A new report from the Aurora Institute examines the top 10 K-12 education policy issues that have surfaced in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The report, Education Policy Issues for the COVID-19 Era: Policy Actions and Responses to Leverage the Moment for Future Readiness, offers insight into effecting high-level systematic change for the future of teaching and learning.
“Calls for a redesigned education system are growing in number and volume,” says Susan Patrick, Aurora Institute President and CEO and report co-author. “In this unprecedented time, we will do well to acknowledge that our long and firmly held beliefs about school, teaching, and learning will never be the same again. Our educators and students have a daunting year ahead as the pandemic persists. We are fortunate to have the liberty to seize the moment, share strategic guidance on education policy issues to rewrite the narrative, and fundamentally reshape this public good.”
Related content: 3 steps to help students’ learning after the pandemic
K-12 system leaders report that they are both contending with and leveraging the following 10 issues to transform schooling:
1. Using Blended, Competency-Based Learning as an Entry Point for Innovation
2. Moving Away from Seat Time Credits to Awarding Credit Based on Demonstrated Mastery
3. Re-Examining Grading Policies
4. Rethinking Assessment and Addressing the Need for Balanced Systems of Assessments to Measure Student Learning
5. Examining the Purpose of Accountability
6. Creating Flexibility and Multiple Pathways for Graduation Requirements
7. Ensuring All Communities Have the Necessary Technology Infrastructure and Internet Access
8. Supporting Students with Disabilities
9. Ensuring Students Have Continued Access to Meals during School Closures
10. Prioritizing Future Readiness for Pandemic Preparedness and Continuity of Learning
Education Policy Issues for the COVID-19 Era examines each of these issues and offers actionable recommendations to move from the current one-size-fits-all system to a future-focused system that exists to equitably support all learners toward success. It also offers a 10-step program with options to build capacity for a more personalized, competency-based education system.
K-12 needs a re-alignment of systems and structures toward every learner’s growth, as opposed to a system that ranks and sorts students and moves them along an impersonal, invariable learning continuum. A re-imagined education system requires meeting students where they are, with culturally responsive, inclusive, and personalized learning approaches to ensure every student is on a path toward their goals.
Such a system will also take into account community and workforce needs by making a series of changes led locally by the leadership of empowered educators, working closely with communities, and in partnership with students and families with competency-based pathways.
There is optimism among schools, districts, communities, and states, including those we surveyed for this report, that together we can overcome these challenges to make our education system better than it was before.
Material from a press release was used in this report.
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