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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.
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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.
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Federal COVID relief packages have allocated over $176 billion for pandemic-related education needs—the federal government’s largest single investment in schools. In a series of fact sheets, policy experts discuss how states and districts can develop, implement, and refine plans for these funds. Strategies emphasizing expanded and enriched learning time can create powerful learning opportunities that efficiently accelerate learning and improve student engagement and achievement.
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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.
Linda Darling-HammondPamela CantorLaura E. HernándezAbby SchachnerSara Plasencia Christina TheokasElizabeth Tijerina
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Education aims to give every student opportunities to learn and thrive, but the outdated design of our schools contributes to widening inequalities. Science provides a clear path forward: students’ knowledge, skills, and well-being can be significantly influenced and improved by learning environments that use whole child design. Key design principles show how schools can utilize the science of learning and development to reshape systems, structures, and practices to improve student outcomes.
Marisa SaundersLorea MartínezLisa FlookLaura E. Hernández
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Teachers created Social Justice Humanitas Academy (SJ Humanitas) envisioning a school that would “not only be a place of learning, but also a resource for the community.” Thus, they designed a community school that would bring together local resources, incorporate collaborative structures, and support students. The practices implemented at SJ Humanitas support whole child education to advance outcomes and support student well-being in alignment with the science of learning and development.
Megan BangLeah BrickerLinda Darling-HammondAdam K. Edgerton Pam GrossmanKris D. GutiérrezAnn IshimaruSarah KlevanCarol D. LeeDavid MiyashiroNa'ilah Suad NasirPedro A. NogueraCharles PayneBill PenuelSara Plasencia Shirin Vossoughi
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Many education stakeholders have called for intensive remediation for students to address this year of disrupted schooling and potential learning loss. However, remediation alone will not meet students’ needs and could potentially deepen inequalities. Pandemic and post-pandemic learning environments should be centered on strong teacher-student relationships that address students’ social and emotional learning, creating intellectually rigorous and equitable educational settings
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While many education stakeholders have called for intensive remediation for students to address this year of disrupted schooling and potential learning loss, a new report argues that intensive remediation alone will not meet students’ needs and—if conducted in a way that is segregating, stigmatizing, and separated from children’s real-life concerns—could even deepen inequalities and exacerbate trauma.
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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.
