ESSER funding presents an amazing opportunity for American school districts.
In March 2021, the federal government unlocked more than $120 billion in Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) funding to combat learning loss in the wake of the pandemic. This funding, along with the two relief packages passed in 2020, represents a massive investment in combating the widening equity gaps made all too plain by the impact of COVID-19. How do you plan to use this new ESSER funding in your district?
Future Design School is working with district leaders to implement innovative ideas that harness new technology, center learning on authenticity and relationships, reflect the future of work, and most importantly, address barriers that disproportionately impact marginalized communities. Here are six key strategies that future ready districts are putting in place through this funding and how to ensure that your district doesn’t miss out on this opportunity.
1. Apply an inclusive & equitable lens
ESSER Allowable Uses
- Implementing evidence-based activities to meet the comprehensive needs of students
- Providing educational technology for all students that aids in regular and substantive educational interaction between students and their classroom instructors
- Tracking student attendance and improving student engagement in distance education
Our Related Offerings
- Audit of Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion practices
- Professional Development to challenge unconscious bias
- Strategic consulting around opportunities for enhancing equity and wellness
The impact of the pandemic — in general, as well as in terms of learning loss and the associated stigma of a “lost generation” of learners — is bound to socioeconomic status. McKinsey Insights reports that, on average, students could lose as much as nine months of learning by the end of this school year. However, they note, “Students of color could be six to 12 months behind, compared with four to eight months for white students.”
With that in mind, schools need to immediately audit the state of their Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion practices, and implement strategies to support vulnerable and marginalized students and their families.
Solutions in this realm are as wide-ranging as the people they’re designed to support, but many schools are focusing on two main areas: improving student access to technology; and investing in support staff including tutors, educational assistants, and wellness counsellors.
There are myriad other opportunities in this realm, though, which is why it’s vital to begin by taking stock of existing needs and resources, and investigating how unconscious biases may be standing in the way of taking action.
2. Iterate on what’s working
ESSER Allowable Uses
- Providing educational technology for all students that aids in regular and substantive educational interaction between students and their classroom instructors
- Providing information and assistance to parents and families on how they can effectively support students, including in a distance learning environment
Our Related Offerings
- Assessment of current practices to identify opportunities for growth
- Design sessions to engage stakeholders in solution development
- Change management consulting
- Leadership coaching and support
Many strategic initiatives in education focus on what students are learning, why they need to learn it, and who will teach it to them. The pandemic, however, forced schools and districts to face a different set of considerations — namely where, when, and how learning takes place. But this wasn’t just about virtual learning; it was also a moment for tearing down preconceived notions about timetables and schedules, learning cycles, and assessment practices, and adopting a nimble, even experimental approach to implementing new ideas.
As it turned out, many of these ideas turned out to be really good — and not just as a pandemic response. With that in mind, future ready schools and districts are not focused on getting “back to normal”; instead, they’re moving forward to a new normal. This means the next generation of moves like switching to quadmesters, adding asynchronous learning blocks, and increasing the use of a flipped classroom model can be identified through diagnostic tools, implemented with speed, tested, and iterated upon on an ongoing basis.
3. Focus on fostering authentic relationships
ESSER Allowable Uses
- Implementing evidence-based activities to meet the comprehensive needs of students
- Administering and using high-quality assessments that are valid and reliable to accurately assess students’ academic progress and assist educators in meeting students’ academic needs, including through differentiating instruction
Our Related Offerings
- Coaching on relationship centered learning
- Professional development for teachers in competency based assessment models and Journey Based Assessment
This is the moment to truly embrace the message, amplified by the pandemic, that learning must be centered on relationships. Teachers know this, and long for it, but are too often mired in the murk of bureaucratic requirements, or locked in to preparing students for standardized assessments.
There’s another way: empower teachers with the time and tools they need to foster relationships with their students. Competency based assessment models, for example, are designed to support relationship building through deeply integrated and ongoing assessment of a student’s trajectory as they engage in projects that connect with their passions and ignite their interest. This is the emphatic opposite of teaching to the test — in short, it’s learning underpinned by connection, collaboration, caring, and joy.
4. Empower your educators to be experts in virtual and hyflex learning
ESSER Allowable Uses
- Providing educational technology for all students that aids in regular and substantive educational interaction between students and their classroom instructors
- Planning and implementing activities related to summer learning and supplemental after-school programs, including providing classroom instruction or online learning during the summer months
- Tracking student attendance and improving student engagement in distance education
Our Related Offerings
- Strategic support in building virtual learning strategies that differentiate learning for all students
- Parent engagement resources
- Online student programming that models best practice teaching methods in a virtual environment
- Sustained training and coaching for teachers and support staff
When in-person learning screeched to a halt last spring, teachers and school leaders responded by shifting rapidly to virtual classrooms and online learning. In many cases, the change was drastic and required a steep learning curve — not to mention significant investment.
But the good news is that all that effort will not go to waste as we emerge on the other side of the COVID tunnel. Demand for virtual and hyflex learning options is expected to continue, and even grow, and expectations for in-person classes have also changed. From a Universal Design for Learning perspective, there are clear benefits to providing all students with access to a fulsome virtual classroom portal, including accommodation support for learning style differences, absence impact mitigation, and parent engagement.
This doesn’t — and shouldn’t — mean that teachers must plan to teach a room full of students and run a videoconference at the same time. It does, however, mean harnessing the power of new tech tools and resources, rethinking assessment practices, and expanding engagement strategy and learning cycle toolkits with virtual learning in mind. Inevitably, this prospect will be inspiring to some and daunting for others, but with the right support in place, a growth mindset can take root that transforms a learning community for the better.
5. Deepen community connections to expand experiential learning
ESSER Allowable Uses
- Administering and using high-quality assessments that are valid and reliable to accurately assess students’ academic progress and assist educators in meeting students’ academic needs, including through differentiating instruction
- Implementing evidence-based activities to meet the comprehensive needs of students
Our Related Offerings
- Survey of community connected experiential learning opportunities available and support to enact them in your classrooms
- Program design training to build curriculum connections and frameworks for embedding experiential learning
- Direct to student programming that brings experts into the classrooms
Schools are not islands unto themselves. If there was ever a moment to establish or strengthen a learning community’s connections beyond its walls, this is it. Future ready schools are providing a broad range of community connected experiential learning opportunities that spark students’ imaginations and engage them in understanding the changing needs of the working world — all while deeply embedding curriculum expectations.
As a concept, this isn’t new; cooperative education, job fairs, and career days have been around for years. But these traditional approaches are often presented as distinctly separate from course content, which misses a tantalizing opportunity. Imagine the pedagogical power of students working with a local planner to design a new green space, or engaging with City Hall to write “kid-friendly” versions of the content on a public health website. With the right frameworks and supports in place, anything is possible.
6. Formulate robust continuity plans
ESSER Allowable Uses
- Planning for and coordinating during long-term closures, including how to provide technology for online learning to all students
- Providing information and assistance to parents and families on how they can effectively support students, including in a distance learning environment.
Our Related Offerings
- Diagnostics to identify challenges and opportunities
- Strategic planning retreats for scenario planning
- Support to develop parent resources, communications and ongoing education about the needs of students
- Strategic plan stakeholder consultation and development
The COVID-19 pandemic caught many industries and sectors woefully underprepared — including education. Thought leaders are therefore determined to not let this happen again, and to their credit, are providing resources instead of hard-and-fast demands. Districts and schools are now being asked to build continuity plans based on the lessons they learned over the past year, so that they can be prepared to meet whatever challenges may come their way.
This is a complex and iterative process, though, and requires resources that surface unseen challenges and opportunities, meaningfully engage teachers, parents, students, and staff, and empower school leaders to build plans that truly meet their needs.
There’s a good reason why we keep using the word “opportunity” when talking about the latest funding, and how districts like yours are planning to use it. This most recent investment in education is nothing short of a massive opportunity to leverage resources that will drive real change and have a huge, lasting impact. Despite its many hardships, the COVID-19 pandemic has also been a moment of incubation — a window into the future of education. The six strategies we’ve outlined are vital in preparing for that future; don’t miss your chance to put them in place in your district.
Future Design School is working with schools and districts across North America and around the world to help build back better in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Connect with us today and leverage the deep insights and approaches we bring to strategic conversations, strategy development and action planning. Our unique vantage point, cultivated over decades of working in schools solving complex problems, pushes leaders to pursue exciting new opportunities.
Email our Managing Director, Sandra Nagy, sandra@futuredesignschool.com or get in touch with our team at: team@futuredesignschool.com or 1-800-975-5631.