Early Childhood Educators’ Responses to Katrina and Child Outcomes

Early Childhood Educators’ Responses to Katrina and Child Outcomes was funded by the National Science Foundation and the Board of Regents’ Louisiana Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research to develop an understanding of educational responses to natural disasters.

The study aimed to collect survey data about teachers’ classroom responses to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. A second objective of the study was to assess children’s knowledge about hurricanes in general and Katrina and Rita in particular.

Educators’ Responses

More than 500 teachers from Louisiana, Tennessee, South Carolina, and Georgia completed surveys about their teaching after the hurricanes. Those who reported typically doing more developmentally appropriate instruction were more likely to do hurricane-related activities than other teachers. Teachers who were personally affected reported doing more as well. The most common activities included reading stories about weather, doing planned learning activities about weather, and conducting lectures about weather. The most common activities initiated by children were telling Katrina stories, discussing Katrina or hurricane-related events, and drawing pictures about hurricanes.