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Resources and Examples: Learning in the Time of COVID-19

Learning in the Time of COVID-19 Blog Series

This LPI blog series explores strategies and investments to address the current crisis and build long-term systems capacity. Read the blogs >

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues, the education field is producing a growing body of useful resources to support student learning and well-being during school closures. This page is updated regularly and curates some of these resources based on the recommendations of our research teams and our partners.

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Policy and Funding Strategies

  • Districts and states can use CARES Act funds to supplement services and supports funded through the Student Support and Academic Enrichment Grant program. These can include activities to address the social, emotional, and academic needs of students; to increase student access to guidance counselors and social workers (and provide them with the training they need to deliver these services online); and to mount surveys to gauge the mental health and well-being of students and staff during and after the immediate crisis.
  • The National Conference of State Legislature's podcast, "Our American States" features this education-focused episode, "COVID-19: Education, Child Care and Nutrition," which examines public policy to address these critical concerns.
  • How School Funding Cuts Driven by the Coronavirus Could Affect Your State. This Education Week story featuring LPI Senior Researcher and Policy Analyst Michael Griffith features a state-by-state analysis of potential impacts through an interactive tool.
  • CCSSO's Supporting States Amid Coronavirus Outbreak resource page is designed for state education leaders who are working to support schools and districts in their response to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak in the United States.
  • National Conference of State Legislatures created a COVID-19 webpage and webinar series designed to help state policymakers make informed decisions while reacting to the rapidly evolving situation.

Distance Learning

Technology and Access

  • The United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization has created a comprehensive list of educational applications and platforms to help parents, teachers, schools and school systems facilitate student learning and provide social caring and interaction during periods of school closure.
  • Free online conferencing and video platforms for teachers include:
  • EveryoneOn is a national non-profit that collaborates with diverse internet service providers and device providers to connect low-income households to the internet. Connect2Compete (C2C) is EveryoneOn’s flagship program for K-12 students, providing affordable internet to eligible students and families. C2C is offered in partnership with leading cable companies, including Cox Communications and Mediacom.

Curriculum and Teaching Strategies

  • This collection of resources, curated by Teaching Tolerance, was built from the recommendations of 2,000 educators — more than 98 percent of whom were facing school closures and in need of high-quality resources, including resources around equity. Teaching Through Coronavirus: What Educators Need Right Now
  • The American Federation of Teachers has created a library of resources for teachers and parents broken down by grade level, subject area, and student needs. Free but registration required.
  • PBS Learning Media has a vast collection of online resources for teachers and parents for students from p–k through college, including "Ken Burns in the Classroom" (featuring free documentaries available through June 20) to "Xavier Riddle and the Secret Museum."
  • Wide Open Schools is a collection developed to help "make learning from home an experience that inspires kids, supports teachers, relieves families, and restores community." Developed by more than 25 organizations (including Apple, Google, National Geographic, PBS, and Sesame Workshop), the collection offers resources for students from p-k–12 for parents and educators.

Social-Emotional Learning

  • In a Learning Is Social, Emotional and Academic blog, Lorea Martinez offers parents homeschooling tips to ensure social emotional learning is a part of student learning.
  • Sanford Harmony, a Pre-K-6 research-based social emotional learning program, promotes positive peer relations among students through lessons and activities that encourage communication, collaboration, and mutual respect. These free resources can be used by parents at home to help children express feelings and solve problems together.
  • The National Association of School Psychiatrists has developed a set of materials for schools and districts to support for their students and community around COVID-19 and pandemics.​

Student Health and Well-Being

  • The Afterschool Alliance has FAQs and resources about how the afterschool field can support communities during the pandemic, including by supporting essential workers with childcare and providing free meals and food support.
  • North Dakota and Ohio have released behavioral health guidance to help parents and educators understand how to talk with children about COVID-19.
  • The Oregon Department of Education has created mental health guidance for school counselors and other administrators, as well as guidance on how to support educator and student mental and emotional wellbeing.
  • The Pasadena High School Community Schools Initiative created a resource guide of hyperlocal supports for students and families, including physical health and food access resources, and socio-emotional wellbeing
  • Phoenix Union High School District in Arizona launched the Every Student, Every Day initiative so that staff members can contact each of the district’s 30,000 students each day to check in. The initiative includes a framework and protocols to protects privacy.

Supporting Students With Special Needs

  • In response to widespread school closure, a group of special education advocacy and innovation organizations has formed the Educating All Learners Alliance to support the education of students with disabilities during COVID-19. On its EducatingAllLearners.org hub, users can access resources, a community forum, webinars, and more. (Member organizations Council of Chief State School Officers, the National Association of State Directors of Special Education, WestEd, the Council for Exceptional Children, and the National Center for Learning Disabilities).
  • Top 12 Websites For Children With Learning Disabilities is a collection curated by Special Education Degrees.
  • The U.S. Department of Education's "Questions and Answers" document outlines states’ responsibilities to infants, toddlers, and children with disabilities and their families, and to the staff serving these students. Also check out their webinar on ensuring web accessibility for students with disabilities for schools utilizing online learning during the COVID-19.
  • The Center on Online Learning and Students with Disabilities has a wealth of resources focused on making online learning more accessible, engaging, and effective for students with disabilities.
  • The Maine Department of Education has a page for Special Services COVID-19 Resources to help administrators, teachers, and families and caregivers to teach and support students with special needs.
  • Common Sense Media has curated a list of the Best Special Education Applications and Websites based on recommendations by educators who work with students with special needs. Applications support the development of academic and social-emotional skills, as well as sites to assist teachers in providing differentiated learning opportunities.
  • The Council for Exceptional Children has developed COVID-19 Information for Special Educators, including a forum for members on how to adapt IEP services during school closures and a link to a resource page developed by the Council of Administrators of Special Education (CASE).
  • The State Educational Technology Directors Association offers strategies and resources on its site for ensuring that online learning supports students with Individualized Education Plans.

English and Multilingual Learners

Educator Preparation

Early Learning

 

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In 1967, President Lyndon Johnson established the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders (also known as the Kerner Commission) to examine racial division and disparities in the United States. In 1968, the Kerner Commission released a report concluding that the nation was “moving toward two societies, one black, one white—separate and unequal.” Without major social changes, the Commission warned, the U.S. faced a “system of apartheid” in its major cities. In 2018, 50 years after the report was issued, that prediction characterizes most of our large urban areas, where intensifying segregation and concentrated poverty have collided with disparities in school funding to reinforce educational inequality.