RAPID: Investigating the Impact of Hurricanes and School Responses on Students in Texas and North Carolina

University Of North Carolina At Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill NC

Investigators

Abstract

In the wake of a significant natural disaster, schoolchildren experience substantial disruption to their lives and psychological impacts at greater rates than adults do. However, studies of the effect of natural disasters on students' functioning in schools are rare and studies of the responses of schools and districts are even rarer. This Rapid Response Research (RAPID) project is a unique effort to collect data across diverse school districts with varied degrees of impacts from Hurricane Harvey in August 2017 and Hurricane Matthew in October 2016. The project will provide an understanding of the current strategies employed by schools for disaster recovery and their effectiveness as judged by school and district personnel. This study will also provide data that is critical to the pursuit of the larger study to understand the impact of hurricanes on the school functioning of students and the role of disaster recovery in mitigating that impact. The project will conduct interviews, focus groups, and surveys with personnel from schools, districts, and state agencies in a sample of 20 districts in Texas and North Carolina that were heavily impacted by the hurricanes. The research questions the proposed study will seek to address are: (1) What impacts did the storms have? (2) How did schools respond to support students? and (3) How successful were those responses? The researchers will conduct 90-100 interviews and 20 focus groups with personnel from schools, districts, and state agencies in Texas and North Carolina to collect data on the effects of the hurricanes and the types of relief efforts undertaken at the school and district level. The research team will use the Constant Comparative Method to categorize and compare qualitative data, to assign codes and to develop subsequent themes found in the data. Coded themes will be related to (1) impacts of the hurricanes on students and schools (e.g., physical destruction of the schools, homeless students, and psychological distress), (2) school responses and supports provided, and (3) the perceived success of the recovery efforts and support from federal, state, and local agencies. Researchers will use the codes to identify and compare themes across different levels of government and across states. Similarly, researchers will use codes indicating school demographics to identify themes at the school level. Additionally, the research team will use codes to identify and tally the use of various strategies across sites. In North Carolina, researchers will administer closed-ended surveys to school personnel in 10 districts to collect perceptions of the success of the recovery in mitigating effects on students one-year after Hurricane Matthew. Survey data will be combined with school and district level data on demographics, grade levels served, and community characteristics. Also, data from the qualitative analysis will be used to create categorical variables to group districts and individual schools within districts by the types of impacts on students and schools (e.g., physical destruction of the school) and the school response and supports provided to students (e.g., provision of counseling services). The research team will use z-tests of proportions, chi-squared tests, and multivariate regression models to descriptively compare the perceived impacts on students and perceived success of the recovery efforts across schools and districts with different demographics, community characteristics, grade spans, impacts, and response and support strategies. Researchers in Texas and North Carolina will discuss findings and use the combined results to generate scientific publications and policy reports that can inform future disaster planning and recovery.