News & Announcements
Links to COVID Resources
Navigating COVID -19 Education Resources
The COVID-19 pandemic has upended traditional forms of education in the U.S. and forced the education community to rethink how we approach schooling. Now more than ever, we need data and evidence to help our efforts to support teachers, parents and students during this crisis.
Over the last several months, I have collected COVID-19 related education resources from organizations offering quality commentary, surveys, studies, policy briefs, blogs, and podcasts that draw on rich data to inform our work going forward.
This list is nowhere complete, as researchers are actively collecting data. However, I hope this is provides a good showcase of how our profession is responding to new challenges. This list will be updated regularly. Please share.
Matthew Kraft is Associate Professor of Education and Economics at Brown University and former high school humanities teacher. You can follow Kraft on Twitter @MatthewAKraft.
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Websites, Trackers, and Databases
[Website] COVID-19 Resources for Families, Teachers, and School Districts
Johns Hopkins School of Education
Johns Hopkins School of Education is on the front lines shaping how our profession responds to the challenges. This site is a trove of timely and relevant research, expertise, guidance, and resources to help families, teachers, and district leaders emerge from the crisis stronger than ever.
[Website] The Brown Center Chalkboard
Brookings Institute
Where Brown Center scholars and occasional guests bring evidence to bear on the pressing policy questions facing all levels and facets of American education.
[Project] The Evidence Project — Closing the gap between research and policy in school systems’ response to COVID-19
Center on Reinventing Public Education (CRPE) at University of Washington
The Evidence Project will bring together researchers from around the country under the banner of narrowing the gap between research and policy.
Opportunity Insights Economic Tracker
Harvard University and Brown University
Track the economic impacts of COVID-19 on people, businesses, and communities across the United States in real time.
[Tracker] State Policies to Address COVID-19 School Closure
Education Policy Innovation Collaborative (EPIC) Michigan University College of Education
The COVID-19 crisis led to a near-nationwide closure of K-12 public schools. Many states are not planning to re-open schools for face-to-face instruction for the remainder of the 2019-20 school year. Governor Gretchen Whitmer has announced that Michigan will end face-to-face instruction, require schools to submit plans for distance learning, and suspend many requirements for assessment and instruction. The truncated school year is likely to reduce student learning, leaving students less prepared to advance grades, and severely strain school planning, financing, and assessment capabilities.
[Database] Summer/Fall District Responses to COVID-19 School Closures
Center on Reinventing Public Education (CRPE) at University of Washington
This database represents 100 districts, aiming for a range in size and geography, and serving nearly 10 million students. It includes the thirty largest districts in the country, members of the Council of the Great City Schools, smaller districts that participate in CRPE’s rural studies, and at least one district from otherwise unrepresented states.
Survey & Polls
[Survey] Teachers’ Experiences Working from Home During the COVID-19 Pandemic
UPBEAT
The transition to remote teaching has been a major challenge and is likely to widen existing achievement gaps. Supportive working conditions matter more than ever. The Teaching From Home Survey for Upbeat to support districts in better understanding and responding to teachers’ experience working remotely.
[Survey] COVID-19 and the State of K–12 Schools —Results and Technical Documentation from the Spring 2020 American Educator Panels COVID-19 Surveys
RAND Corporation
This technical report provides information about the sample, survey instrument, and resultant data for the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) surveys that were administered to principals and teachers via RAND's American Educator Panels (AEP) in spring 2020. The AEP COVID-19 surveys focused on how teachers and school leaders navigated the challenging circumstances brought about by COVID-19, including managing school closures and implementing distance learning.
[Survey] Survey Tracker: Monitoring How K-12 Educators Are Responding to Coronavirus
Ed Week Research Center
The EdWeek Research Center is conducting surveys every two weeks of school district leaders and teachers to see how they are responding to the challenges they are facing under COVID-19. The nationally representative surveys are keeping tabs on the impact of the virus on schools by tracking educator morale, student engagement, remote learning, and other trends over time.
[Survey] PPIC Statewide Survey: Californians and Education
Public Policy Institute of California
The PPIC Statewide Survey delivers nonpartisan, objective, advocacy-free information on the perceptions, opinions, and public policy preferences of California residents. PPIC invites input, comments, and suggestions from policy and public opinion experts and from its own advisory committee, but survey methods, questions, and content are determined solely by the PPIC survey team. The PPIC Statewide Survey relies on a rigorous survey methodology and is a charter member of the American Association for Public Opinion Research Transparency Initiative. The survey is conducted regularly throughout the year in the key areas of government, the environment, K–12 education, and higher education.
[Survey] Gulf Coast Coronavirus Community Impact Survey
Houston Education Research Consortium (HERC) at Rice Kinder Institute for Urban Research
HERC is working alongside the Harris County Long-Term Recovery Committee, Harvey Home Connect and Greater Houston Community Foundation on the Gulf Coast Coronavirus (COVID-19) Community Impact Survey. The survey aims to connect families and households with Houston-area non-profit groups and resources by identifying neighborhoods and communities experiencing high job loss or wage reductions; stress due to food insecurity, housing instability, or social isolation; and challenges in nurturing and educating children. In addition to connecting families to non-profits, the data will be used to help local and state decision-makers meet the needs of children, families, and communities in Houston now and as the area recovers.
[Survey] Understanding Coronavirus in America
The USC Center for Economic and Social Research
Understanding Coronavirus in America tracking survey is updated daily with the responses of members of our population-representative Understanding America Study. Each panel member is invited to respond on a pre-assigned day of the week every other week. Each data point represents a full sample of responses from the previous seven days*. The graphs are updated just after 3am PDT every day of the week. Use the tabs to view results from the California sample, or from our Los Angeles County sample, to learn more about our survey methods, or to access the data files used to create the graphics on this site. Use the context menu at the upper right of each graph to download the graphic file.
[Poll] Back to school? 1 in 5 teachers are unlikely to return to reopened classrooms this fall, poll says
USA Today
In an exclusive USA TODAY/Ipsos poll, 1 in 5 teachers say they are unlikely to go back to school if their classrooms reopen in the fall, a potential massive wave of resignations. Though most teachers report working more than usual, nearly two-thirds say they haven't been able to properly do their jobs in an educational system upended by the coronavirus.
[Poll] Health Concerns From COVID-19 Much Higher Among Hispanics and Blacks Than Whites —Public divided over who should get ventilators if they are scarce
Pew Research Center
As the number of confirmed cases of the new coronavirus continues to climb in the United States, the current epicenter of the global pandemic, majorities of Americans are concerned that they may contract the disease and that they may unknowingly spread it to others.
Reports & Briefs
[Report] Voices from the (Virtual) Classroom —Survey of America’s Educators on Teaching During and After the COVID-19 Outbreak
Educators for Excellence
Voices from the (Virtual) Classroom is a nationally representative survey of public school teachers exploring education during this crisis -- what is working, what isn’t, what is needed now -- and what teachers think the priorities should be when we return to the classroom.
[Report Brief] Teaching Through a Global Pandemic: COVID-19 Insights from the Tennessee Educator Survey
TN Education Research Alliance & Vanderbilt Peabody College of Education
More than three-quarters of teachers in the recent Tennessee Educator Survey selected technological supports for remote learning as the most helpful supports needed to promote educational access during COVID-19 school closures.
[Report] A blueprint for back to school
American Enterprise Institute
Families and communities need schools to be ready to reopen as soon as public health officials signal that it is safe. After all, the nation has recently been reminded just how vital schools really are. Schools connect students with peers and mentors, channel youthful energy into productive pursuits, teach essential academic skills and knowledge, and give overwhelmed parents room to breathe and work. Reopening schools in a manner that is safe and responsive to the needs of families and communities will involve novel challenges. Leaders must begin planning immediately.
[Working Paper] Projecting the potential impacts of COVID-19 school closures on academic achievement
Annenberg Brown University
With 55 million students in the United States out of school due to the COVID-19 pandemic, education systems are scrambling to meet the needs of schools and families, including planning how best to approach instruction in the fall given students may be farther behind than in a typical year. Yet, education leaders have little data on how much learning has been impacted by school closures. While the COVID-19 learning interruptions are unprecedented in modern times, existing research on the impacts of missing school (due to absenteeism, regular summer breaks, and school closures) on learning can nonetheless inform projections of potential learning loss due to the pandemic. In this study, we produce a series of projections of COVID-19-related learning loss and its potential effect on test scores in the 2020-21 school year.
[Report] What Can Be Done to Address Learning Losses Due to School Closures?
The Answer Lab at USC Rossier and Policy Analysis for California Education (PACE)
With nationwide school closures due to COVID-19, over 50 million of the country’s 57 million K–12 students are out of school until next fall.1 If (and that remains a big if) the 2020–21 academic year begins on schedule, most students will have experienced a full 5- to 6-month hiatus from school. Of course, COVID-19 also represents a simultaneous healthcare and economic crisis without precedent. The pandemic has caused rising unemployment, psychological distress, and great uncertainty for U.S. families. These hardships are unequally distributed, affecting low-income families and families of color most significantly. The realities of the digital divide2 have been highlighted by many schools’ attempts to provide distance learning.
Articles
[Article] Weighing the Research: What Works, What Doesn't
Education Week
[Article] COVID-19: Listening to Those in the Trenches
Education Week
[Article] Who's Learning Under Quarantine, Who's Not
Future Ed
[Article] It Was a Bumpy Ride, But Virtual Schooling During the Coronavirus Boosted Teachers' Tech Skills
Education Week
[Article] The trauma that underlies student behavior and educators’ responses
Penn Today
Podcasts, Blogs & Video Blogs
[Blog] Passing the Mic: San Antonio Superintendent Pedro Martinez
TNTP Blog (Video Blog)
A national nonprofit founded by teachers, TNTP helps school systems end educational inequality and achieve their goals for students.
[Blog series] Teaching and Learning During a Pandemic
Albert Shanker Institute
A new blog series from the Albert Shanker Institute is an effort is to create a respectful, caring and intellectually stimulating space for our readers to reflect on how the Coronavirus pandemic is shaping the face of education. This process will be facilitated by essays from colleagues who we believe are particularly well positioned to provide perspective and make sense of some of the noise and uncertainty in the current environment.
