SHU Professors Awarded $77,000 for Research Projects

Studies will investigate the pandemic’s impact on teachers and students

Two Sacred Heart University professors, Jennifer Phaiah and Thomas Lee Morgan, have received a combined $77,000 in subaward grant funding from the University of Connecticut. These research projects will investigate the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on education. This funding is a part of the Center for Connecticut Education Research Collaboration, a statewide university collaborative designed to conduct research studies of COVID-related projects funded by the Connecticut State Department of Education. 

Phaiah focuses on the challenges facing school teachers and leaders

Phaiah’s research study, “Teachers’ and Leaders’ Perceptions, Turnover and Supply,” will investigate public school teachers’ and administrators’ views of current challenges and support in their work lives and how the pandemic has shaped classroom practices.

“This work is important because it gives teachers and administrators a voice to share their experiences, so we have a greater understanding of not only pandemic teaching, but also what classrooms are like post-pandemic,” said Phaiah, who is an assistant clinical professor of teacher education in the Isabelle Farrington College of Education & Human Development (FCEHD).

A former K-12 educator, Phaiah enjoys interviewing teachers and administrators to hear their stories and understand their challenges and successes. “Listening to their experiences about teaching through the pandemic and post-COVID allows me to better prepare the preservice teachers and future administrators who are in my courses,” she said.

Phaiah’s award will pay for participant incentives, research team compensation and necessary materials, software and travel expenses. She hopes her study results will benefit district leaders as they work to recruit and retain educators and create positive, supportive environments for students and staff.

Morgan focuses on equitable socio-emotional supports

Morgan’s project, “Identifying Effective and Equitable Socio-Emotional Supports for Students and Educators,” aims to provide a deeper understanding of the strides made by school districts that used American Rescue Plan Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief funds to hire staff or develop support structures during and after the pandemic. “This understanding can provide a map of the current landscape, as well as illuminate paths forward in supporting individuals, schools and the communities to which they belong,” he said.

The research aligns with Morgan’s efforts to understand how to mitigate factors that create and sustain disproportionate outcomes for marginalized communities. “We center our work on the question, ‘How are school districts and building leaders supporting teachers to promote equitable socio-emotional outcomes for students?’” he said.

Morgan, director for inclusive excellence education and assistant professor of educational and literacy leadership in the FCEHD, will apply his award to payment for research activities that will take place at SHU, the University of Connecticut and Yale University. The main goal of his project is to “uplift the voices of those most impacted so we learn from them how best to support their needs,” Morgan said.