state education agencies with strategies to adapt educator evaluation and support system policies and practices for virtual learning. Featured examples, ideas, and resources come from virtual high schools in the United States and from postsecondary education. The authors explore standards and rubrics for virtual learning, logistics for conducting virtual observations, challenges with observing and providing feedback virtually, and resources for professional learning focused on virtual learning environments.
This REL Southeast guide provides information for first grade teachers on how to support families as they practice foundational reading skills at home. It serves as a companion to the What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) practice guide Foundational Skills to Support Reading for Understanding in Kindergarten Through 3rd Grade. Both guides present four research-based recommendations and how-to steps: the WWC guide focuses on teaching children at school, while this guide focuses on helping teachers support families in practicing foundational reading skills at home.
The information in this guide is designed to assist teachers in supporting out-of-school literacy activities that are aligned to classroom instruction, informed by student need, grounded in evidence-based practices, and facilitated by ongoing parent-teacher communication. The guide provides a framework for literacy support activities presented during schools' family literacy nights and parent-teacher conferences.
This National Comprehensive Center brief proposes a process and series of guiding questions designed to help state and local education agency leadership teams better leverage existing evidence to make strategic budgeting decisions. As states and districts navigate the wide-ranging repercussions of the COVID-19 pandemic, they will be forced to make difficult trade-off decisions that are the inevitable consequence of an increase in demand for services in the face of declining revenues. By integrating evidence such as student performance, workforce needs, and the price of services, state and local education agency teams will be able to identify both reduction and investment opportunities to address critical short-term issues while planning for long-term recovery.
Learning Forward released this resource to support state, district, and school leaders with the implementation of high-quality curriculum and instructional materials through professional learning that is intensive, data-driven, job-embedded, and classroom-focused.
COVID-19 and Third-Grade Reading Policies: An Analysis of State Guidance on Third-Grade Reading Policies in Response to COVID-19
This policy brief from the Education Policy Innovation Collaborative at Michigan State University explores the guidance that states issued during the COVID-19 pandemic related to third-grade reading policies and provides takeaways for how the current educational environment may impact their future. Findings include: very few states issued guidance that specifically referenced their third-grade reading policy, few states addressed retention policies in COVID-19 guidance, and literacy interventions were not widely addressed in states’ COVID-19 guidance.