Webinars

Panel members discuss the policies and practices that can ensure high-quality early childhood education and care for all children. They also discuss five main policy levers, focusing particularly on curriculum and pedagogy, and workforce development. The webinar took place in conjunction with the release of a new OECD report on meaningful interactions in early childhood education and care.

Between historic bipartisan investments to stabilize and expand access to child care in 2020 and new proposals from Congress and the Biden Administration, the nation is poised to significantly increase access to quality early childhood education. To do this, we need a vision for a new and better system. In this webinar, experts discussed long-term federal policy solutions to build a comprehensive, equitable, and integrated early learning system.

How can school districts advance equity and opportunity in partnership with students, teachers, and families? In the final webinar of a five-part series, panelists discussed strategies for how to evaluate existing district work on diversity, equity, and inclusion through intentional conversations and strategies. Strategies discussed include allocating resources equitably, providing students access to deeper learning, and supporting social and emotional learning.

How can districts assess students’ experiences and needs and provide targeted supports for accelerating learning? In the fourth of a five-part series, panelists discussed strategies to assess students’ social and emotional well-being, as well as to illuminate student growth and learning through authentic diagnostic and formative assessments. Panelists also explored best practices to avoid separating students into tracks and to foster heterogeneous groups.

How can districts design new schedules to expand learning time for students and accelerate learning? In the third of a five-part series, panelists discussed reimagining the traditional school day through such strategies as partnerships with community-based organizations and community school approaches. They also discussed how high-quality expanded learning initiatives support students’ development of critical skills, as well as their social and emotional well-being.

How can districts develop high-quality tutoring and provide individualized supports to accelerate learning? In the second of a five-part webinar series, panelists discussed effective tutoring practices and programs and how to leverage new federal recovery funding from the American Rescue Plan Act to create broad access.

As districts work to reopen schools in the pandemic and post-pandemic era, how can they support schools in creating high-quality summer learning experiences focused on acceleration rather than remediation? The Accelerating Learning Series kicked off with the panel, “Strategies for Whole Child Summer Learning and Beyond.”

With widespread need for virtual learning over the previous year, the importance of centering learning on social and emotional development and student and educator well-being emerged as an essential strategy to develop engaging, relevant learning and to address student trauma. In this briefing, students, members of Congress, and experts in child development discussed the importance of social emotional learning concepts and how they can be advanced through federal policy.

The National Safe School Reopening Summit convened district leaders, educators, and students to share best practices and provide technical assistance to those navigating the return to in-person learning across the country.

A prepared and stable teacher workforce is foundational to California’s ability to achieve equitable student outcomes, close achievement gaps, and mitigate learning loss. But ongoing and deepening teacher shortages remain a major challenge, and emerging signals suggest that shortages may worsen due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This webinar explored the ongoing impacts of teacher shortages and the promise of teacher recruitment and retention strategies.