The COVID-19 pandemic is the biggest and most complex challenge our education system has experienced. It has been extraordinary to see schools, educators and families face this challenge head-on and continue to educate our students.
But despite heroic work by educators and staff, the year-long pandemic has led to fewer learning opportunities, more kids going hungry, greater stress and a growing sense of social isolation. The disruption in school has taken the heaviest toll on students of color, students from families with low-incomes, English learners, students in rural communities, and students with disabilities — impacting their social, emotional and mental health, and academic well-being.
We must continue to reopen America’s schools for in-person learning as quickly and safely as possible. As Secretary of Education, this is my top priority. On Tuesday, President Joe Biden announced steps to accelerate school reopening nationwide by treating in-person learning as the essential service that it is and prioritizing educators for vaccinations in every state in the country.
National summit on safe reopening
This is an important step, but there’s much more work we must also do to safely reopen schools in every community in the country. As the Education Commissioner in Connecticut, my team and I offered clear, science-based guidance and communicated with all stakeholders involved: teachers and staff, administrators, district leaders, parents and students. We knew there was no one-size-fits-all solution — that different districts know their schools best and would adjust to local COVID-19 data. My approach with our nation’s schools will be the same.
Thanks to the work of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, our nation’s schools and educators have a clear operational strategy from public health experts on how to safely reopen for in-person instruction.
Under my leadership, the Department of Education (ED) will take a problem-solving, solutions-oriented approach to working with schools, educators, and families to get students back in the classroom full-time. Here’s our plan.
First, we’ll convene the experts. The Department of Education will host a national summit on safe school reopening this month that will bring students, teachers, families, community organizations, and school leadership together not only to get the critical feedback we need to make reopening as seamless as possible for students and staff, but also to work together to solve problems. We’ll also talk about and hear from leaders about addressing the academic, social and emotional needs of students. Because it’s not just enough to get our students physically back to school. We have to support them.
Second, we’ll share best practices about the incredible work already happening in our schools. In Connecticut, I started an effort called “Learn Together, Grow Together CT” where we elevated schools using innovative solutions to solve common problems – and shared those practices with other schools. As Secretary of Education, I will ensure that ED, as directed by the president, creates a best practices clearinghouse that removes the silos in education, collects innovative, solutions-oriented approaches and shares them with schools everywhere.
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Third, we’re getting to work right away on the second volumeof the ED’s COVID-19 Handbook. It will provide schools and educators with practical, research-based strategies to help effectively meet the social, emotional, mental health and academic needs of students; address the loss of instructional time; bridge the digital divide; extend learning time; stabilize the education workforce, and much more.
Fourth, we need to collect better data about how schools are operating during the pandemic. To that end, ED recently…
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