While COVID-19 caused unimaginable disruptions to public education, we saw remarkable examples of innovation and commitment to supporting high school student success. In our New England landscape of learning research, we learned that the boundaries of what it means to “reinvent” high school stretched, and in some systems, the momentum for change accelerated. Students and teachers learned to work in new ways and reached new understandings about each other.
Now, building off these lessons and in partnership with the Center for Public Research and Leadership (CPRL), we are engaged in an in-depth look at the American Rescue Plan (ARP), post-pandemic recovery in New England high schools. Our research is designed to reveal whether and how federal dollars are being directed toward supporting a better adolescent experience, how high schools are innovating and adapting to advance equity, and what kinds of choices students are making about their futures after high school. The results from this investigation will equip school and system leaders, state policymakers, and advocates—in New England and beyond—to better understand and support pandemic-era innovations that connect to what students and families need and want from high school.
“Don’t leave me out”: Schools should use insights gained from the pandemic to strengthen partnerships with high school families
The need to better engage families became starkly apparent during a school year flipped on its head by a global pandemic. Yet there remains a
New England Profiles of Innovation | Common Ground High School
This profile of Common Ground High School in New Haven details the school’s practices that have made it successful, how they have adapted in the face of the pandemic, and how other school communities can begin conversations about wielding student voice and agency to innovate.
New England Profiles of Innovation | Map Academy
This profile of Map Academy from CRPE and the Christensen Institute details the school’s practices that have proven successful, how they have adapted in the face of the pandemic, and how other school communities can begin to make their systems and structures more responsive to students’ needs and interests.
Help wanted: School systems must act now to support graduating seniors
COVID-19 disrupted the already tenuous system of support for students graduating high school and going on to college or career. Students from low-income households and
How Schools Adapt during the Pandemic Can Reshape Adolescent Learning Experiences for Generations
This brief, informed by interviews with school and system leaders in the New England region, suggests some efforts to reinvent schools before the pandemic have helped schools to navigate the current crisis.
Mapping the landscape of learning in New England
The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted public education in ways that were unimaginable at the beginning of the year. Students, parents, and teachers have struggled to make
