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With school opening just weeks away in many parts of the country, leaders need a detailed level of support — and a plan — to start the school year in the midst of a global pandemic. Our complementary new resource includes all of the components of a reopening plan, offers questions school leaders should address, and links to concrete resources and examples of completed plans as guides.
More than 400,000 youth are currently in foster care in the United States, many of whom experience significant obstacles in their lives, ranging from frequent transitions between homecare placements and schools to unmet physical and mental health needs. Youth in foster care experience a number of common obstacles in accessing school choice: lack of transportation to remain in their school of origin, narrow definitions of sibling preference that leave out children in foster care, and insufficient information available to adults in their lives.
Many charter schools and networks have demonstrated game-changing results for low-income students and students of color. And many are eager to extend their impact to benefit more students. Typically, schools and networks have extended their impact by expanding enrollment to serve more students or replicating their model and opening new schools.
However, expansion and replication are not the only ways to reach more students.
Schools and education organizations need good information about their programs to understand what works, for whom, and why. Obtaining and acting on that information, through program evaluation, is what transforms good organizations into great ones.
But when organizations support underserved students, it is especially important to design and implement evaluations with diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in mind.
Postsecondary education dramatically increases the likelihood of employment and economic success. But many young people, especially those furthest from opportunity and from underserved communities, are not accessing postsecondary pathways or realizing the benefits that come with a degree. To disrupt this inequity, we must better support students to identify, pursue, and complete college.
The recent killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and countless other Black people, often by law enforcement, have added momentum and renewed urgency to longstanding efforts to rethink and perhaps eliminate the relationship between police and schools. This two-page resource is designed to aggregate and amplify the existing work of advocates, researchers, community organizers, and students in order to offer practical questions and next steps for school and district leaders considering a reevaluation of schools’ relationship with law enforcement.
Business leaders play a critical role in ensuring that our education systems enable young people to gain the skills, knowledge, and experiences they need to be successful in the current and future economy. Business voices can be powerful tools to help shape policy, champion programs, and advocate for greater coordination and alignment among the early childhood, K-12, higher education, and workforce systems. Yet despite the long history of interaction between the education and business sectors, relatively little research has examined how business organizations successfully advocate on behalf of education policy priorities.
As leaders consider reopening schools in the fall, there are numerous versions of what schooling could look like in different communities. But leaders can begin planning right away even amid uncertainty. This new resource zeroes in on the three most strategically and operationally distinct scenarios: all in-person learning, all distance learning, or a hybrid. Given the virus’ unpredictability and the high possibility of “rolling closures,” leaders will be in a strong position if they have plans that cover these core scenarios and are ready to move between them.
This resource library includes specific and tactical recommendations on how to support students who are engaged with systems of care — such as the foster care system, health and human services, and immigration — during COVID-19.
The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act included $30.75 billion with several distinct funding streams. Bellwether has produced briefs to help state and district policymakers make informed decisions about how to use these funds, and to help advocates and leaders of schools, districts, charter management organizations, and other education nonprofits understand the potential implications of these funding streams for their work serving students, families, and communities.
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