This report is part of a commissioned paper series that highlights the profound and ongoing effects of COVID-19 on educational opportunities and underscores the necessity of bold, systemic reforms to ensure equitable and effective learning environments. The papers examine evidence-based strategies to mitigate opportunity gaps, strengthen student…

As the public health framework has been implemented in schools through multi-tiered systems of support, as in Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS), a prominent interpretation has been that 80% of students will benefit from universal or Tier 1 schoolwide behavior support, around 15% will require added selective or Tier 2 targeted…

This paper studies the application of alternative instruction models such as online and blended learning to compensate for the closures of Higher Education Institutions (HEIs), including colleges and universities in the Middle East following the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak. Online learning was introduced as an immediate alternative to complete…

Purpose: This paper applies concepts from organizational theory as well as physics to elucidate the role of time in the US education system's efforts to recuperate from the pandemic. This paper contributes to an important body of work focusing on implementation of reform efforts in education that use time in innovative ways.…

In 2020, the Administration for Children and Families' Office on Trafficking in Persons (OTIP) established the Human Trafficking Youth Prevention Education (HTYPE) Demonstration Program. The purpose of the HTYPE Demonstration Program is to fund local educational agencies to partner with a nonprofit or nongovernmental organization to create,…

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the approximately 3.2 million teachers serving 50.8 million students in U.S. schools were positioned, along with school counselors, as de facto first responders for student well-being. Teachers across the country, already struggling to transition their teaching to online platforms, had to simultaneously implement…

The Assessment-to-Instruction (A2i) Professional Support System has been shown to be effective in improving literacy proficiency among young readers by combining data-driven technology with professional development (PD) activities to help teachers provide personalized literacy instruction. To identify efficient ways to expand the reach of A2i,…

This management information report provides the Office of Inspector General's (OIG) perspective on challenges the U.S. Department of Education (Department) may face as it implements and oversees the Coronavirus, Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act. In preparing this report, audit work performed by OIG and the Government Accountability…

This essay briefly explores the challenges faced by international educators and administrators during the initial shift to online learning in March 2020. It discusses how the VUCA leadership model was adapted to the school environment to help manage the rapid and unpredictable change associated with the global pandemic. The essay explores ways in…

In 2020, the Administration for Children and Families' Office on Trafficking in Persons (OTIP) established the Human Trafficking Youth Prevention Education (HTYPE) Demonstration Program. The purpose of the HTYPE Demonstration Program is to fund local educational agencies to partner with a nonprofit or nongovernmental organization to create,…

This report contains descriptions of implementation and impact data related to CARES's effect on students, families and staff in 2020-2021. Responses to CARES-related survey items showed the majority of respondents were impacted positively. Further, the CARES team increased employee recognition efforts, the number of RAVEs given increased to…

COVID-19 changed not only the way we live but also the way we teach and prepare pre-service teachers. The purpose of this paper is to describe the shift from a conventional STEM fair to an online teaching environment prepared by elementary pre-service teachers after the closure of the educational system in Cyprus as of March 2020. We describe a…

A librarian-led Faculty Learning Community (FLC) focused on Open Educational Resources (OER) can be a practical, low risk way to sustain campus-based OER programs during and after initial start-up. Creating a space for sharing teaching successes and challenges is an important goal in the iterative journey toward open. The experiences and trust…

This is the second of three annual reports evaluating the implementation and effects of two Delaware weighted funding programs for disadvantaged K-12 schools during the 2019-2020 to 2021-2022 school years: Opportunity Funding and the Student Success Block Grant (SSBG). The authors also examined best practices and coronavirus pandemic adaptations…

COVID-19 profoundly affected teacher preparation during the 2019-20 school year. Based on survey responses from nearly all Washington state teacher education programs (TEPs), Kathryn Choate, Dan Goldhaber, and Roddy Theobald find that the pandemic had predictable but concerning effects on teacher preparation. Most notably, student-teaching…