A systematic review of literature related to school and academic outcomes for K-12 students suggests that “transportation to school is a potential barrier that is often overlooked in research on student wellbeing and academic success” (Hopson et al., 2024, p. 649). The authors cite transportation challenges as likely to exacerbate risk factors such as poverty, racial discrimination, disability, and rural contexts.
Relatedly, an essay by Lenhoff et al. (2022) calls for educational and legislative leaders to examine the root causes that lead to transportation hardships instead of ignoring the “unequal political, economic, and social conditions that shape access to school” (p. 337). They posit that transportation has implications for a vast number of school-related issues, such as school attendance, school choice, mobility justice, family engagement, neighborhood and environmental conditions, and safety.
These recent studies are notable for considering barriers for K-12 students across diverse educational stakeholder groups. Existing scholarship, however, may be missing an important population that impacts the field of education here in North Carolina and beyond at a time when teacher recruitment has become more challenging than ever (McClellan, 2024).
Over many years, faculty and staff in the Wake Forest Department of Education have found that one of the biggest barriers facing undergraduates who seek to participate in service opportunities, clinical experiences, and community engagement is the lack of free, accessible transportation to and from local schools and community centers.
After discussing this topic at length, both internally and with faculty colleagues across the country, a small group of Department of Education faculty, staff, and graduate students decided to conduct a needs analysis at Wake Forest. This survey was distributed to 50% of the entire student body, not just education students, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic — 395 students responded for a response rate of 6.58 percent.
Data suggested the following:
- 95% of respondents said they planned to volunteer or provide service to communities beyond campus during the upcoming school year.
- 51% of respondents said they did not have their own car to use for transportation purposes.
- 82% of respondents hoped to volunteer or serve in the local community at least 1-2 times per week during the upcoming school year.
- 41% of respondents said they used ridesharing companies 1-2 times per week for personal or professional reasons.
- 18% of students said they were having to pay out of pocket to use ridesharing services to travel to and from their volunteer or service locations.
- 63% of respondents who planned to volunteer or serve in the local community during the upcoming school year said their most significant obstacle was the cost of transportation.
- 40% of students expressed apprehension about scheduling issues, parking concerns, and/or travel or wait times.
Qualitative comments also pointed directly to barriers including the time, cost, and reliability of transportation across student sub-groups, but particularly among the university’s growing international student population, first-generation college students, students with demonstrated financial need, students without a driver’s licenses, students from urban centers without vehicles, and students with visual or physical disabilities.
Anecdotally, faculty and staff cited a range of other student identity groups who were being negatively impacted by transportation concerns, including student-athletes coming to and from practices, freshmen and sophomores without cars on campus, students traveling from classes at the university’s downtown location, students without the economic means to afford gas costs, and students hoping to visit schools in rural areas.
After examining a range of transportation options including university fleet services, Zipcars, ride sharing services, carpools, and public transportation options, the Wake Forest Department of Education — in collaboration with university partners Jason Campbell (Assistant Director of Transportation & Parking Services), Julie Groves (Director of Risk Management), and Dana Lopez (Senior Associate Director of Programs for Campus Recreation) — created a new initiative meant to alleviate the transportation barrier for undergraduate and graduate students enrolled in education courses and to provide additional layers of mentored support for those students, including pre-service teachers.
Former K-12 school administrators and coaches were hired as part-time clinical associates to serve as both drivers and informal mentors. Jeff Faullin joined first and became the model for supporting teacher education before he transitioned to the role of Visiting Clinical Professor. Jeff was followed by other retired educators (i.e., Jon Williams, Melita Wise, Kathy Wilheit, and Dack Stackhouse), who have not only provided transportation services but also served as teacher assistants for our faculty and informal mentors to our students.
These clinical associates serve our pre-service teachers and university students by transporting them in 12-passenger vans to local schools within ten miles of campus for clinical experiences, classroom observations, tutoring, mentoring, and other educational programming. They are considered departmental staff members and have become an invaluable resource because their presence has allowed us to significantly increase the time our students spend in schools as part of educational coursework and fieldwork.
We benefit from being on a campus in the middle of Winston-Salem/Forsyth County, where our vans can travel to almost any type of school imaginable within 10-15 minutes. The program is supported by a generous gift from the family of a former elementary education major and with support from the Offices of the Dean of the College and the Provost at Wake Forest.
While there have been growing pains, this initiative has largely been a success and appreciated by faculty and students alike. In its first full year, 2022-23, 13 sections of six different courses had transportation support to local schools. A year later, in 2023-24, 24 sections of 12 different courses and programs had transportation support to local schools and community locations (e.g., Kaleideum, a learning museum in Winston-Salem), not to mention additional financial support provided to assist individual students who faced transportation-related hardships.
Currently we have four different models of clinical fieldwork and coursework supported by our transportation initiative. These models include:
- Clinical experience courses that visit a different school each week (e.g., EDU 102L: Exploring School Communities)
- Academic courses that meet almost exclusively in a school setting (e.g., EDU 205a/b: Developing Literacy and Communication Skills in Elementary Schools)
- Academic courses that meet once a week on campus and once a week in a local school (e.g., EDU 309L: Introduction to Secondary Education; EDU 395: Teaching Diverse Learners)
- Academic courses that include schedule routine clinical experiences to support instruction (e.g., EDU 312: Teaching Exceptional Children)
Creating these opportunities has undoubtedly presented challenges, including the added complexities of creating course schedules and faculty teaching loads that balance a transportation schedule with limited vans and drivers.
Whatever the complications, the rewards have them outnumbered in multiple ways.
First, this initiative reduces risk and liability for the university by having trained drivers at the wheel so faculty and students can reach their destinations, which satisfies requirements for the university’s Office of Risk Management.
Second, this collaboration allows the university’s Office of Transportation & Parking Services to oversee the maintenance of the vans to minimize downtime, increase efficiency, and provide resources for day-to-day operations. The use of the van fleet also promotes a more sustainable and safer option than single occupancy vehicles transporting students to and from local schools.
Third, as our instructors have pointed out, some of the most engaging conversations of the semester occur in the van on the ride back from clinical experiences in local schools. Hiring clinical associates who can offer the space for faculty to lead those conversations while also contributing their own years of experience has been a great benefit to our students, even those who may never become classroom teachers but will benefit from this type of experiential learning as citizens, taxpayers, voters, and, for some, parents themselves.
Finally, and most importantly, this initiative benefits our students, as they have told us directly. One student said, “I do not have a car on campus so I was hoping to either have transportation provided or find a friend in the class who was willing to carpool. I am so glad that the van worked out. Traveling as a group was so nice and not having to worry about inconveniencing someone to get a ride to the schools was such a relief.”
Another student said, “I have a car, but taking the van makes it so much easier because I have to keep my car off-campus. It would have been incredibly difficult for me to drive myself and I would have been late for my next class.” Still another responded, “I don’t have a car and won’t have one at any point at Wake Forest. Uber and other methods are expensive on top of college tuition. Providing transportation is so important to this course.”
Wake Forest faculty presented this initiative at the 2023 North Carolina Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (NCACTE) Fall Forum. The conversations during and after the presentation, though anecdotal, suggest that transportation barriers may feel like shared experiences in other teacher education programs across the state of North Carolina.
Our central question during that presentation was “How can university students ever transition to experienced teachers if they have trouble finding their way to local schools?” As it turns out, the correct response might just be, “Welcome to class. Get in the van.”
References
Hopson, L. M., Lidbe, A. D., Jackson, M. S., Adanu, E., Li, X., Penmetsa, P., … & Abura-Meerdink, G. (2024). Transportation to school and academic outcomes: a systematic review. Educational Review, 76(3), 648-668., DOI: 10.1080/00131911.2022.2034748
Lenhoff, S. W., Singer, J., Stokes, K., Mahowald, J. B., & Khawaja, S. (2022). Beyond the bus: Reconceptualizing school transportation for mobility justice. Harvard Educational Review, 92(3), 336-360.
McClellan, H. V., (2024, March 11). State Board receives data on educator prep programs, which continue to decline. EdNC.
