LPI Blog

A thoughtful planning process following the first few months of distance learning led one San Francisco Bay Area school district to rethink its professional development strategy for elementary math instruction. The result: More collaboration, alignment, and engagement among teachers and minimal disruption to student learning, even when the pandemic necessitated switching of classrooms and teachers. 

Polarizing and inaccurate framing of social and emotional learning (SEL) has caused concern for some parents. The authors examine a Fordham survey that sheds light on why and discuss how to help parents understand that SEL and academics are inextricably connected and not an either/or choice.

Many students, families, and teachers looked forward to in-person learning this fall, but now find themselves on a pandemic roller coaster as the school year opens with a surge of COVID-19 cases. It is critical that we follow the available science so that we can protect students and ensure their education.

Although schools are reopening on the shifting sands of COVID-19 variants and low vaccination rates in some regions, they can resume in-person classes in a safe and supportive manner using science-based mitigation approaches, such as masking and social distancing, and by attending to student and teacher social and emotional needs.

Thanks to unprecedented funding from the American Rescue Plan and other federal, state, and local resources, school districts across the country are leveraging several evidence-informed strategies to accelerate learning and support student wellbeing. Local initiatives include conducting formative assessments to measure and support students’ growth and health, providing high-quality tutoring that is connected to classroom instruction, and expanding learning time.

The convergence of disruption, innovation, empowerment, and new funding offers an unprecedented opportunity to reimagine how we "do school." This includes expanding access and broadening the scope of summer learning and before- and after-school opportunities to be more responsive to students and families and offer creative, project-based learning and enrichment activities that build skills, expand horizons, and lead to a wide range of positive student outcomes.

Oakland International High School is a sanctuary for recently arrived immigrant students, preparing them academically and linguistically for their new lives in the United States. Through its community school infrastructure, commitment to supporting the whole child, and explicit focus on English language acquisition and preparation for college, the school is raising expectations and expanding opportunities for its students.

Through an innovative learning initiative that includes in-person school site visits and virtual learning sessions, engaged community leaders, parents, students, advocates, and others are building their capacity to advance evidence-based and equitable practices that promote authentic learning, foster relationships of trust and respect, and chip away at structural inequities that undermine opportunities for historically marginalized students.

Quietly—and at times with little attention of the public, policymakers, and the media—schools have been resegregating at rates that rival those preceding Brown v. Board of Education, the 1954 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that struck down legal segregation in public schools. As it did following resistance to Brown, the federal government can help to foster integrated schools through increased funding and evidence-based policies.

High-quality early childhood experiences depend upon ongoing formative assessments. High-quality assessments enable teachers to monitor each student’s changing skills and competencies and to tailor instruction to reinforce children’s strengths and support individualized growth. Aggregated assessment data can also be used to identify system-level patterns, strengths, and gaps that can inform equitable resource allocation and investments in early childhood and elementary programs and initiatives.