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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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The guilty verdicts for George Floyd’s killer are a moment of hope on a backdrop of persistent race-based violence. And while we celebrate this moment as a major event in bending the arc of history toward justice, there is enormous work to be done to achieve racial justice and reconciliation for all, and each of us has a role to play in that work.
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As we work to reopen schools safely and effectively, it’s important not to return to “normal” but to reinvent school in ways that center relationships and are grounded in the science of learning and development. We must move past remediation and, instead, turn to the research on how people learn.
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The American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 includes just over $170.3 billion for schools, making this the federal government’s largest-ever single education investment. Among approved uses for funds are initiatives to accelerate learning, such as through summer school, expanded learning time, or tutoring programs; upgrades to facilities and other improvements to ensure a safe school reopening; investments in wraparound supports, such as through community schools; and initiatives to stabilize and diversify the educator workforce.
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The removal of all prohibitions on the use of federal school transportation funds to support school integration signals a hopeful shift in federal support of voluntary local school desegregation efforts—and the availability of much-needed resources to support them. This is particularly significant as the country is experiencing rates of school resegregation that rival those that preceded Brown v. Board of Education.
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Well before the pandemic, districts across the country grappled with ongoing teacher shortages, driven by both teacher turnover and significant declines in those choosing to enter the profession. COVID-19 has only worsened these pre-pandemic conditions, undermining access to well-prepared and experienced teachers, especially for students from historically underserved groups. A number of federal opportunities are key levers to strengthening the pipeline into the profession.
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Can large-scale tutoring support students and teachers in addressing lost instructional time? The short answer is yes, but only if we pay close attention to the details of implementation to avoid the mistakes of the past. New policy proposals can draw upon the most up-to-date education research to design tutoring programs that are effective in meeting student needs.
