COVID-19 Policy

Department of Education Seeking Best Practices for Reopening Schools

• By Rhea Kelly
• 04/21/21

The U.S. Department of Education has issued a request for information on how schools, colleges and universities, and early education providers are reopening, operating safely and supporting students during the COVID-19 pandemic. The information gathered will inform ED's Safer Schools and Campuses Best Practices Clearinghouse, a website under development that will highlight lessons learned from the field and provide resources for meeting student, teacher, faculty and staff needs.

The request for information is focused on three topics:

• Safe and healthy environments. Here, ED is looking for institutional approaches to implementing the CDC's recommended COVID mitigation strategies and preparing for and sustaining in-person operations safely. This includes, for example, social distancing during and between classes, mask wearing, use of pods with educational equity and staffing considerations, and protocols for extra-curricular activities.
• Providing support to students. Examples here include helping students deal with grief, re-engaging those who have been chronically absent or have had significant adverse experiences in remote learning, and identifying and mitigating equity issues such as broadband access.
• Teacher, faculty and staff well-being, professional development and support. This includes stabilizing a qualified and diverse educator workforce, providing access to training in effective virtual or hybrid instruction, mental health support, assistance with childcare, and accommodating staff with health risks.

Submissions should provide a description of the lesson learned or best practice plus a summary of its impact and any evidence of positive outcomes, and include "substantive materials" such as "fact sheets, step-by-step guidance, policies or regulations, sample agreements among partners (e.g., between a local education agency and a local health agency, or an employee union), ready-to-implement resources, videos or other media focused on how to implement practices, and descriptions of how strategies have been implemented."

Submissions can be made by e-mail to [email protected] until September 2021. The full request for information can be viewed in the Federal Register.