Middle School Teacher Perceptions of the Impact of the Covid-19 Pandemic

This paper examines the perceptions of middle school teachers on the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on student achievement, attendance and enrollment, mental health, and social and economic factors. Allowing the voices of the middle school teachers to be heard was important to this study because it helped to identify some key themes of the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on education. For this qualitative research study, a survey was created with Google Forms and a focus group discussion was implemented using the zoom platform to gather and collect data for this study. 67 middle school teachers were invited to participate in the survey. However, only twenty-six middle school teachers (39%) participated in the survey. Five middle school teachers (50%) participated in the focus group discussion. Responses from this study helped to reveal emerging themes, which included limited access to Wi-Fi, lack of student engagement, anxiety, and community support. According to the responses of the participants, some students were not able to participate due to a lack of access to the internet which also affected student attendance and enrollment. Students’ mental health became a huge issue as some students developed anxiety about having to go back to school in-person. Implications of this study suggested that further research should be conducted to gain a better understanding of teacher perceptions of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on student achievement, enrollment, attendance, mental health, and social and economic factors across all grade levels. It was suggested that school district leaders implement action research to address the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on social and economic factors, enrollment, attendance, mental health, and student achievement, as well as how to be prepared to address these areas in the event we are faced with such a crisis again