Shocks to the System: Toward an Ecological Understanding of Student-Perceived Academic Performance and Progress and Educational Disruptions During the COVID-19 Pandemic

• In Event: Overcoming Institutional Barriers

Abstract

The collective and individual traumas brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic over the past two years have had a significant impact on most Americans’ lives. As undergraduates are particularly vulnerable to external shocks, this exploratory study examines the pandemic’s health and economic impacts and examined how those impacts disrupted academic experiences and affected student-perceived academic performance and progress among undergraduates at a selective, urban, minority-serving public university. This study demonstrates the affordances of Ecological Systems Theory in describing the pandemic’s impact on student experiences. We expect that the findings will inform policies and programs in comparable settings so that university administrators might better support the psychosocial and academic needs of undergraduate students.

Authors

• Alexios Rosario-Moore, University of Illinois at Chicago

• Kara Graham, University of Illinois at Chicago

• Gabriela Avila, University of Illinois at Chicago

• Svetlana Mitric, University of Illinois at Chicago