The United States accomplished an impressive feat in 2020-21: enacting federal policy reforms that halved child poverty and uplifted low-income families amidst a global pandemic. Many of the reforms, though temporary, were unprecedented in U.S. history, representing a sea change in U.S. policy toward young children. This paper first discusses the…

Public education requires all stakeholders to collaborate as a community and focus on the essential factors that create a path for student progress, growth, and maturity. The result nurtures students from kindergarten to graduation and beyond and affords them opportunities to become efficacious members of their communities. Schools are a business…

Section 2004 of the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARP Act) includes new maintenance of equity (MOEquity) provisions that are a condition for a State educational agency (SEA) and local educational agency (LEA) to receive funds under the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ARP ESSER) Fund. These provisions are central to ensuring…

COVID-19 immediately and radically necessitated changes in the way we worked as social researchers; not only in terms of fieldwork, but also in terms of collaboration. In this paper, we outline the rationale, processes, and potential of a collective of 14 research teams both inside and outside of academia working together across the UK to…

In total, the American Rescue Plan (ARP) provided $122 billion in federal pandemic relief for schools and their efforts to address students' learning recovery. A lifeline for schools, this funding has allowed for critical investments, including the expansion of afterschool and summer learning opportunities. Given the opportunity ARP Elementary and…

This quantitative, correlational-predictive study was performed using publicly available archival data to determine if and to what extent post-COVID-19 relief funding (ESSER III) received by the Arizona public school districts in the 2021-2022 school year had a statistically significant impact on the English Language Arts (ELA) assessment during…

Since 2016, the biennial "Early Childhood Workforce Index" has tracked the status of Early childhood educators (ECE) workforce policies in order to identify promising practices for improving early educator jobs and changes over time. This fourth edition includes new analyses as well as updated policy recommendations. Highlights include:…

In this paper we examine academic recovery in 12 mid- to large-sized school districts across 10 states during the 2021-22 school year. Our findings highlight the challenges that recovery efforts faced during the 2021-22 school year. Although, on average, math and reading test score gains during the school year reached the pace of pre-pandemic…

Emergency situations that cause damage to educational buildings or require the closure of schools due to unsafe health, environmental, or political conditions can be an unwelcomed interruption to education. Indeed, the recent COVID-19 pandemic created the largest disruption of education in history, affecting 94% of the world's student population.…

Deep poverty is the result of economic and social policies that inhibit the life chances and opportunities of children experiencing material hardship. These barriers to success are compounded when children are discriminated against because of their race, ethnicity, English learner status, religion, dis/ability status, and immigration status.…

The COVID-19 global pandemic resulted in the cancellation of face-to-face classes in Mexico, as it did across the world. This paper focuses on the experiences of 75 rural teachers in Mexico, who represent a minority in a country where approximately 80% of the population lives in urban areas. An online survey was administered to participants, who…

The World Health Organization estimates that 1 billion people in the world live with a disability, of whom UNICEF estimates 240 million are children. The majority of the world's children with disabilities live in low- and middle-income countries, where humanitarian crises are most likely to occur. Humanitarian crises increase the prevalence of…

Although more children than ever are enrolled in school, far too many are not learning. A key factor that affects quality of education is the availability of public funding. Underinvestment in education can result in several conditions that negatively impact how and what children learn. This advocacy brief presents data and analysis on education…

Over the last decade, education has been advanced as a new and legitimate core of the humanitarian crisis response. "Education in Emergencies" (EiE) developed into an institutionalised field of humanitarian practice, advocacy, and scholarly work. Identifying how emergency discourses have been critiqued to operate as "social…

AmeriCorps engages more than 80,000 men and women in intensive service each year at more than 21,000 locations including nonprofits, schools, public agencies, and community and faith-based groups across the country. AmeriCorps members help communities tackle pressing problems while mobilizing millions of volunteers for the organizations they…