We Want You Back: Uncovering the Effects on In-Person Instructional Operations in Fall 2020

• Published in: Research in higher education Vol. 63; no. 5; pp. 741 - 767
• Main Authors: Collier, Daniel A., Fitzpatrick, Dan, Dell, Madison, Snideman, Samuel S., Marsicano, Christopher R., Kelchen, Robert, Wells, Kevin E.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dordrecht Springer Netherlands 01.08.2022; Springer; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Community Attitudes; Community Influence; Conventional Instruction; Coronaviruses; Counties; COVID-19; Education; Effect Size; Geographic Location; Higher Education; Income; Pandemics; Political Influences; Politics of Education; Postsecondary Education; Preferences; Public Health; Social Attitudes; Social Influences; Sociopolitical factors; Structural equation modeling; Structural Equation Models; Teaching Methods; COVID-19; Politics; Dependency; Structural equation modeling; In-person instruction
• ISSN: 0361-0365; 1573-188X
• DOI: 10.1007/s11162-021-09665-5

Postsecondary institutions’ responses to COVID-19 are a topic of immediate relevance. Emergent research suggests that partisanship was more strongly linked to institutions offering in-person instruction for Fall 2020 than was COVID-19. Using data from the College Crisis Initiative and a multiple group structural equation modeling approach, we tested the relationships between our outcome of interest (in-person instruction in Fall 2020) and state and county sociopolitical features, state and county COVID-19 rates, and state revenue losses. Our full-sample model suggested that County Political Preferences had the strongest association with in-person instruction, followed by Pandemic Severity and State Sociopolitical Features . Because institutional sectors may be uniquely sensitive to these factors, we tested our models separately on 4-year public, 4-year private, and 2-year public and 2-year private institutions. State Sociopolitical Features were significantly related to in-person instruction for 4-year private and 2-year public institutions but were strongest for 4-year public institutions. For 4-year private and 2-year public institutions, County Political Preferences’ effect sizes were 2–3 times stronger than effects from State Sociopolitical Features. Pandemic Severity was significantly, negatively related to in-person instruction for 4-year private and 2-year public institutions–similar in magnitude to State Sociopolitical Features . Our analysis revealed that COVID-19 played a stronger role in determining in-person instruction in Fall 2020 than initial research using less sophisticated methods suggested—and while State Sociopolitical Features may have played a role in the decision, 4-year private and 2-year public institutions were more sensitive to county-level preferences.