1. Who can use this guidance?

With the passage of the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARP Act), districts and schools have significant federal resources available to implement evidence-based and practitioner-informed strategies to meet the needs of students related to COVID-19. Strategies for Using American Rescue Plan Funding to Address the Impact of Lost Instructional Time [PDF, 1.7MB] is intended to support policymakers, leaders, and educators as they design, select, implement, evaluate, and refine their strategies for supporting students. We know that across the country the hard work of supporting students through this pandemic has been long underway. This guidance is intended to lift up these best practices and support systems of continuous improvement across all districts and schools.

For example, strategies and resources included in the guidance can be used by:

• State chiefs, school board members, and superintendents to make decisions about where to target investments and supports, including where to increase or shift investments and supports, such as technical assistance for principals, teachers, school-based personnel, and staff.
• Principals and school leaders to select, design, or refine schoolwide strategies that meet the needs of students, support teachers, school-based personnel, and staff in implementing these strategies, strengthen school-family relationships, and leverage community-based partners.
• Teachers, school-based personnel, and staff to design instructional approaches and supports in ways that meet the social, emotional, mental health, and academic needs of students and strengthen school-family relationships.
• Parents and caregivers to identify what information and supports they should expect their child's school to provide and how they can continue to support their child's success.

2. What is included in this guidance?

This guidance covers a number of important topics; however, each topic is designed to be easily accessible and actionable and is addressed in 1-2 pages, highlighting the most effective, evidence-based strategies and resources. The topics in the guidance include:

Reengaging students, including:

• Building trust with families to support in-person learning
• Supporting students during key transitions
• Using community partnerships to support reengagement
• Addressing student social, emotional, mental health, and academic needs

Supporting parents and caregivers in their child's success, including:

• Engaging and communicating with families, including through expanding home visits
• Sharing data and resources with families to support student learning

Using high-quality assessments to support student learning, including:

• Using diagnostic, formative, and summative assessments
• Supporting educator assessment literacy and development

3. What are some of the key resources included in this guidance?

Across the country, states, districts, and schools are implementing evidence-based, innovative, and promising approaches to address the impact of COVID-19 on students. The guidance includes resources, such as toolkits and state and local examples, to support policymakers, leaders, and educators in their efforts. The following are a selection of some of the resources included in the guidance by topic:

Building trust with families and supporting safe in-person learning

• The National PTA's Four 'I's for Family Engagement offers guidance for schools to develop an inclusive approach through meaningful consultation and building relationships.
• Connecticut's Welcoming Schools Initiative provides school districts with a set of principles of family engagement and accompanying training.
• The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) provides this resource on increasing school connectedness and engaging parents [PDF, 32.1MB].

Supporting student social, emotional, and mental health needs

• The CASEL School Guide is a resource for implementing social and emotional schoolwide initiatives.
• The Turnaround for Children Toolbox provides evidence-based strategies for creating school systems, structures, and practices that support students' holistic development and learning.
• The National Child Traumatic Stress Network's Trauma-Informed School Strategies During COVID fact sheet provides information on the physical and emotional well-being of staff and creating a culturally responsive trauma-informed learning environment.

Supporting students during key transitions and their reengagement

• The University of Chicago Consortium on School Research provides strategies for keeping students on track, including specific strategies for English learners and students with disabilities.
• The Afterschool Alliance's Toolkit is a resource for developing partnerships with districts and schools to provide afterschool programs that support student reengagement and learning.
• City Year AmeriCorps full-time student success coaches provide an example of an approach to using volunteers to partner with educators to support students.

Approaches for accelerated learning

• Edutopia provides 6 scaffolding strategies teachers can use to provide students with the support they need to engage with grade-level content.
• The National Center for Learning Disabilities' provides these Promising Practices to Accelerate Learning for Students with Disabilities During COVID-19 and Beyond.
• Public Impact's Opportunity Culture provides strategies for extending the reach of highly effective teachers and using school district data to develop staffing models focused on student achievement.

Using high-quality assessments to support student learning

• Chicago Public School's Curriculum Equity Initiative is one example of how a district is using a performance assessment in culturally and linguistically responsive ways.
• Oregon's Building Educator Assessment Literacy project is an example of how to build educator capacity for using assessments.
• The National Education Association has created the Assessment Literacy stack, which includes six micro-credentials for educators, to develop their knowledge and skills to utilize meaningful assessment practices.

This page includes links to information created by other public and private organizations. These links are provided for the user's convenience. ED does not control or guarantee the accuracy, relevance, timeliness, or completeness of this non-ED information. The inclusion of these links is not intended to reflect their importance, nor is it intended to endorse views expressed, or products or services offered, on these non-ED sites.