affected at all. Quantitative data will be taken from an existing longitudinal database that includes individual student characteristics, attendance, suspensions and academic performance for all students in North Carolina. The purposive sampling of 15 districts in North Carolina allows for a novel comparison of impact, recovery and organizational learning across two disasters and over time. Disasters can create an opportunity for organizational change leading to greater resiliency in future crises; however, little extant research has focused on whether and how schools recover and remain resilient in the aftermath of natural disasters, such as hurricanes. This project can benefit schools in crisis by providing lessons learned and a roadmap for action to schools that are singularly and repeatedly impacted by natural disasters.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.