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The Covid-19 pandemic puts a stark light on an emerging truth—education as we know it is over, and we must think of “school” in deeply different ways. Here is my top ten list of policies that could allow us to seize this moment to strengthen learning for our students—today and into the future.
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A community schools initiative, launched by the Los Angeles County Office of Education in September 2019, provides personnel, infrastructure, and funding support for 15 high schools throughout the county. The structures and relationships developed as a result of the initiative enabled schools’ rapid response to support students and families during the COVID-19 crisis.
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Those of us who work in education must acknowledge that our school systems have been complicit in perpetuating systemic racism, including through the criminalization and marginalization of Black children. Our goal in this moment must be to dismantle these discriminatory policies and replace them with approaches that honor the dignity of the lives of Black children as they do of all children.
Traditional college admissions measures do not always provide a full picture of what aspiring students know and are able to do, leading some higher education institutions to transition to more holistic approaches. On June 23, Reimagining College Access hosted a webinar to highlight examples from two New England colleges, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Wheaton College, which have broadened their approaches to admissions decisions by incorporating performance assessments into their applications.
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Adults—including teachers, principals, and family members—play important roles in supporting children’s social and emotional development. But to create the relationships and learning environments that promote students’ SEL, adults themselves need to feel empowered, supported, and valued. This is especially true in the post COVID-19 world, given the disruption to lives and routines caused by the pandemic.
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The COVID-19 pandemic has forced childcare and preschool providers around the country to temporarily close their doors and financial burdens may force thousands of centers to shut down permanently. This could lead to the loss of as many as 450,000 child care slots, jeopardize efforts to reopen the economy, and undermine the development of our youngest learners.
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School systems have implemented a variety of practices to support students and families during the COVID-19 pandemic and resulting disruption to traditional schooling. These include developmentally appropriate strategies for understanding and regulating emotions and practicing self-care, guiding families on how to create supportive home environments, and fostering an overarching commitment to creating connectedness across physical distance.
This webinar featured CCSSO's Carissa Moffat Miller and LPI's Linda Darling-Hammond who, with state education leaders, discussed both how lessons from the science of learning and development can inform restart and recovery plans to support student well-being and learning and how state chiefs are already taking a whole child approach to pandemic response.
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While teacher shortages continue to be a critical issue in the United States, a lesser known but equally important shortage is also hampering the country’s efforts to provide quality educational opportunities for students—principal shortages. Nationally, nearly one in five principals leave their schools each year and the average tenure of a principal is about four years. These numbers are higher in the under-resourced schools that tend to serve the highest populations of students of color and students from low-income families.
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Community schools create opportunities for engaged and rigorous learning rooted in the assets and needs of students, families, and the larger community. As COVID-19 forced schools to close and shift to distance learning, teachers at two Los Angeles community schools adapted and created community-based learning projects that address issues currently affecting students’ lives.
