In March 2020, school districts
across California closed their doors, rapidly adjusting to remote
instruction in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The
challenges associated with the adjustment are unprecedented and
their impacts continue to be felt, even as students have mostly
returns to classrooms.
UC Davis School of Education researchers are particularly
well-equipped to examine and help address these challenges. Below
is a selection of their work unearthing, naming and strategizing
the impact of COVID-19 on education.
K-12 Schools
Article: “Ask
the Experts at UC Davis: Education Experts Break Down the
Lingering Impacts and Unexpected Outcomes of COVID-19
Pandemic.” Overview of ways in which the impacts of the
pandemic can still be felt throughout the education field and the
ways in which it also revealed new pathways to success for
schools. Includes the perspectives of Dean Tom Smith, Prof.
Michal Kurlaender, Prof. Margarita Jimenez-Silva, Prof. Kevin
Gee, research fellow Alexandria Hurtt, Ph.D. ’21, and Yolo
County Superintendent of Schools and Garth Lewis, Ed.D. ’25.
Research Panel: ”Addressing
the Pandemic’s Impact on K-12 Education.” 2025 UC Davis
Research Expo exploring the pandemic’s lasting impact and
approaches to address it, including discussion of elementary
school absenteeism, high school course-taking patterns, college
enrollment, and teacher preparation, with School of
Education panelists Dean Tom Smith, Prof. Michal Kurlaender,
Prof. Margarita Jimenez-Silva, Prof. Kevin Gee, research fellow
Alexandria Hurtt, Ph.D. ’21, and Yolo County Superintendent
of Schools and Garth Lewis, Ed.D. ’25.
Research paper: “Échale
ganas, tú puedes”: Latinx/a/o Parents Supporting Students’
College Aspirations During COVID-19,” Journal of Latinos
and Education. Co-authored by Prof. Marcela G. Cuellar and
UC Davis colleagues.
Conference paper: “Educational
impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States: Inequities
by race, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status,” Current
Opinion in Psychology. Co-authored by Prof. Kevin Gee and
PhD candidates Vigdis Asmundson and Tseng Vang.
Symposium presentation: “Well-being
Supports and Threats During the Covid-19 Pandemic: Black
Adolescent Girls’ Lived Experiences and Reflections,” at the 2025
Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association,
by Prof. Faheemah N. Mustafaa and Ebony E. Lewis, EdD ’21.
Conference Presentation: “Declining
Student Attendance in the Post-COVID Era: Consequences and Policy
Responses” at “Policymaking at the Federal, State, and
Local Levels,” the 2024 Fall Research Conference of
the Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management, by
Prof. Kevin Gee.
Research brief: “New
Analysis Breaks Down Causes for Increased Achievement Gaps During
COVID-19 Pandemic,” UC Davis Center for Poverty and
Inequality Research. Co-authored by Prof. Kevin Gee and PhD
candidates Vigdis Asmundson and Tseng Vang.
Webinar:
A Tale of Two California Studies: Investigating Holistic
Well-Being and Mental Health during COVID-19, AIR, featuring
Dr. Faheemah N. Mustafaa.
Report:
Chronic Absenteeism Post-Pandemic: Let’s Not Make This Our “New
Normal”, published by PACE, co-authored by Prof. Kevin Gee.
Policy brief: From Policy
to Plans: Supporting Students During COVID-19, published by
PACE, co-authored by Dr. Alexandria Hurtt, Dr. Sherrie Reed,
Dr. Kramer A. Dykeman and Justin Luu, California Education Lab.
Webinar:
Data Collection After COVID-19: What Needs to Change?, MAEC,
with Prof. Kevin Gee.
Report: Early
Pandemic Responses in California: Identifying the
Structural and Instructional Changes in K-12, published by
PACE, co-authored by Dr. Alexandria Hurtt, Dr. Kramer Cohen
and Dr. Sherrie Reed, California Education Lab.
Article: New
Project Documents How California’s K-12 Schools are Tackling the
Pandemic, Office of Research blog, profiling the work of
Prof. Michal Kurlaender and Dr. Sherrie Reed, California
Education Lab.
Article:
Parenting Through Pandemics: Imagining and Demanding Justice in
Schools, Multicultural Perspectives, co-authored by
Profs. Elizabeth Montaño and Danny C. Martinez.
Webinar: Preparing
for the Second Half of the School Year and
Beyond, Education Week, featuring Prof.
Kevin Gee.
Policy brief: Multi-Tiered
System of Supports to Address Childhood Trauma: Evidence and
Implications, published by PACE, co-authored by
Prof. Kevin Gee and Dr. Christina Murdoch.
Policy brief:
Chronic Absence Patterns and Prediction During Covid-19: Insights
from Connecticut, published jointly by Attendance Works and
the Connecticut State Department of Education, co-authored by
Prof. Kevin Gee.
Article: Are
America’s Schools Safe for Asian Americans?, The
Conversation, co-authored by Prof. Kevin Gee.
Policy brief: Prosperity
or Hardship: Equity-Driven Education Funding in the Era of
COVID-19, by Prof. Heather Rose and Patti F. Herrera, EdD ’19
Webinar: Ensuring Support
for Racial Equity in Schools, School of Education,
featuring speakers: EdD student Garth Lewis; Director
Carlas McCauley; Prof. Michal Kurlaender; Prof.
Margarita Jimenez-Silva; Executive Director of Equity and
Support Services, Yolo County Office of Education Micah
Studer; and Prof. Danny C. Martinez.
Webinar Series: Finding Balance:
Addressing Today’s Challenges with Lessons Learned from
Last School Year, produced by the School of Education in
partnership with PowerSchool and Microsoft:
California Community College System
Research brief: “Crisis
Preparedness in Higher Education: Insights from the COVID-19
Online Learning Shift,” UC Davis School of Education.
Featuring research by Prof. Cassandra Hart, PhD student Emily
Alonso, and other co-authors.
Research paper: “COVID-19
in California Community Colleges: College Responses, College
Resources, and Student Outcomes,” Research in Higher
Education. Co-authors include Prof. Cassandra Hart
and PhD student Emily Alonso.
Research paper: “From
the Disruption of the Pandemic, a Path Forward for Community
Colleges,” Change: The Magazine of Higher
Learning. Co-authored by Prof. Michal Kurlaender, Wheelhouse
Executive Director Susanna Cooper, Dr. Francisco Rodriguez, and
Dr. Edward Bush.
Research brief: Growth
Interrupted: An Update on Dual Enrollment Participation Among
Public High School Graduates, published
by PACE, co-authored by postdoctoral fellow Dr.
Kramer A. Dykeman, Dr. Sherrie Reed, postdoctoral fellow Dr.
Elizabeth Friedmann, and Prof. Michal Kurlaender.
Article: Wheelhouse
Research Collaboration Council: Shaping Our Understanding of
Pandemic Recovery, Accelerating Recovery in Community
Colleges Network blog post. Spotlights the Wheelhouse
Research Collaboration Council that will inform and advise
the pandemic research conducted by Wheelhouse and establish a
community of practice for college leaders.
Research project: Evidence
to Inform Improvement: Supporting California Community Colleges
in Pandemic Recovery, a three-year collaboration
between Wheelhouse: The Center for Community College
Leadership and Research and the California Education
Lab.
Research overview:
Pandemic Period Enrollment and Persistence in the California
Community Colleges: Wheelhouse/EdLab Researchers Assess CCC
Recovery Strategies.
Article:
UC Davis-Led Team Awarded $3 Million Grant to Assess Pandemic
Recovery Efforts by Community Colleges: Identifying Best
Practices for Improving Post-Pandemic Outcomes, UC Davis
In Focus blog, spotlighting California Education Lab and
Wheelhouse: The Center for Community College Leadership and
Research.
Research
brief: Turning on a Dime: California Community College
Transformation in Response to COVID-19. Published by
Wheelhouse: The Center for Community College Leadership and
Research, UC Davis School of Education website.
Article: Measuring
the Impact of Emergency Remote Instruction at California
Community Colleges, UC Davis Office of Research blog,
spotlighting the work of Prof. Cassandra Hart.
Research brief:
Everybody Pulling in the Same Direction: The COVID-19 Shift to
Online Delivery of Instruction and Student Services,
published by Wheelhouse: The Center for Community College
Leadership and Research, UC Davis School of Education website.
Co-authors include Prof. Cassandra Hart, postdoctoral scholar Dr.
Michael Hill and PhD student Emily Alonso.
Current and Potential College Students
Research paper: “Disparate Impacts of COVID-19
Disruptions for California College Students,” Journal of
Student Financial Aid. Co-authored by Dr. Sherrie Reed,
postdoctoral fellow Dr. Elizabeth Friedmann, Prof. Michal
Kurlaender and Prof. Paco Martorell.
Research paper: Examining Recruitment
Practices for Servingness during COVID-19: Perspectives from
Institutional Agents at an Emerging Hispanic-Serving Institution
(HSI), Education Sciences. Co-authored by a team
including Prof. Marcela G. Cuellar and undergraduate student
Mayra Nuñez Martinez.
Research briefs: authored by the
California Education Lab, published by the California Student Aid
Commission
Article: How
Has the Pandemic Affected College Students in California?:
COVID-19 Student Survey Shows How Students Are Faring During
Pandemic, UC Davis website, spotlighting research by the
California Education Lab.
Education General
Webinar: How
Covid-19 Changed Education, School of Education, featuring
speakers: Profs. Lauren Lindstrom and Margarita
Jimenez-Silva and Director of Research and Partnerships/Executive
Director of REEd Carlas McCauley.
Research paper:
The Effect of the COVID-19 Pandemic and Associated Restrictions
on Participation in Community and Citizen Science, Citizen
Science Theory and Practice, co-authored by Prof. Heidi Ballard.
Webinar: Covid’s Impact on
Education, UC Davis Live, with Prof. Michal Kurlaender
and Prof. Kevin Gee.
Remote Instruction
Media mention:
With Online Learning, ‘Let’s Take a Breath and See What Worked
and Didn’t Work.’ New York Times, quoting Prof. Cassandra
Hart.
Research paper: Tinkering in the time of COVID: Lessons
from educators’ efforts to facilitate playful tinkering through
online learning, International Journal of Play,
co-authored by Prof. Lee Martin and PhD student Ciara Thomas
Murphy.
Instructional guide:
Tips for Facilitating Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR)
Remotely, Community Futures, Community Lore website.
Co-authored by Prof. Nancy Erbstein.
Article: Reflections
on Community Engaged Learning During a Pandemic, originally
posted on UC Davis Public Scholarship and
Engagement blog, Prof. Lee Martin.
Research paper: Teaching
an experiential field course via online participatory science
projects: A COVID‐19 case study of a UC California Naturalist
course, Ecology and Evolution, co-authored
by PhD students Laci Gerhart-Barley, Christopher Jadallah,
Sarah Angulo, and Greg Ira.
Related Article: How
to Teach an Experiential Field Course Online, UC Davis School
of Education blog.
Article: Engaging
College Opportunity Programs, Researchers and Students through
Citizen Science: Reimagining Possibilities of STEM and CTE,
Center for Community and Citizen Science, UC Davis School of
Education blog.
Webinar: Designing
for Equity in K-12 Digital Learning Spaces with UC Davis School
of Education, featuring Profs. Margarita Jimenez-Silva,
Darnel Degand, Jenni Higgs and Cynthia Carter Ching. Produced by
the UC Davis School of Education in partnership with Microsoft
and PowerSchool.
Policy brief: Supporting
Learning in the COVID-19 Context: Research to Guide Distance and
Blended Instruction, co-authored by Prof. Kevin Gee.
Published by Policy Analysis for California Education (PACE),
Stanford University.
Media mention: Can
You Teach a Small Seminar From a Distance?, Chronicle of
Higher Education: Teaching Newsletter, quoting Prof.
Kevin Gee.
Media mention: Distance
Learning Presents Extra Challenges to English-Learners and Their
Families, Napa Valley Register, quoting Prof. Yuuko
Uchikoshi.
Webinar: Back
to School: Distance Learning Webinar for Parents with
Prof. Rebecca Ambrose. Produced by UC Davs Alumni and Affiliate
Relations.
Last updated 07/18/25
