Charleston County School District classrooms refilled more quickly this year at schools where long-term principals maintained closes ties to the community.
The program provides flexibility to consolidate federal, state, and local funding to create a single school funding system based on weighted per-pupil allocations for low-income and other disadvantaged students.
Learning pods created by cities during COVID provided a valuable continuum of support that should continue after the pandemic, say the authors of a new research report.
The full return to classrooms should also bring together educators, administrators, families and communities to bring about a renaissance in instruction and student support, she said.
As states and local districts seek stimulus funding, address learning losses while being mindful of three related areas of concern: social and emotional well-being, growing inequities among vulnerable groups, and teachers' mental health.
The trend toward closing schools for one day each week – or at least replacing academic programming during a fifth day with enrichment, field trips, or professional development for teachers – was spreading quickly before the arrival of COVID-19.
