QUALITATIVE COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF INTERVENTION RESPONSES 1

A Helping Hand: A Qualitative Comparative Analysis of Intervention Responses in

Los Angeles Catholic Schools

Sarah E. Bomwell, Micaela A. Plummer, and Andrew V. Tran

School of Education, Loyola Marymount University

EDUR 5018-09: Research in Urban Education

Dr. Ignacio Higareda

March 30, 2021

QUALITATIVE COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF INTERVENTION RESPONSES 2

Abstract

This qualitative comparative analysis seeks to examine the effectiveness of intervention

responses implemented in Catholic Schools in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles during the

COVID-19 pandemic. It aims to identify how these responses allow students, families, and

teachers to respond to stress and trauma while also seeking how students, families, and teachers

can cultivate supportive communities. This concept was evaluated under three themes: 1) the

“nature” of trauma based on how stress and trauma affected individual students and teachers, 2)

the “interactions” from trauma based on how stress and trauma affected student-teacher

relationships within the online classroom environment, and 3) the possible “responses” to trauma

based on the effectiveness of different intervention systems created or proposed to address the

stress and trauma in school communities.

Keywords: Archdiocese of Los Angeles, Catholic, classroom, community, COVID-19,

intervention response, PLACE Corps, stress, trauma, qualitative comparative analysis

QUALITATIVE COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF INTERVENTION RESPONSES 3

A Qualitative Comparative Analysis of Intervention Responses in Los Angeles Catholic

Schools

With an increasingly globalized society, the erosion of traditional religious beliefs, and a

rapidly changing sociocultural atmosphere due to technological advances in communication and

exposure to incredible amounts of information, how can Catholic students and teachers learn to

navigate the social world in the midst of coinciding narratives that can often lead to conflict,

tension, and struggle? According to the National Institute of Mental Health, an estimated 19.1%

of adults and 31.9% of adolescents within the United States have anxiety disorder (2017). With

the rise of the COVID-19 pandemic, media exposures of racial injustice, and the heated political

climate across the nation, the mental health of young people and educators is at risk, especially

with the lack of social interaction and community mandated by a nation-wide quarantine (Qiu et

al., 2020; Wang et al., 2020). The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the underlying priorities

that are essential in holding the social fabric of the nation, which is the importance of self-care

and community. Therefore, this research seeks to offer a response to these unprecedented times

by examining how students, teachers, and school administrators deal with their own trauma and

stress as a catalyst to propel them forward not only with individual resiliency, but also with

communal resiliency within the context of intervention responses in Catholic schools. More than

ever, it is important that schools implement systematic intervention responses to meet the socio-

emotional needs not only for their students, but for their teachers and administrators as well.

This research paper presents a qualitative comparative analysis that measures the

effectiveness of different intervention responses implemented by Catholic schools in the

Archdiocese of Los Angeles to help students and teachers: A) Respond to stress and trauma and

B) Cultivate a supportive community. This study explores, categorizes, and compares the
QUALITATIVE COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF INTERVENTION RESPONSES 4

effectiveness of these different intervention responses across three intersecting themes: 1) the

personal experiences of individual students and teachers, 2) the interactive experiences among

student-teacher relationships in the classroom, and 3) the communal experiences in the school

site. Research participants will be responding to the questions categorized within these three

themes in one-hour, semi-structured interviews (see Appendix in the last section). The focus will

primarily be on the socio-emotional practices and the possible unifying effects it may offer to a

school’s community during times of distress, such as the unexpected transition from in-person

learning to distance learning during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Literature Review

Theme 1: The Effect of Stress and Trauma on Individual Students and Teachers (The

“Nature” of Trauma)

According to Russian psychologist, Lev Vygotsky, students perform most effectively

when they synthesize what they know and don’t know within the zone of proximal development

(Eun, 2019). However, this learning process can be affected by a student’s level of anxiety and

working memory capacity. Owens, Stevenson, Hadwin, and Norgate (2014) conducted a

quantitative research study that determined whether a combination of high anxiety and low

working memory capacity (WMC) would predict variance in demanding cognitive scores among

ninety-six adolescents (12- to 14-years old) from three schools in the United Kingdom. Trait

anxiety measurement and cognitive testing were performed in small groups of between eight and

ten participants. Then, the adolescents were seen individually to administer the working memory

test battery. Their results showed that trait anxiety was negatively related to test performance

with low WMC and that trait anxiety was positively related to test performance with high WMC.

This suggests that WMC moderates the relationship between anxiety and cognitive test
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performance based on the students’ experiences growing up with support, resources, and

constructive learning from trial-and-error. Although this quantitative research study describes

what happens in the relationship between trait anxiety and cognitive test performance based on

WMC, it poses limitations by not necessarily describing why. Owens et al. (2014) proposes in the

Discussion section that students with higher WMC can be more familiar with navigating the

unknown by relating to their previous successes and increase their motivation to do well on a

task to negate negative evaluations when driven by anxiety. However, the students with lower

WMC may have lower capability of reasoning when navigating through the unknown when their

trait anxiety may be using up the majority of their cognitive processes with their “fight-or-flight”

response activated by their sympathetic nervous system. Further research studies can investigate

strategies to improve and support WMC to deal with anxiety and increase motivation as a

response.

Branson, Turnbull, Dry, and Palmer (2019) examine how young people’s experience of

stress with its positive and negative aspects (eustress and distress, respectively). Six key

dimensions were proposed where eustress and distress were differentiated within each category:

state of mind, function, perceived efficacy, affect, constitution, and connection. There were

twenty young people (ages > 13 years old) who were chosen from a selection matrix of age,

gender, academic achievement, and educational institution to represent a wide range of

sociodemographic factors in this qualitative study. This study collected their data by conducting

30-minute, semi-structured individual interviews where the participants described a specific

situation where they recounted their psychological, physiological, and behavioral symptoms

from particular experiences of eustress and distress. This study concluded that adolescents

considered personal connection and self-regard as a higher priority than meaningfulness by

QUALITATIVE COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF INTERVENTION RESPONSES 6

exhibiting higher stress levels for both dimensions. The authors further conclude that the

distinctive developmental characteristics of adolescents for being egocentric, placing great

importance on peer relations, and not forming a sense of purpose yet because they are still in the

process of discovery. They encourage teachers to focus on affirmation, encouragement, and

guidance to mitigate the distress of self-doubt and to promote the eustress of personal

accountability. Although this qualitative study was designed to ensure developmental

appropriateness by varying the linguistic verbiage to reflect the participant’s age in the

interviews, the methodology still posed some limitations due to the authority imbalance between

the participant and the interviewer. The differences in age, knowledge, and power may have

influenced how the participants formulated their responses for two possible reasons: 1) The

participants may have provided answers they assumed the interviewer was expecting, similar to

the “correct-answer” approach ingrained by school teachers, and 2) Participants may have also

narrowed their responses to be socially desirable instead of being personally honest.

Not only do students experience eustress and distress, but teachers do as well. Mujtaba

and Reiss (2013) explored the factors that contribute to the development of positive and negative

stress in secondary education teachers. For their methodology, the authors interviewed twelve

mathematics and science teachers in six schools in England and focused on the narratives of

three teachers from their sample to explore the effects of these two types of stress more in depth.

The teachers’ responses about their experience with eustress and distress were differentiated into

ten themes: trust/mistrust, benefit/detriment, self-efficacy, social support/isolation,

affirmation/expectation, autonomy, reflection, motivation, collegiality, and role model

effectiveness. Only the themes of trust/mistrust, self-efficacy, social support/isolation, reflection,

and motivation were discussed more in depth in this paper. Their research concluded that the
QUALITATIVE COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF INTERVENTION RESPONSES 7

divide between eustress and distress was not clear-cut within all of the themes based on the

teachers’ narratives and that certain circumstances of distress were also mixed with opportunities

of eustress. The perceptions of these stressors varied among teachers because of their underlying

personalities and histories. Mujtaba and Reiss (2013) suggest that the appropriate coping

strategies of perceiving stress as facilitative (rather than debilitative) and actively seeking out

help from professional and personal support helped teachers transform their distress into

eustress. However, the study did not investigate these underlying personality characteristics that

cause teachers to develop resilience during times of stress. Considerably more work can be

investigated to determine the psychological factors that influence a teacher’s commitment and

intentions to stay or leave the teaching profession.

Theme 2: The Effect of Stress and Trauma on Student-Teacher Relationships within the

Classroom Environment (The “Interactions” from Trauma)

To understand how to help students dealing with traumatic events, factors that influence

them must be identified before students enter classes. Escobar, Alarcón, Blanca, Fernández-

Baena, Rosel, and Trianes (2013) conducted a study seeking to identify the variables that directly

influence daily stressors of students ranging from third to sixth grade. The researchers followed

6,078 students from the region of Andalusia, Spain and focused on four hierarchical levels.

These levels took into consideration the subject’s age, sex, ability to socialize, chronic stressors,

parents’ level of education, their school, and class size. After taking these into account, the

researchers conducted a multilevel regression analysis. This revealed that social adaptation, life

events and chronic stressors, and education levels of parents were the most influential variables

when determining the amount of daily stressors a student will have. With these results, more

targeted psychoeducational interventions could be created. However, problems emerge from this
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study. Although the population is large, it was conducted in a singular region in Spain, making

this study difficult to generalize beyond its borders due to cultural and political factors. This can

be addressed by conducting another study that includes children from different nations or

ethnicities. Outside factors would need to be addressed as well, such as systemic social issues.

Along with the factors of stress, other factors that influence an individual can have on

appraising stress in their lives. Strack and Esteves (2015) examined why people differ in

appraising stressful situations by observing how various undergraduate students interpret anxiety

prior to an exam. The participants consisted of 103 psychology students attending a Portuguese

university. The average participant was female, with only 17 males reported, around 20 years of

age. All of the students were compensated with course credit. Data was collected over a course

of ten days with the students answering various, short questions focused on their emotional

exhaustion, anxiety levels, and their stress appraisal. From this data, the researcher categorized

the students’ anxiety, emotional exhaustion, and stress appraisal. Anxiety was split into four

items, or anxious, afraid, nervous, and stressed, emotional exhaustion into three labels pulled

from the Emotional Exhaustion subscale of the Maslach Burnout Inventory, and the stress

appraisals scales were adapted from the Challenge and Threat Appraisal subscales by Peacock

and Wong. When proctoring these questionnaires over the time period, reminders were sent to

participants every two days. However, not all of the participants completed each questionnaire,

averaging 8 being completely filled out with two participants only filling out one. Therefore, the

researchers concluded by citing Woltman’s argument that an equal number of data points is not

required when making maximum likelihood estimations in a multilevel modeling study. They

also decided to leave out the two who filled out the single questionnaire, bringing the valid

participant results to 101.

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The findings of Strack and Esteves (2015) suggest that stressful situations can be

experienced as motivating rather than threatening or emotionally exhausting. However, a greater

chance of this experience comes from when students are able to interpret their anxiety as a

facilitative and formidable challenge. The challenge stress appraisals motivated students to focus

in and exude more effort to overcome the stressor, potentially leading to enhanced performance.

However, those who interpret their anxiety as debilitative rather than facilitative and do not

accept their emotions leave greater uncertainty within themselves, causing them to be threatened

and emotionally exhausted. Potential limitations to Strack and Esteves’ study include the issue of

generalization and threats to the validity of their data. Of the 101 valid responses, most of these

came from college-aged females from Portugal. Other outside factors, like socio-emotional

trauma, social status, and economic stability, were not reported. Finally, the results relied on the

participants self-reporting their ratings. This causes the results to be subjective rather than

objective. Although not a huge concern, this can obscure the true results and impact the findings

of the researchers. Therefore, the study should be repeated with a different age group with a

more balanced type of participants.

Taking in account the factors of stress and how people perceive it, Brooks (2013) study

could guide this study’s ideas on how to utilize and reappraise stress and anxiety. She

investigates an alternative strategy that would allow people to approach their anxiety as

excitement rather than a negative. Brooks supposes that if anxiety is managed, people will

perform better in areas such as singing karaoke, public speaking, or math. To conduct her

research, Brooks broke her study into four tasks: Singing Performance, Public Speaking

Performance, Math Performance, and Psychological Mechanism. She also performed a pilot

study to establish a baseline about lay beliefs. The three hundred participants were asked to
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respond to a hypothetical scenario of dealing with an anxious coworker. This was conducted

through Amazon’s Mechanical Turk and the participants were given 50 cents for their

participation. Brooks asked two questions, each centering on giving advice to the coworker. For

the first question, about 85% of the participants responded by trying to relax or calm down their

coworker with 21.45% getting them excited. In the second question, which was multiple choice,

90% agreed to calm down their coworker with 8% choosing the excitement option. With this,

Brooks concluded peoples’ first reaction would not be reappraising anxiety as excitement. With

this, she moved into her actual study.

For Study One, the author recruited 113 English-speaking college students to sing using

the “Karaoke Revolution: Glee” video game. For showing up, students were paid $5 and could

earn an additional $5 based upon their performance. Before singing, the author categorized the

participants and had them state “I am anxious”, “I am excited”, or no statement as the control.

She measured their performance, or the dependent variable, by using the game’s voice-

recognition software. To conduct this study, three stages were set. During different points,

participants would be given their statement, read the directions, and sing “Don’t Stop Believing”.

They also understood to earn more money, their performance would need to be great. After

conducting ANOVA tests, the author finds that self-statements of emotion could induce

reappraisal. Study Two utilized a public speaking performance to assess the influence self-

statements of emotions could have on. This time, 140 English-speaking college students were

recruited, ranging from 20-24. They would also be compensated $5 for their participation. The

participants were instructed to prepare a persuasive speech about how they are a good work

partner. Here, they were also instructed to say “I am excited” or “I am calm”. To rate their

performance, judges who were blind to the goal of the study were brought in, rating the
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persuasiveness and the confidence of the speaker. This time, those who stated “I am excited”

were found to feel more excited, spoke longer, and more persuasive and persistent. Study Three

differed with the number of participants, now at 188 with 108 being women ranging from 20-39

years old. Again, they were compensated $5 and could earn an additional $4 based on

performance. For this, the participants had their heart rates measured while completing the task

of answering an “IQ test”. This test was 8 arithmetic math problems. They were to also read

statements that told them to calm down, get excited, or “please wait a few moments” as a control.

In her findings, the author mentions that although there is a change to subjective feelings of

excitement, the body cannot be tricked, thus causing the heart rate to be high in all conditions

throughout the math test. Study Four sought to find why reappraising anxiety had a significant

effect on improving performance. 218 English speaking university students were paid to

participate, $5 for showing up and up to $4 for the performance. Similar to study 3, participants

were to read “try to remain calm” or “try to get excited” before taking the “IQ Test”. The

participants were also asked to describe the math task and self-score their responses on a seven-

item scoring sheet. To keep it controlled, they were either asked to complete this before or after

the math test. Her study found that there was a distinction between reappraising an internal state

than the situation itself. Timing is also a significant factor. She continues this in her general

discussion, finding that reappraising anxiety as excitement is more effective than calming a

person down. Broken down, by focusing on changing the anxiety into excitement, the assessment

of a threat will decrease, allowing for a better performance in singing, public speaking, and math,

although they can be generalized to other skills. This also allows a person to be primed with an

opportunity mind-set rather than threat-based.

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Although the results are ideal, the methodology and participants limit its effects. Most of

the studies gave compensation to the participants with an additional payment based upon

performance. Even though it is a small amount, money in any capacity could threaten validity,

especially a study based solely on performance. The studies also had judges or scorers come in to

assess the performances. Although blind to the true nature, their personal biases can influence the

results, especially when rating how convincing a person is during their speech. The participants

were all pulled from the Northeast, currently enrolled in a university, and tended to be more

female than male. This could make it difficult to generalize this study to children in this study’s

demographic, especially since social factors like financial status and other details are not public

knowledge. This study could be improved by removing the draw for money to test the validity of

the results with different age groups and in different regions.

Theme 3: Different Approaches of Intervention Responses to Stress and Trauma among

School Communities. (Possible “Responses” to Trauma)

After identifying stressors and traumas students may bring into a classroom, and

evaluating the impacts of these factors, it is essential to also evaluate the different tools and

methods used to support students in the classroom with these factors in mind. There already

exists a multitude of intervention responses and student support strategies, many of them

programmatic, such as a curriculum, and others more closely aligned with a pedagogy or method

of communicating with students and families. The subsequent paragraphs will explain three

different case studies that sought to evaluate the effectiveness and impact of some of these

intervention response programs and pedagogies.

The first case study evaluates the implementation of restorative justice practices in a

private school in Ontario, Canada. Restorative justice is an example of an intervention response

QUALITATIVE COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF INTERVENTION RESPONSES 13

that is seen as a philosophy, as opposed to a pedagogy. Reimer (2011) defines restorative justice

as “a philosophy and a process for dealing with harmful behavior, viewing such behavior as a

violation of relationships, not rules” (Reimer, 2011). Reimer collected data over the course of

two years, drawing from a “model school” of restorative justice, as selected by the Ontario

School Board Administration. Reimer gathered her data through a series of participant

interviews. These participants, teachers from the model school, were selected from a general

questionnaire. Of the thirty-six teachers at the school, five were willing to be interviewed, so she

chose the first four responses. All four respondents were Caucasian, two males and two females,

with a range of six to fifteen years of teaching experience. To prepare for the interviews, Reimer

used raw data from the School’s Board’s restorative justice training materials to gain a baseline

understanding. In her interviews, she sought to understand teacher alignment with the

information she read directly from the school board, with an emphasis on individual experience.

After conducting the interviews, Reimer grouped her data by four theoretical concepts

further broken down into common themes: (1) Constructing personal understandings of

restorative justice; (2) Facilitating adoption of new personal practical theories; (3) Complicating

contextual factors of structure and culture; (4) Inconsistent support from gatekeepers of change.

Within the first concept, Reimer concluded that teachers’ experiences and perceptions of the

world shape their understanding of what restorative justice is and how to use it. For this reason, it

became difficult to effectively and consistently implement. In the second concept, she found that

all teachers had a personal commitment to restorative justice strategies, but many contextual

factors, such as personal experiences, affect how they are actually able to implement restorative

justice practices. Another contextual factor, theme three, is that while a school community might

value restorative justice, the broader social context does not. This leads to mixed messaging,
QUALITATIVE COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF INTERVENTION RESPONSES 14

subliminal thinking and questioning, and difficulty in implementation. The fourth concept

suggests that teachers heavily rely on administrative and policy level support, which is wavering

and inconsistent. Within these four themes, Reimer concludes that this school is set up to be

successful in achieving the positive results restorative justice research suggests. However, there

are limitations that still exist, such as consistent administrative support, that prevent the school

from being fully successful in restorative justice.

A limitation of success suggested by Reimer is the lack of consistency and alignment of

understanding in restorative justice practices. It is seen as a way of thinking, which leaves much

room for personal interpretation and a variation of activities and methods. An alternative to these

shortcomings would be the adoption of a specific curriculum. Torrent, Nathanson, Rivers, and

Brackett (2015) evaluated the effectiveness of schoolwide implementation of RULER, a specific

social and emotional learning curriculum, across 62 primary schools in the Diocese of Brooklyn

in Queens and Brooklyn, New York. In a randomized control trial, data was sampled from 24

classrooms in 19 schools. School sizes ranged from 178 to 656 students.

Data was collected over the course of two years through observational assessments,

teacher surveys, and student surveys. The observational assessments consisted of three recorded

lessons per teacher. Coders rated the segments by the three domains of classroom climate:

emotional support, instructional support, and classroom organization. Their results yielded

significant intervention impacts on classroom emotional support after one year of intervention

and that emotional support after a year of implementation has a marginally significant causal

impact on classroom organization. Additionally, the authors found that emotional support does

not have a statistically significant causal impact on instructional support.

QUALITATIVE COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF INTERVENTION RESPONSES 15

The two case studies aforementioned concluded that both intervention pedagogy and

curriculum options have the possibility of yielding positive results in student behavior and

relationships among teachers and students. The method known as RTI, or response to

intervention, seeks to connect behavioral support with academic performance. Schools that

employ RTI strategies typically do so if there is a large number of students with identified

behavioral issues that put them at risk of being labeled for special education. A qualitative

research study conducted by Barton, Holt, and Thompson (2020) evaluates the perception of RTI

implementation across a rural elementary school district in Texas.

This study used a social constructivist framework and a hermeneutic phenomenology

approach to conduct the research. The participants were five elementary school principals with

experience ranging from three to ten years. They were all Caucasian, two being female, and three

being male. Administrators’ perceptions of RTI implementation were collected by personal

accounts and testimonies of each principal. The common words and phrases that emerged in

these personal accounts were coded and compared to current research. The authors found that

these coded words of teacher perceptions closely aligned with the purpose of RTI as defined by

current research. The administrative support of RTI implementation yielded powerful results

schoolwide, so the authors concluded that RTI is a successful intervention tool when managed

and supported from above.

Method

By conducting semi-structured interviews with a qualitative focus, this research design

provides an in-depth inquiry into the personal accounts of people directly experiencing the

effects of COVID-19. This research gathers data based on experience and context, which

assumes that truth can be expressed through language. Language can be interpreted as a
QUALITATIVE COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF INTERVENTION RESPONSES 16

“straightforward window to a person’s inner perspective” by accepting and prioritizing their

experiences as valuable testimonies on the effect COVID-19 has on teachers’ and administrators’

socio-emotional health (Braun & Clarke, 2006, 2013). After gathering the data, participants’

responses are categorized into similar themes to determine the effectiveness of different

intervention responses by a qualitative comparative analysis.

Data Collection

Qualitative data was collected through semi-structured interviews with the research

participants. These interviews took place via Zoom, a web-based video conferencing platform,

which was recorded with the participants’ consent. Questions from a set list created prior to the

first interview were utilized (see Appendix). These questions stemmed from the central theme of

this research, or the research question. The questions were about how the participants rate the

senses of community via their relationships, or students with students, students and teachers with

themselves, students with teachers, and teachers with other teachers. The interviews informed

researchers about the interventions schools were taking to foster community. These sessions

were recorded through two collection formats, audio recordings and an accompanying transcript.

The interviews lasted no longer than an hour.

QUALITATIVE COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF INTERVENTION RESPONSES 17

To keep track of interview responses, a document was implemented to store the data.

This document, which was only accessible to researchers, was the main source of collecting

interview responses and utilized throughout the interviews. To aid with the flow of the

interviews, the Google Voice typing function assisted in copying the information hands-free. The

video recording function on Zoom was utilized to allow playback if needed. Copies of the data

were saved to a Google Drive that were available to researchers. After these interviews,

participants’ responses were analyzed and categorized into Table 1, according to the intervention

systems observed.

Setting

This study consisted of an hour long, semi-structured interview in Catholic schools

within the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. The purpose of the interview is to specifically measure

the effectiveness of intervention responses in Catholic schools to determine what creative ways

they have addressed the socio-emotional needs of their population within the context of the

Catholic faith. Although the findings of this study might not be transferable to the context of

public education, this research can provide opportunities for Catholic schools to learn from each

other since the research directly fits their faith-based context and academic framework.

Sample

This study used convenience sampling to interview Catholic school administrators and

teachers within the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. Primarily, interviews were with teachers and

administrators who have attended graduate school at Loyola Marymount University through the

PLACE Corps (Partners in Los Angeles Catholic Education) programs. These participants are

prioritized as these educators and administrators are more accustomed to the “cohort” experience

in their education, allowing them to be more truthful when testifying to their sense of community
QUALITATIVE COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF INTERVENTION RESPONSES 18

within their schools. Additionally, participants in the semi-structured interviews were less likely

to have a tendency to restructure their responses to be socially desirable. Instead, responses were

more honest as a foundation of trust was established through the shared PLACE Corps

experience.

This study was volunteer-based and did not offer compensation to the participants.

Participants were informed of the study’s purpose as the interview questions were centered

around the research idea. They were also given a waiver to complete prior to the interview and

were allowed to opt out of the study at any time. Although data needed to be recorded, the

participants’ personal data was coded to preserve anonymity. This encouraged the participants to

respond honestly throughout the semi-structured interviews. This also ensured that there were no

repercussions from administration for their responses. Administrators were interviewed as well

to have their perspective on the research question. Their personal data were coded as well to

protect them. Interviews were conducted outside of normal school hours and in a separate

location if needed.

Design

The data from the semi-structured interviews was analyzed for similar themes according

to Braun & Clarke’s (2006, 2013) criteria for good-quality qualitative research. The purpose is to

understand the participants’ understanding of their school’s intervention responses and how they

see it being implemented with their students and in their school community. The first step was to

identify the intervention responses implemented at a specific school followed by categorizing

these responses by whether there is support or a lack of support with the types of interventions.

Then, these responses were analyzed to determine how those feelings of support or lack of

support affect the teacher as an individual, the teacher and student interactions, and school
QUALITATIVE COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF INTERVENTION RESPONSES 19

community as a whole. The responses have been compiled and categorized in Table 1 in the

Appendix.

Results

Findings

After gathering the responses from the seven participants (two were elementary school

teachers, two were middle school teachers, two were high school teachers, and one was a school

administrator), it was found that each had similar conditions of limited resources and strategies

that aided with incorporating distance learning procedures within their school’s communities.

Many of them had to adaptively learn responsive measures according to feedback they received

from parents and students about what worked and what did not in an online environment.

Therefore, the intervention systems were modified over time to meet families’ needs, which had

mixed positive and negative implications. What was discovered about building successful

communities was not necessarily about which intervention system was better but how that

intervention system was implemented based on how people treated each other. There was more

of a human factor involved than a strategic factor when responding to stress and trauma and

cultivating community during times of distress.

Figure 1

Most Common Themes Mentioned from Positive and Negative Outcomes of Intervention Systems
QUALITATIVE COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF INTERVENTION RESPONSES 20

In Figure 1 above, there were a total of 30 responses from seven interviews that could be

grouped into six themes: three themes which described positive outcomes (self-care,

collaboration, empathy), and three themes that described negative outcomes (internal guilt,

inconsistency of implementation, lack of socioemotional support) of the school’s intervention

impact on stress, trauma, and community. The Appendix displays Table 1 that summarizes the

interview data by a qualitative comparative analysis that groups the positive and negative

outcomes of the measured Catholic schools’ intervention systems. Figure 1 shows a bar graph

that quantitatively measures the most common themes among all of the interviewee’s responses.

Figure 2

Prevalence of Positive Effects of Intervention Systems across Personal, Interactive, and

Communal Experiences
QUALITATIVE COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF INTERVENTION RESPONSES 21

Figure 2 shows a bar graph that measured the positive characteristics of all our

interviewee’s intervention systems that have an effect on personal, interactive, and communal

experiences. Successful communities among all types of intervention systems cultivated

common themes of self-care, collaboration, and empathy. 3 out of 30 of the responses implied

the theme of self-care (10%), 4 out of 30 of the responses implied collaboration (13%), and 12

out of 30 of the responses implied empathy (40%). These common themes showed that

successful intervention systems prioritized the dignity of the person and their contribution to the

community.

Figure 3

Prevalence of Negative Effects of Intervention Systems across Personal, Interactive, and

Communal Experiences
QUALITATIVE COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF INTERVENTION RESPONSES 22

Figure 3 shows a bar graph that measured the negative characteristics of all our

interviewee’s intervention systems that have an effect on personal, interactive, and communal

experiences. Struggling communities among all types of intervention systems often underwent

common themes of internal guilt, inconsistency, and lack of support. According to Figure 1, 3

out of 30 of the responses implied the theme of internal guilt (10%), 4 out of 30 of the responses

implied inconsistency of implementation (13%), and 3 out of 30 of the responses implied the

lack of socio-emotional support (10%). These common themes showed the certain

implementations of the intervention were ineffective if the school communities were lacking the

necessary mental, physical, and emotional capacity to deal with the pandemic’s pressing

challenges.

Discussion

This analysis discusses how each of these positive and negative outcomes from the

school’s intervention system affected how administrators, teachers, and students responded to
QUALITATIVE COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF INTERVENTION RESPONSES 23

stress and trauma and cultivated a community across their personal (Theme 1), interactive

(Theme 2), and communal (Theme 3) experiences.

Theme 1: The Effect of Stress and Trauma on Individual Students and Teachers (The

“Nature” of Trauma)

There was a total of 11 responses regarding the effect of a school’s intervention system

on students and teachers’ personal experiences during the pandemic. According to the data from

Figure 3, internal guilt was the most prevalent factor in causing stress and trauma among

individual students and teachers by 18% (2 out of the 11 responses regarding personal

experiences). This is because many students and teachers may feel overwhelmed and incapable

of addressing the many challenges posed by the pandemic without the necessary resources to

support them (Branson et al., 2019; Mujtaba and Reiss, 2013). It was difficult for students and

teachers to believe in the value of their efforts when they did not feel accomplished with their

results. First year teachers often felt like “my students deserve so much more than I can offer”

(Participant 3). With distance learning and the restrictions of the pandemic with stay-at-home

mandates, many students and teachers felt isolated without a sustainable support system because

of the lack of connection (Participant 4). The many disparities highlighted by the pandemic (such

as access to educational resources, technology, and financial stability) could also cause internal

tension and conflict among school communities (Participant 1). Whenever there is a discussion

about sensitive topics such as “racism” and “privilege,” there can be a strong emotional trigger

that can lead to internal guilt for some people. The inability to fulfill a variety of expectations

from the challenges of the pandemic can impact many students’ and teachers’ stress and trauma

with internal guilt.

QUALITATIVE COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF INTERVENTION RESPONSES 24

The most effective means of combating internal guilt among students’ and teachers’

personal experiences was empathy, which was 4 out of the 11 responses regarding personal

experiences (36%) according to Figure 2. Self-care was also the most prevalent in affecting

students and teachers’ personal experience (2 out of the 11 responses; 18%) compared to their

interactive experiences (0 out of the 11 responses; 0%) and communal experiences (1 out of the 8

responses; 12.5%). Therefore, empathy and self-care go hand-in-hand when helping students and

teachers’ positively respond to stress and trauma. This makes sense because students and

teachers are more likely to increase their well-being when they are supported by peers who they

trust and understand them as people more than the roles they play (Branson et al., 2019; Mujtaba

and Reiss, 2013). Students, teachers, and administrators who treat each other like family often

feel more supported and valued for the small, yet meaningful, contributions they offer to the

school community (Participant 6). Students know that they can reach out to teachers to express

their personal experiences and teachers know that administrators respect their personal integrity

by offering mental health, self-care days (Participant 1). When students or teachers may feel

incapable of facing the pandemic’s challenges on their own, they can rely on others within their

community who respect their personal dignity and can share their burdens by offering and

sharing their personal gifts with each other.

Theme 2: The Effect of Stress and Trauma on Student-Teacher Relationships within the

Classroom Environment (The “Interactions” from Trauma)

There was a total of 11 responses regarding the effect of a school’s intervention system

on students and teachers’ interactive experiences during the pandemic. The data from Figure 3

shows that inconsistent implementation was the most influential factor in causing stress and

trauma among student and teacher interactions by 18% (2 out of the 11 responses regarding
QUALITATIVE COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF INTERVENTION RESPONSES 25

interactive experiences). One of the challenging consequences of the pandemic was that many

schools had to develop their intervention strategies from scratch and continue developing it

week-by-week, month-by-month. Teachers had to re-develop their curriculum in an online

format and often experienced burn-out when they were overworked beyond their working

memory capacity (Owen et al., 2014). Schools that lacked training with an established

intervention system before the pandemic were often ineffective in helping students and teachers

deal with stress and trauma because they were not able to prepare them with the necessary tools

and support to socio-emotionally thrive in an online environment (Participant 5). Some schools

also might have implemented a new intervention system that trained faculty members during the

pandemic, such as MTSS (Multi-tiered systems of support) and QWunder (a social and

emotional learning curriculum). Since teachers and administrators already had full plates with

getting adjusted to the online environment, the intervention strategies usually failed to follow

through to meet the needs of students and teachers and can cause more frustration with an extra

duty to complete without exerting focused energy (Participant 7).

While certain school-wide intervention strategies may be ineffective with inconsistent

implementation, what seemed to be more beneficial in cultivating a supportive community

within the classroom was empathy by 45% (5 out of the 11 responses) and collaboration by 18%

(2 out of 11 responses) according to Figure 2. With the many social challenges and limitations

posed by the pandemic such as technological accessibility and financial stability, teachers that

place more priority on people than productivity often felt a closer connection with their

colleagues and students (Participant 6). Intervention strategies were no longer just about

following the rules that one was to follow according to his or her role, but about maintaining and

respecting relationships as fellow human beings who are interconnected and interdependent to
QUALITATIVE COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF INTERVENTION RESPONSES 26

one another (Reimer, 2011). The more teachers were able to be aware of students’ strengths,

needs, and circumstances and collaborate with one another, the more they were able to help those

students more effectively (Participant 6). Students and teachers who engaged with each other

empathetically were often more willing to contribute to their community because of the

connection that they developed from shared experiences of grief, struggle, and mutual

understanding (Participant 6). Empathetic relationships carried out by collaboration can fill the

holes that a school’s inconsistent implementation of an intervention system may leave open.

Theme 3: Different Approaches of Intervention Responses to Stress and Trauma among

School Communities. (Possible “Responses” to Trauma)

There was a total of 8 responses regarding the effect of a school’s intervention system on

students and teachers’ communal experiences during the pandemic. The communal experience is

beyond the student-teacher relationship within the classroom and extends to the entire school

community. Figure 3 shows how the lack of support was the most common factor by 25% (2 out

of the 8 responses regarding communal experiences) in causing stress and trauma for students

and teachers as an entire school community. This meant that students, parents, and/or teachers

lacked the necessary means to adequately function academically and/or socio-emotionally within

their school community, primarily from the strains on mental health caused by the uncertainty of

the pandemic (Participant 1). The distance learning from home makes it very difficult for

teachers to provide academic and/or behavioral accommodations for students, such as response

to intervention strategies (RTI), since teachers cannot be near students’ physical proximity

(Barton et al., 2020). With the stay-at-home quarantine mandates, first year or newly employed

teachers especially felt like they were disconnected from the community because they rarely met

with their colleagues in person (Participant 3, Participant 4). Students and teachers were just
QUALITATIVE COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF INTERVENTION RESPONSES 27

trying to get through the day in the new online environment, and nothing two-dimensional on a

screen can ever replace what is three-dimensional in person.

Once again, empathy serves as the most positive effect on the students and teachers’

relationship with the school community by 37.5% (3 out of the 8 responses regarding communal

experiences) according to Figure 2. A school’s encouragement of self-care and collaboration

equally matched in cultivating a supportive community by 12.5% each (1 out of the 8 responses).

Even during turbulent times, faculty members and students find resilience with each other when

they share and respect each other’s values on common ground (Participant 1). When a school

community thrives with empathy, students, parents, teachers, and administrators are willing to

share their concerns and step in to support one another because they are already bonded by trust

in a shared experience (Participant 6). Although the COVID-19 pandemic has exposed many

vulnerabilities and disparities within school communities and the larger society, it has also

opened up many opportunities for people to show their authentic and sincere care for each other

as an essential priority. No longer should intervention systems be viewed as “ideas” or

“practices,” but as actual people who embody the characteristics of self-care, collaboration, and

empathy.

Reflection

Perhaps one of the most valuable take-aways from this qualitative comparative analysis

was the common theme of empathy as the cornerstone of a successful school community

throughout the uncertain and unpredictable nature of the COVID-19 pandemic. According to

Figure 1, empathy was the most prevalent response out of the six major themes by 40% (12 out

of the 30 total responses). While many school communities did not have a clear plan on how to

implement an intervention system within the new environment of distance learning, those who
QUALITATIVE COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF INTERVENTION RESPONSES 28

responded to the stress and trauma of the situation with empathy were able to organically

cultivate a supportive community even with trial and error. The effectiveness of empathy in

school communities redefines the nature of schools as a space for students and teachers to be

valued as a person more than his or her productivity, for the community to be valued more than

the curriculum. The attitude of empathy does not deny the importance of productivity or the

curriculum; rather, it highlights the individuals who give their productivity and curriculum

authentic meaning by offering their unique gifts, talents, and experiences to the community. If

students and teachers are acknowledged for their shared human dignity and are provided with the

basic, foundational needs of security, safety, and relationships at school, then they will be able to

fulfill their higher-order needs of academic exploration, accomplishments, and excellence

(Kenrick et al., 2010).

Another interesting point illuminated in this study is that there is no “one size fits all”

type solution for supporting school communities in times of distress. This has been a common

theme in many regards for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles as it serves more than 250 schools

across three different counties. The students in the Archdiocese are far too diverse in population

and need to even begin to provide a single solution-oriented intervention response that is

supposed to be effective for all school communities. This fact alone highlights the idea that a

community’s needs and potential solutions should be exerted and proposed by active members of

the community itself. Teachers, students, and families know their own communities enough to

know not only what they need, but how the need can be fulfilled. This aligns with the previous

point that solutions should always be centered around people rather than programs or processes.

According to the findings, the most effective intervention responses were those created or

proposed by the community itself rather than intervention responses from outside of the
QUALITATIVE COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF INTERVENTION RESPONSES 29

community. Whether that be an outside program or a set of expectations the staff was expected

to uphold, these outside ideas resulted in more stress than support.

Limitations

As with the nature of qualitative studies, the data collected is based on the participant’s

opinion and experience. These responses are great resources, especially since community, which

the research question surrounds, is a personal experience. However, qualitative studies at their

nature are also susceptible to bias from the participant and the researcher. For example, as all

participants were speaking about their personal experiences at the schools at which they were

employed, there could have been a general fear of consequences if their responses were made

known to their employers. To mitigate this, all participants were ensured, both before and during

the interview, their responses would be codified to keep them anonymous. With this guarantee, it

would be best to assume interview responses are reliable.

All interviews were conducted via Zoom or a video-conference program similar to it.

This platform was chosen for many reasons, the largest one being that due to the pandemic and

stay-at-home orders, this was the safest way to meet. Zoom also allowed the interviews to be

recorded, giving access for playback of audio recordings. However, meeting online leads to

certain limitations. For example, due to wireless connectivity issues, one interview froze up three

times and caused lag from the researcher’s end. This, in turn, led one question to be answered

twice by the participant. Although it should not affect the findings as we do have the audio

recordings to play back, it should still be noted. Another program employed was the Google Talk

to Type function. For short responses, such as interviews one and two, it succeeded in keeping

up and accurately recording responses. For long responses, more problems arose with interview

seven completely stopping the program over halfway through. Even then, some of the interview
QUALITATIVE COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF INTERVENTION RESPONSES 30

responses recorded by the Google program were inaccurate and needed editing. Luckily, the

audio recordings did have all of the missing parts.

Another limitation arose from the design of the interviews. First, only seven interviews

were conducted. Originally, this was not the intended sample size, but based on the information

each of the seven interviews had, there was enough to form findings. However, a replication of

the study would be recommended to ensure the findings are causation, not a correlation between

the seven. Second, the interviews themselves were not standardized with how they were

conducted. Each researcher handled different interviews, one leading four interviews, another

two, and the last just one. Of these, five of the interviews were conducted as question/answer

while two were more of a conversation between the participants and researcher. Seeing that all of

the questions were answered, both interviews were kept.

Another issue did arise from an interview. The participant was no longer part of their

respective school since their contract was completed. The school in question was based in Chile.

This participant spoke mainly about their time in a Chilean school following distance learning

protocols. Although Chilean culture cannot compare to American culture, the fact that the school

experienced similar stressors and similar patterns of COVID’s effects on the community was

cause to include the response in the findings. Also, despite the troubles of the interview designs,

the findings showed that similar patterns arose from the participants’ experiences, strongly

implicating that further interviews would share this too. Therefore, more interviews or

replication of research would be needed to verify the results.

Recommendations for Future Research

Before new or replicated studies seeking this research question are formed, it is pertinent

that changes with the interview format are addressed. In this study, three different researchers
QUALITATIVE COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF INTERVENTION RESPONSES 31

interviewed the participants using a pre-set list of questions. However, two researchers

conducted their interviews with a questions and answers style while the remaining researcher

formatted their interviews as a guided conversation. Due to the nature of a conversation, it was

discussed if these interviews may have been influenced by the researcher’s own bias. They were

not removed since they still revealed accurate findings, but it was noted as a possible limitation.

With a standardized interview format, such as a single researcher handling interviews, these

issues should not arise in the future. Another limitation was the small sample of participants.

With the COVID-19 pandemic being a recent development, the number of people who fit the

research requirements was small already. Adding a packed schedule, only seven interviews were

conducted. These seven became the base of the findings and did provide pertinent data.

However, future research should broaden the participant requirements to have a larger sample

size, such as including teachers from public schools.

This study sought out how intervention systems were being implemented in the pandemic

and how they were received. As the interviews and research itself were completed during the

COVID-19 pandemic, information gained from them were fresh and reactive. Therefore, it may

be difficult to replicate research, but not impossible. It is recommended that a longitudinal study

be conducted to observe changes to the education system since the start of the pandemic and with

distance learning. Specifically, it should seek a qualitative analysis of initial responses to

distance learning and compare how those experiences influenced future changes. Another

possible study should continue seeking the effects of empathy and how that interplays with

community, as this research showed. A quantitative survey would be suitable and would build on

top of the findings presented in this study.

Conclusion
QUALITATIVE COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF INTERVENTION RESPONSES 32

The findings indicate that a strong sense of community, built primarily upon empathy, is

crucial when responding to feelings of stress and cases of trauma. These elements of community

and empathetic relationships apply to each aspect of the school’s community; from family

relationships, student relationships, and teacher-student relationships. The findings also indicate

a strong correlation between a school’s positive sense of community and its ability to navigate

stressors positively. Additionally, the responses suggest that the Archdiocese of Los Angeles is

ill-equipped with formal measures that would support communities experiencing high volumes

of stress. Whether that be for lack of resources, training, or time to implement resources, there

are very few systems that are explicitly aimed at supporting school communities navigating

stressors. Even less is available for those experiencing additional stressors brought on with the

onslaught of a global pandemic.

However, even with the lack of a systematic structure, empathetic and authentic human

relationships within school communities allow school communities to rise above the turbulence

of the COVID-19 pandemic in their unique way. In times of distress, it is not so much about

what people do, but more about who people become to build community. To encourage growth,

the larger education system should aim to intentionally foster intervention programs that take

into consideration the particular needs and qualities of the individuals within each community.

Education cannot be limited to a “one-size-fits-all” practice and instead can incorporate the ideas

of those within each community to think of new solutions to sustain the social fabric of their

schools. It is empathy, the acknowledgement and value of our shared human existence, that gives

life to school communities in the most trying of times.

QUALITATIVE COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF INTERVENTION RESPONSES 33
QUALITATIVE COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF INTERVENTION RESPONSES 34

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QUALITATIVE COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF INTERVENTION RESPONSES 37

Appendix

The following interview questions are categorized according to three themes that will be

presented in our comparative research analysis:

1. The Effect of Stress and Trauma on Individual Students and Teachers (The

“Nature” of Trauma)

a. How have students and teachers personally experienced and responded to

different types of stress within the context of the COVID-19 pandemic? For

example, what may have been positive stresses (eustress) and negative stresses

(distress) that they experience while in social isolation from stay-at-home

quarantine mandates?

2. The Effect of Stress and Trauma on Student-Teacher Relationships within the

Classroom Environment (The “Interactions” from Trauma)

a. What are the inter- and intrapersonal dynamics between student-student, student-

teacher, and teacher-teacher relationships within school communities in relation to

the struggles of stress and trauma from the COVID-19 pandemic?

b. How does COVID-19 further exacerbate our “need” for community with virtual

learning while students, teachers, and administrators are living in social isolation?

3. Different Approaches of Intervention Responses to Stress and Trauma among

School Communities. (Possible “Responses” to Trauma)

a. How do you think your school’s sense of community has been affected by

COVID?

b. How has your school implemented intervention responses to address trauma in

teachers’ lives and your students’ lives? Is there a particular school-wide

QUALITATIVE COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF INTERVENTION RESPONSES 38

philosophy or program put into place to meet teachers’ and students’ interests and

needs?

c. If there is an intervention response at your school, is it preventative or responsive?

In your opinion, how effective is it and why?

d. How has your school’s intervention responses (or lack of) affected the faculty’s

sense of community?

e. How effective was the intervention system and/or sense of community before

COVID-19 and during COVID-19 with the stay-at-home quarantine mandates?

What are some possible improvements that could be put in place for these

intervention responses (or lack of) for the future?

Table 1

Qualitative Comparative Analysis Table of Positive and Negative Outcomes Catholic Schools’

Intervention Systems on Personal, Interactive, and Communal Experiences

Type of Experience Positive Outcomes Negative Outcomes

Intervention
System

Multi-Tiered Effect on Mental Health Services Personal Training but

Support Personal (self-care) Ineffective Implementation
Systems Experience Schools can provide (inconsistency)
(MTSS) mental health services for
Individual faculty members
students and teachers such
(Participant 1 as therapy and stress can be ineffective with
& Participant management techniques implementation because they
2) were not given communal
support after professional
development training. There
was not enough time to
dedicate on how to
implement it.

Effect on Defined Roles Understaffed Faculty (lack

QUALITATIVE COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF INTERVENTION RESPONSES 39

Interactive (collaboration) of support)

Experience Parents and students can
check in with teachers,
administrators, and
learning specialists along a
chain of command.
Because of budget cuts,
Catholic schools may not
have enough faculty to hire
necessary specialists that help
support MTSS, such as on-
site mentors to help first year
teachers.

Effect on Mental Health Advocacy Lack of Accessibility from

Communal (self-care)
Experience Psychologists can create
group programs to address
socio-emotional health of
students and faculty
members
Socioeconomic Status (lack
of support)
Some schools cannot afford
mental health professionals
and some students have to go
to an off-site mental health
professional. However, some
families can’t afford mental
health services because of
their socio-economic status or
are unable to access the
service because the referrals
are full.

Positive Responses Negative Responses

SEL (Social Effect on Teacher Stress

Emotional Personal (lack of support)
Learning): Experience Teachers feel burdened by an
QWunder and extra resource they are
TRIBES expected to implement
(Participant 7, without proper training, time,
Participant 6) and support.

Effect on Lack of Cohesion

Interactive (inconsistency)
Experience An SEL program like
QWunder is only effective
when implemented
schoolwide. When teachers
are not consistent in their
implementation or how they
use it, then it does not have a
QUALITATIVE COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF INTERVENTION RESPONSES 40

lasting effect. Students'

experiences with the program
are choppy, disconnected, and
ineffective.

Effect on Common Language

Communal (collaboration)
Experience Team building/culture
building tool. Teachers
were given a formal and
effective 2-day training
three years ago and it was
pushed schoolwide. Proved
to be VERY effective
when in person. There are
five rules/phrases used
schoolwide (K-8). It gives
a set of shared expectations
and language. Students use
it often and even correct
each other (interpersonal
communication) Ex:
Hey__, remember, ‘no put
downs!’ Students even
correct teachers at times
using TRIBES language.

Positive Responses Negative Responses

Adaptive Effect on Support Systems

Scheduling Personal (collaboration)
(Participant 5) Experience To prevent feelings of
isolation among teachers,
families, and students, TK-
4 developed a new
schedule where all teachers
see all grade levels
multiple times throughout
the week to offer them
academic and
socioemotional support.
QUALITATIVE COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF INTERVENTION RESPONSES 41

Effect on Collaborative Problem

Interactive Solving (collaboration)
Experience All teachers know all
students and can
effectively problem solve
collaboratively with
strategies or offer advice to
other teachers if issues
arrive.

Interactive Opportunities
(empathy)
Students are given time to
interact with each other on
Zoom without teacher
supervision, the meeting
will just be recorded or the
teacher will turn his/her
video & microphone off
while he/she is on his/her
lunch break. This really
helps with socio-emotional
learning for elementary
students.

Effect on Mutual Understanding

Communal (empathy)
Experience Teachers knew what the
students and parents were
all going through and were
able to collaborate to meet
their specific needs. This
encouraged a group effort
to build a strong support
system for students and
families

Positive Responses Negative Responses

Familial & Effect on Trust (empathy) Grief (internal guilt)

Communal Personal Much of the school’s Much of the school suffers
Networks Experience population come from when a family member of a
QUALITATIVE COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF INTERVENTION RESPONSES 42

(Participant 5, generations of family student passes away from

Participant 6, members, so COVID-19. There is an
and Participant administration, teachers, emotional toll that can affect
4) and students are treated school performance
like a family where they
can rely on each other.
Family comes first and
school comes second.

Identity (empathy)
Students who come to the
Catholic School are often
recommended by family
members, so there is a
willingness to actively
participate more because
incoming students are able
to identify their
participation in school as if
they are participating with
family.

Mental Health Rest Days

(self-care)
Administration also
provided emotional
support to faculty by
offering days of rest and
socio-emotional check-ins
at the beginning of faculty
meetings

Effect on Mutual Understanding Lack of Efficiency

Interactive (empathy)
Experience Because teachers and
students are more familiar
with each other, they often
presume good intentions
with “what’s been going
on?” rather than “why did
you not do this?” By
building up trust before the
pandemic, teachers were
able to reach out to each
other more when the
pandemic occurred
(inconsistency)
Because of more emphasis on
emotional ties in Chile,
sometimes faculty meetings
did not get the job done to
produce an efficient outcome.
In Chile, there need to be
more systemized structures
put into place with people
having specific roles
QUALITATIVE COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF INTERVENTION RESPONSES
Effect on Advocacy (empathy)
Communal Because of difficult times
Experience of COVID-19 with family
members passing away, the
community feels a lot
closer with family
members pitching in to
help the faculty with
activities. They feel
bonded by this shared
experience. Administration
sends out cards and
flowers to students’
families who may be
experiencing grief from
losing a loved one to
COVID-19. This act of
kindness brought the
school closer together.
Their pastor recently
passed away and it brought
the school together. The
staff team stepped up to fill
in the gaps in leadership.
The families saw and
respected it, so they
stepped up to the plate as
well. Now they all have a
communal experience of
grief they are bonded by.
Positive Responses
Culturally Effect on Trust (empathy)
Responsive Personal Students know
Pedagogy Experience expectations and know that
(Participant 3) they can reach out to
teachers and express their
views to them, while the
faculty can reach out for
help with students’ needs
and support them with
teamwork.
43
People Pleasing
(inconsistency)
Administration can
sometimes focus more on
catering to the parents to
retain families as part of the
school community more than
the teachers. They were more
focused on making the
parents happy with ongoing
changes (without teacher
input) at the expense of what
were best for the teachers and
students in terms of SEL,
consistency, routines, and
habits. Teachers can feel out
of the loop if administration
is so focused on families’
well-being more than
teachers.
Negative Responses
Shame (internal guilt)
When talking about culture
and history, there also can be
a sense of “shame” when
talking about privilege. This
can be very sensitive to some
people who may feel
excluded for being
characterized as something
(ex: racism) they didn’t
QUALITATIVE COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF INTERVENTION RESPONSES 44

personally contribute to
Respect on Personal
Integrity (empathy)
Teacher is satisfied that the
school administration is
aligned with his/her
philosophy of valuing
people of color and gender.
Faculty meetings feel
welcoming.

Effect on Support System Interactive Tension

Interactive (Student-Student) (internal guilt)
Experience (empathy) When talking about culture,
Students can share there can be tension in the
common experiences with room based on what history
each other such as music, implies. People can talk about
sports, and extracurricular sensitive issues with each
activities other and there may be
feelings hurt in the process.
Mutual Understanding
(Student-Teacher)
(empathy)
Teachers get to know
about students’
backgrounds by doing
culturally relevant projects
and students also get to
know about teachers.
Students and teachers
understand each other as
people more than tools.

Transparency (empathy)
People from different
backgrounds are able to
voice their opinions about
culturally relevant issues
during faculty meetings
and diversity-training
professional developments.

Effect on Common Ground Exclusion (lack of support)

Communal (empathy) Some people who are not
Experience School is multi-culturally aligned to the direction of the
informed with a cultural cultural education framework
QUALITATIVE COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF INTERVENTION RESPONSES 45

education framework can feel not heard and

where the administration excluded. This can cause
respects and values the division.
students’ demographics
and concerns while
teachers can trust the
administration to share
what the students are
experiencing at home. It is
a network where
administration, teachers,
and students are valued for
their holistic well-being.