Surging enrollment in virtual schools during the pandemic spurs new questions for policymakers
During the 2020–21 school year, a large share of students opted to enroll in established, full-time virtual schools. Our analysis of federal enrollment data suggests parents, perhaps dissatisfied with remote schooling or concerned about the safety of in-person learning, sought new alternatives to traditional school districts during the COVID-19 pandemic. We examined data from the […]
Recovery for U.S. Students in 2021: What Schools and Districts Can Do to Make Up for Lost Learning Time
We propose six principles to ensure students experience a positive, healthy, and restorative schooling experience this year.
Closing the void at the core of public education
As schools reopen, it is less clear than ever what public education is for. States and districts resist testing students to see what they know now, and many won’t judge schools on whether anyone learns. National assessments are on hold, and traditional elements of the curriculum—and even grading—are under assault as supporting white supremacy. Yes, […]
Has the number of homeschoolers doubled? Or are the lines blurring?
One Saturday morning a few years ago, I was walking through an outdoor market in downtown St. Petersburg, Fla., where I lived at the time, when something piqued my professional curiosity. A group of homeschool students were showing off art projects. I was trying to get a better feel for the various homeschool cooperatives that […]
All Together Now: Getting Students with Disabilities What They Need During the Pandemic
During the 2020–21 school year, we learned through a series of interviews that most teachers missed out on the power of collaborative interactions between general and special educators.
Notes from our database: The latest on 2021-22’s rocky return to school
The scramble to reopen schools, keep students safe, and keep them learning hasn’t abated.
How Has the Pandemic Affected Students’ Social-Emotional Well-Being? A Review of the Evidence to Date
This report is part of a series that aims to provide a definitive account of the best available evidence on how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected America’s students. The Center on Reinventing Public Education compiled hundreds of studies and convened panels of experts to interpret what the data show. Three initial reports assess what we […]
Families delivered innovative solutions to pandemic-fueled education disruptions. Policymakers should support them to do so again
After an optimistic summer, Delta’s rise and an escalating public health situation has crushed many people’s hope for a quiet, even “normal” school year. Families worried about the risks presented by COVID-19 are increasingly stuck between a rock and a hard place: accept the risks that come with in-person instruction—often with inadequate mitigation measures—or face […]
New England Profiles of Innovation | Nokomis Regional High School
This profile of Nokomis Regional High School in Newport, Maine details the school’s practices that have made it successful, how they have adapted in the fact of the pandemic, and how other school communities can begin conversations about creating flexible pathways for students to design components of their own high school experience.
More masks, more vaccines, more online learning, but what about quarantines? The latest on school district fall reopening
More school districts are requiring masks and vaccines, and remote learning plans are more detailed as the threat of the Delta variant looms.