What is High School

The authors present United States high school personnel perspectives on providing social support and academic instruction through a comprehensive distance learning (CDL) model during the COVID-19 pandemic. They use grounded theory methods to analyze focus group data and an iterative coding process to assess convergence and divergence of the data. Results highlight magnified disparities in students' access to distance-learning, the impacts of teachers' various social and technological connection strategies, teachers' ongoing integration of restorative practices, students' academic motivation, challenges with key components of instructional effectiveness, and the benefits of balancing social and academic supports. The authors provide recommendations for promoting equitable student engagement and motivation by tailoring academic content to students' lived experiences, re-evaluating assessment, and integrating social-emotional and academic supports at the high school level.