A missing link to help students emotionally and academically
Fifty-six percent of students say they are more stressed about school than before the pandemic. Eighty-three percent report a physical symptom of stress—like difficulty sleeping, headaches, and weight gain or loss. That’s all according to a survey of more than 10,000 high school students conducted last fall by Challenge Success, a nonprofit that supports student […]
We must ensure communities can keep the innovations that kids need
For nearly a year, schools’ unpredictability has created stress and suffering for kids and families, especially in Black and brown communities where jobs and lives are also most at risk from the virus. We’ve seen record learning loss, disengagement, depression, and signs of great stress in families. But just as many schools struggle to serve […]
The Biden COVID stimulus: Big spending can bring big liabilities
K–12 public education has won the lottery in the current coronavirus stimulus bill, with a $123 billion bailout package—more than six times the size of annual Title I grants. It remains to be seen whether public districts and schools will be permanently better off or, like too many winners in state lotteries, end up in […]
Districts quiet on how they plan to help students recover from a year of continued disruption
As more large and urban school districts welcome students back to campus, few are providing public details about how they plan to academically support students after a year of disrupted teaching and learning.
What’s behind the racial divide on school reopening?
After more than six months of divisive debates about the reopening of American schools, the good news is that bipartisan consensus appears near. Recent survey data show growing support for in-person learning among Democrats, likely reflecting President Biden’s endorsement. More worrying, however, is that opinion remains deeply split along racial lines. These divisions are surprisingly […]
Community health, vaccination policies & local preference: How 100 districts are reopening after COVID-19 shutdowns
Urban districts across the country have taken a sharp turn toward in-person and hybrid learning in the start of 2021.
Announcing a new initiative to support district- and community-led innovation through learning hubs
We are honored to announce a set of grants to help school districts and their community partners launch learning hubs.
To make up for lost learning time, set priorities
For students not to fall perpetually behind because of school closures and the difficulties of virtual learning, schools and districts must set priorities. Students need to catch up as quickly as possible on the core ideas and skills that are prerequisites to the material that will come next year. Schools may need to add tutors […]
Reopening schools hinges upon trust that must be built from the ground up
Trust, a societal resource that has been steadily bleeding away, is indispensable for schooling. As the classic book by Anthony Bryk and Barbara Schneider showed, a school can’t be good, and can’t improve, without trust all around. Teachers must trust one another and show respect for parents and loving concern for children. Parents must trust […]
It takes a village: The pandemic learning pod movement, one year in
Since the spring of 2020, learning pods have evolved from a new idea to a significant feature of the pandemic learning landscape. As the pod movement grows in real-time through the current school year and morphs into new models and approaches, the work of learning is moving beyond the four walls of the school building […]