The U.S. Department of Education on Dec. 2 introduced two communities of practice to assist states in addressing the pandemic’s effects on students.
“While the good news is that nearly 100 percent of America’s schools have now returned to in-person instruction, we must provide the necessary supports to nurture all students’ social-emotional well-being, mental health and positive academic outcomes by addressing the impact of lost instructional time,” said Secretary of Education Dr. Miguel A. Cardona.
The Evidence-Based Interventions: Using American Rescue Plan Resources to Accelerate Learning Community of Practice “will work with states and communities in accelerating learning using American Rescue Plan (ARP) funding in sustainable ways,” as described by the U.S. DOE. Educators and school staff will be provided “with the skills they need to design and deploy interventions that work for all students to recover lost instructional time, with a focus on students most impacted by the pandemic,” the department added.
The Toward an Equitable Education and Recovery: Transforming Kindergarten Community of Practice “will engage a cohort of state and district teams to share best practices, policies and initiatives that will allow the kindergarten year to become a more effective path to early school success and learning recovery,” according to the U.S. DOE.
Read more about these communities of practice here.