The following remarks were delivered to members of the U.S. House Education and Labor Committee during a May 7 briefing on the impact of COVID-19.
Chairman Scott, members of the committee, thank you for the opportunity to talk about the nationwide shutdown of public schools in response to the pandemic, and the move to distance learning.
My name is Robin Lake and I lead a nonpartisan research center at the University of Washington Bothell: the Center on Reinventing Public Education. Since mid-March, our team of researchers has been tracking, weekly, how school districts and states responded to the crisis.
This was a shock to our education system and uncharted territory. District leaders had to make difficult decisions at a very anxious time for all Americans. No one was prepared. No one knew the right path forward. Our goal was to help districts quickly learn from each other and keep as many students learning as possible.
So what have we learned over these last six weeks?
