Pandemic learning pods revealed teachers and other adults are highly interested in playing more varied roles in children’s education. And some pod-like staffing arrangements may continue to exist and grow in out-of-school settings, such as after-school programs. But this report examines a different potential development: is it possible that the experiences staff had in pods could become much more common in the day-to-day operations of U.S. public schools, at scale?
The answer is a qualified “yes.” Even before Covid, moves were afoot to create a range of new staffing arrangements within public schools that hit many of the same themes as pods, which are described in more detail in this report. Some of these arrangements had already begun to show positive impacts on student learning and educator satisfaction, as well as the ability to spread in different school contexts.
