Crisis Events in K-12 Online Learning: Educator Perceptions and Preparedness

Although K–12 online learning institutions may be protected from certain school safety concerns (i.e., physical violence on a student or a teacher), physical distance does not offer protection from all potential crises that may impact individual students or the online school environment. The current survey research explored educators’ perceptions of and preparedness for the following crisis frequencies in the online learning environment: suspected child/adolescent neglect, suspected child/adolescent abuse, suspected student suicidal ideation, suspected student homicidal ideation, unexpected death of a student, unexpected death of a teacher, emotional aftermath of natural disasters, and emotional aftermath of terrorist incidents. Across the sample, the crisis events were noted as occurring at least one to two times per year by some participants. Even more striking, 80–95% of participants noted having no training for recognizing the warning signs of the various crisis events in online content, and at least 1 in 4 participants in every category indicated that they felt somewhat unprepared or very unprepared to respond based on their school’s current crisis plan