Background: Students' sense of school belonging is important for mental health, physical health, and academic performance. However, some students do not feel as though they belong in their schools. This study investigated Greek secondary school students' perspectives on practices that enhanced their sense of belonging during the COVID-19 pandemic.…

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic negatively affected adolescent mental health due to school closures, isolation, family loss/hardships, and reduced health care access. Methods: We compared adolescent mental health in Rhode Island before versus during the pandemic, separately among middle and high schoolers. This serial cross-sectional study used…

Background: We examined whether subgroups of adolescents experienced disparate changes in school connectedness--a robust predictor of multiple health outcomes--from before the COVID-19 pandemic to the first full school year following pandemic onset. Methods: We used 2 waves of prospective survey data from 7178 students attending 41 Canadian…

Background: Young people who experience higher levels of social support from their schools and families have been shown to be less likely to develop symptoms of negative mental health outcomes such as depression and anxiety. This raises questions concerning how young people's stress and psychological changes due to the COVID-19 pandemic as well as…

Background: The US government allocated over $2.5 billion in "Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER)" funds to Washington State for COVID-19 response and ventilation improvements. Despite available funding, gaps persist in supporting schools to successfully use portable air cleaners (PACs). We evaluated PAC needs within…

Background: Social isolation measures by the COVID-19 pandemic have impacted teaching work. In an "Emergency Remote Teaching" (ERT) context, it is relevant to investigate the factors that affect teachers' self-efficacy. Methods: A total of 289 teachers from schools in southern Spain have participated in this study. They have been asked…

Background: The financial costs and human resource requirements at the school and district level to implement a SARS-CoV-2 screening program are not well known. Methods: A consortium of Massachusetts public K-12 schools was formed to implement and evaluate a range of SARS-CoV-2 screening approaches. Participating districts were surveyed weekly…

Background: As COVID-19 has let many students into remote learning environments and exacerbated inequality among marginalized individuals, there is a growing concern about Bias-Based Bullying (BBB) in online spaces among school-aged youths. Learning modality and perceived school fairness may affect youth's likelihood of reporting BBB. Methods:…

Background: In-school transmission of COVID-19 among K-12 students is low when mitigation layers are used, but the risk of acquiring COVID-19 during school bus transportation is not well defined. Given the operational limitations of many school districts, more data is needed to determine what mitigation is required to keep COVID-19 transmission…

Background: Education faced challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic. Although the United States has declared an end to the public health emergency, schools continue to be impacted. While considerable research has focused on the impact of the pandemic on students, fewer studies have focused on educators, and even less on educators who specialize in…

Background: In the United States (U.S.), 77% of school district leaders reported that their students had fallen behind in their social-emotional development due to COVID-19 school closures. Although research has measured indicators of social-emotional well-being from the perspective of other informants, little is known about student perceptions of…

BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic triggered a worldwide socio-sanitary crisis, continuing to impact societies worldwide. With many school systems shifted to online education, the current study presents a unique opportunity to investigate relevant phenomena related to serious health issues during the schooling and later in life, cyberbullying and…

Background: School-based COVID-19 testing is a potential strategy to limit COVID-19 transmission among youth in congregate settings such as schools, sports programs, and summer camps. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the feasibility and effectiveness of frequent rapid antigen testing at a supervised distance-learning setting for elementary…

Background: Shifts from in-person learning to virtual and hybrid learning modes in response to the coronavirus pandemic potentially impacted children's physical, emotional, social, and academic development. This study examined the association between virtual, in-person, and hybrid learning modality with parent-reported quality of life among US…

Background: At the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, schools closed across the United States. Given the impact of virtual learning and lost access to school resources, schools eventually reopened with COVID-19 mitigation protocols in place. This qualitative study sought to understand parental perceptions of school-based COVID-19 mitigation…