Deficiencies in Spring and Summer Point to Where Districts Must Put Their Attention This Fall
School systems face a monumental challenge preparing for fall amid a public health and fiscal crisis. Vulnerable students can ill afford to repeat this spring, when the initial virus outbreaks and sudden closures caught schools unprepared. Gaps in spring and summer planning can point districts to the critical issues they must attend to in the […]
The Digital Divide Among Students During COVID-19: Who Has Access? Who Doesn’t?
Our research shows districts in rural areas have been significantly less likely to expect teachers to provide instruction during the COVID-19 pandemic. Schools with higher concentrations of students from low-income households have been less likely to expect teachers to provide real-time lessons, track students’ attendance, or grade their assignments. One critical driver of these disparities […]
Too Many Schools Leave Learning to Chance During the Pandemic
We knew the sudden shift to remote learning would be hard. For the last two months CRPE followed a group of large, mostly urban school systems as they clarified their expectations for teaching students, tracking attendance, and monitoring learning. These districts are prominent in the national debate and serve nearly one of every six public […]
Districts Are Missing an Opportunity to Innovate as Most Take Traditional Approaches to Summer School
Note from the authors: We share our most recent COVID-19 findings during a critical moment, as the recurring impact of systemic violence against Black people devastates our communities and the nation. As we work to inform efforts to build a more equitable education system, we must acknowledge the pain wrought by these injustices. After three […]
Too Many Schools Leave Learning to Chance During the Pandemic
This brief summarizes our findings from a review of COVID-19 response plans of 477 school districts across the country.
How COVID-19 Is Forcing Innovation in High School-Industry Partnerships
Everything about education changed in the spring of 2020. School partnerships with industry were no different. Schools had to rethink internships, job shadows, and mentorships. But these disruptions have also forced new thinking that will have long-term consequences for how schools partner with industry to prepare students post-graduation. Some schools and districts (see inset below) […]
Summer Haze: School Districts Slow to Communicate What Will Happen After the School Year Ends
The end of an unusual school year is on the horizon, yet few districts have provided details on what, if any, summer learning opportunities their students will have. Summer school is typically used to make up missed credits, provide enrichment, or give working families much-needed childcare. This year, there are new, urgent needs. Almost every […]
Still No Consistent Plan for Remote Learning for Hundreds of Thousands of Students at Some of America’s Biggest School Districts
Since the middle of March, when schools across the country closed to stem the spread of the novel coronavirus, the Center on Reinventing Public Education’s nationwide tracking effort has told a story of school systems slowly making the transition from the classroom to the cloud. Now, nearly two months into our nationwide tracking effort, most […]
Remote Classes Are in Session for More School Districts, But Attendance Plans Are Still Absent
Six weeks into COVID-19 school closures, and at roughly the midpoint of the final academic quarter of this school year, we are stepping back to assess what schools and districts have accomplished—and the gaps in learning opportunities that remain—as students, teachers, and families prepare to close out 2019-20. Districts have come a long way in this […]
The Power of “How Are You?”: Teacher Check-ins in Remote Learning
Last week, Fairfax County in Virginia delayed the launch of remote learning due to technical challenges. Earlier in the month, Los Angeles Unified School District reported that about one third of their over 600,000 students were not logging into their online learning platforms regularly, and that about 15,000 had been completely absent since online learning […]