COVID-19 Resources for Field Leaders

 

COVID-19 is dramatically impacting nearly all aspects of our lives, including how we build and sustain relationships, how we continue learning and working, and the context of our everyday lives. This is also true for the young people on whose behalf we work. This is a time that will reveal and exacerbate inequities ranging from the digital divide to finding a quiet place to learn in smaller or crowded homes — not to mention students experiencing homelessness with nowhere to safely “shelter in place.”

Knowledge from the science of learning and development arms us with powerful and actionable insights on how to help educators, families, policymakers, researchers, mentors, coaches and others who are working to support young people during this extraordinary period of crisis. For example, in times of great adversity, we know from the science of learning and development that by focusing on building and nurturing strong relationships with young people within a supportive environment (or context), caring adults can actually help alleviate the impact of stress that can interfere with learning and positive development. Without the support of strong relationships, we know that many young people will struggle to focus on their studies and social and emotional health during the weeks and months that they are likely to be out of school during the pandemic. Now more than ever we need to collaborate to highlight and fight these inequities. It’s knowledge and insights like this, from the science of learning and development, that can be the spark that helps create opportunity to learn for every young person no matter the challenge.

That’s why SoLD Alliance experts in research, practice, and policy are committed to identifying, curating, and elevating resources that are informed by the findings of the science of learning and development and designed to advance equity for:

Reopening Learning Settings

• The Whole Child: Building Systems of Integrated Student Support During and After COVID-19: Leaders from the Boston College School of Education and Human Development created this action guide, which includes a self assessment tool, to inform practitioners interested in establishing a more comprehensive, integrated, and systematic approach to supporting whole child needs.

• Responding, Recovering, Reinventing–Three Jobs that Matter for School Communities Navigating a COVID World :In this report, leaders from Transcend synthesize insights from schools, systems, educators, families, and organizations across our nation.

• Building Equitable Learning Environments in this Period of Crisis: Leaders from the Building Equitable Learning Environments (BELE) Network created a framework for educators, system leaders, and communities to help guide and ensure schools reliably produce equitable student experiences and outcomes.

• Coming Back to Climate–How Principals Can Use School Climate Data To Lead Improvement: In this toolkit, the Aspen Education & Society program offers guidance for principals to improve school climate.

• Six Priority Actions from the Science of Learning and Development to Meet the COVID Moment and Build Back Better: In this brief, SoLD Alliance partners outline six priority actions that can guide education leaders through the COVID crisis to help them build more equitable, effective education systems for the long term.

• Advancing Equity in Distance Learning: In this dashboard, leaders from the Southern Education Foundation provides insight into how schools are implementing equitable distance learning on key indicators like expanded internet access, social & emotional learning & mental health support, and addressing learning loss.

• SEL Roadmap for Reopening School : Developed by CASEL for school leaders and leadership teams, this roadmap tool outlines key competencies and skills to leverage social and emotional learning to promote equity and healing as leaders consider reopening schools.

• Recovery and Renewal: Principles for Advancing Public Education Post-Crisis: In this paper, Aspen’s Education & Society Program proposes five principles to guide recovery and renewal for public education post-COVID-19.

• A New “New Deal” For Education: Top 10 Policy Moves For States In The COVID 2.0 Era: SoLD Alliance Governing Partner, Linda Darling-Hammond, outlines key policy actions that leaders should consider to address inequities and strengthen learning opportunities in the COVID-19 era and beyond.

• The Return: How Should Education Leaders Prepare for Reentry and Beyond?: In this report, leaders from Chiefs for Change and the Johns Hopkins Institute for Education Policy offers recommendations in key areas that they believe will have the greatest impact on student achievement and well-being upon reentry and beyond.

• Reopening Schools in the Context of COVID-19: Health and Safety Guidelines From Other Countries: This brief, provided by leaders from the Learning Policy Institute, includes insights into social distancing strategies used in other countries that have successfully reopened their schools in the context of COVID-19.

• Leveraging the Power of Social and Emotional Learning As You Prepare to Reopen and Renew Your School Community: In this brief, CASEL shares actionable recommendations to help school leadership teams plan for the SEL needs of all students and adults during the upcoming transition into summer and the beginning of the new school year.

• COVID-19 response- Restart and Recovery: Leaders from the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) created a framework that outlines a 12-month response and recovery work plan that addresses immediate and long term needs of state education agencies (SEAs).

• Back-to-School Blueprint: The Rennie Center for Education Research & Policy provides two modules that provide a series of priority practices for educators, including how to help students heal from trauma, to keep in mind as they plan for the future along with a list of action steps to implement the practice.

Parents, students, families, and caregivers

• Virtual Learning and COVID-19: In this resource article, leaders from City Year curated key resources that families can use as they seek to support success within virtual learning environments.

• High-Quality Remote Instruction: In this curated resource collection, leaders from Transcend Education share specific practices for creating challenging, engaging, equitable, and learner-centered remote environments.

• Learning In The Time Of COVID-19: In this Forbes article, Linda Darling-Hammond, SoLD Governing Partner, provides helpful online resources for students, parents, educators, and families to support learning in the time of COVID-19.

• 7 Tips for Parents and Caregivers: Reassuring Children During the Coronavirus Outbreak: Healthy, strong human relationships are a powerful tool, particularly when managing stress. In this article, Turnaround for Children provides tips for adults to reassure children in this unsettling time.

• SEL Resources During COVID-19: Social emotional learning (SEL) resources provided by CASEL and designed to support educators, parents, and anyone who works with children.

• Resources for Learning at Home When Schools Close (UPDATED): Leaders from The New Teacher Project (TNTP) provide a toolkit of home learning resources and strategies amidst school closures.

• Building Positive Conditions for Learning at Home: Strategies and Resources for Families and Caregivers: In this article, leaders from the American Institutes for Research (AIR) outline key strategies to consider when building positive conditions for learning at home.

• Back to Basics: The Recipe for Reducing Stress and Boosting Health: In this blog series, scientist, Dr. Sheila Ohlsson Walker describes what we can do to emerge from the COVID-19 crisis with new lifestyle habits.

Educators at any level of the system

• Remote Learning with the Head and the Heart: In this 1-hr webinar, BARR educators and staff share best practices from Minnesota BARR schools around relationship-building during COVID-19.

• A Trauma-Informed Approach to Teaching Through Coronavirus: In this article, experts from the National Child Traumatic Stress Network and Teaching Tolerance share their recommendations for educators supporting students during the COVID-19 crisis.

• Two New Resources to Support Students with Disabilities During the COVID-19 Crisis: Leaders at National Center for Learning Disabilities (NCLD) provide two new resources that outlines immediate actions and practices to serve students with disabilities in COVID-19 environments.

• Sifting Through the Digital Learning Options The Most Powerful Personalized Learning Edtech Tools Curated by LEAP : Edtech tools evaluated by national panels of experts—including researchers, experts in learning science and psychology, practicing math and ELA teachers, and LEAP staff members.

• 7 Ways to Maintain Relationships During Your School Closure: In this article, leaders at Edutopia identified seven strategies that teachers are currently experimenting with to maintain student-teacher relationships that drive engagement and learning during COVID-19.

• Practitioner’s Guide to Next Gen Learning: Leaders at EL Education curated a hub of resources for next gen teaching and learning in virtual settings, including full lesson plans and toolkits for educators.

• ISTE Convenes Sectorwide Response to Support Educators in Responding to COVID-19: Curated collection of free tools, strategies, tips and best practices for teaching online, including a live educator help desk.

Advocates, policymakers, organization and system leaders

• COVID-19: Impact on Education Equity, Resources and Responses: The Education Trust curated a list of resources for parents and families, teachers, advocates, and policymakers to consider and use in responding to the Coronavirus, including resources to address child hunger, food access, and other

• Framing C19: We’re in this together: Frameworks Institute provides three tips for communicating about COVID-19 in an inclusive and effective way.

Additional Resources for All Audiences

• Exploring Intersectionality: Understanding Student Identity to Promote Equitable Social Emotional & Academic Development During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Leaders from National Center for Learning Disabilities (NCLD) curated a set of action guides to help families and district school leaders better explore how to affirm students’ identities to promote equitable social, emotional, cognitive, and academic development during the COVID-19 crisis.

• What Happens When Out-of-School Time is All the Time?: In this article, SoLD Governing Partner, Karen Pittman, identifies four lessons about learning and educational equity that COVID-19 is making more visible.

• Supporting Our Learning Communities in a Time of Crisis: Next Generation Learning Challenges (NGLC) provides an annotated list of links to high-quality tools and materials from partner organizations and other trusted sources, organized by theme.

• AIR’s COVID-19 Response and Resources: Evidence-based information that examines and begins to understand the various complexities of the COVID-19 crisis.

• Coronavirus: Keeping Our Children And Ourselves Safe, With Pamela Cantor, M.D.: In this special edition podcast series, SoLD Governing Partner, Pamela Cantor, M.D, talks about how to address the fear, stress, and disruption caused by the pandemic, including strategies to ensure a child’s sense of safety.

• Resources to Support Teaching & Learning Virtually Due to COVID-19: EL Education provides a list of resources, tools, and guidance to support teachers & students in remaining engaged in meaningful learning outside of the classroom.

• 4-H at Home: Leaders at 4-H provides an educational resource toolkit which includes hand-on STEM activity guides and downloadable curriculum for students of all ages.

• COVID-19 Frequently Asked Questions, In Plain Language: American Institute for Research (AIR) has created a plain-language FAQ that addresses a variety of topics related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

If you have or know of any helpful resources that would be important to share with the larger SoLD community, please email them to Samantha Kobbah (Samantha.Kobbah@educationcounsel.com).