• When Vaccines Aren’t an Option: Life for Families With Children Under 12 (The New York Times)
• The Kindergarten Exodus (The New York Times)
• Why Some Families Still Prefer Remote School (The New York Times)
• Masks, Tracking, Desk Shields: How Much Do School Measures Reduce Families’ COVID-19 Risk? (Education Week)
• Rhode Island Kept Its Schools Open. This Is What Happened. (The New York Times)
• The C.D.C. Has New School Guidelines. Here’s What You Need to Know. (The New York Times)
• 3 Teachers On The Push To Return To The Classroom (National Public Radio)
• Keep Schools Open All Summer, And Other Bold Ideas To Help Kids Catch Up (National Public Radio)
• We Are Pediatricians. Here’s How to Reopen Schools Safely (Education Week)
• Where Is It Safe To Reopen Schools? New Research Offers Answers  (National Public Radio)
• Reopening Schools Before a Children’s Vaccine (The New York Times)
• CDC Shortens COVID-19 Quarantine Periods. Here's What That Means for Schools (Education Week)
• Photo Tour: Inside a Redesigned D.C. Elementary School, Partially Open For the First Time Since March (The 74)
• Michigan educators would receive COVID vaccine after health care workers and caregivers (Chalkbeat)
• Why School Districts Are Bringing Back Younger Children First (The New York Times)
• Outdoor Learning, in Blustery Weather (The New York Times)
• Many schools abandon plans for in-person learning as COVID-19 cases spike (PBS NewsHour)
• How Hybrid Learning Is (and Is Not) Working During COVID-19: 6 Case Studies (Education Week)
• Getting Schools Open: Misguided or Visionary? (Education Week)
• 'Schools Need to Be Bolder' About Reopening, Public Health Expert Says (Education Week)
• A Rising Number Of U.S. Children Have The Option Of In-Person School (National Public Radio)
• Are The Risks Of Reopening Schools Exaggerated? (National Public Radio)
• Surprising Results in Initial Virus Testing in N.Y.C. Schools (The New York Times)
• As More Schools Resume In-Person Learning, Some Lessons From Districts That Did It First (Education Week)
• 'The Big Experiment': Alaska School District Returns To Classrooms (National Public Radio)
• An Unusual Form of Hybrid: Private School Students Take “Remote” Classes at School (The 74)
• Key Strategies for Steering Schools Through COVID-19 (Education Week)
• How schools are coping with constantly changing landscape of COVID-19 (PBS NewsHour)
• Do Parents Trust Schools? Where the Fault Lines Are During COVID-19 (Education Week)
• The hopes, fears and reality as schools open worldwide (PBS NewsHour)
• 'I'm Only 1 Person': Teachers Feel Torn Between Their Students And Their Own Kids (National Public Radio)
• Kids went to open-air schools durinSwitch to plain text editorg this epidemic. In winter. In New England. (Washington Post)
• New Resource: State School Reopening Plans and English Learners (New America)
• Here’s How We Reopen Schools This Fall (Slate)
• Reopening schools safely is going to take much more federal leadership (Vox)
• Schools Contemplate Fall Semester As COVID-19 Cases Rise In Many States (NPR)
• School Districts' Reopening Plans: A Snapshot (Education Week)
• How America's Leaders Have Failed Educators on COVID-19 (Education Week)
• Schools for Health: Risk Reduction Strategies for Reopening Schools (Harvard University, School of Public Health)
• Special Report: How We Go Back to School (Education Week)
• Schools face unprecedented pressure as they grapple with reopening (PBS NewsHour)
• Pediatricians, Educators and Superintendents Urge a Safe Return to School This Fall (AAP, AFT, NEA, and AASA)
• Schools Should Be 'Community Connecters' When They Reopen (Education Week)
• How Schools in Other Countries Have Reopened (Education Week)

Policy and funding

What are some of the ways that federal, state, and local policy will impact schools in the coming year? Learn more from these news headlines and reports.

• What’s in Patty Murray’s $430 Billion Coronavirus Relief Plan for Education? (Alliance for Excellent Education)
• Reopening schools safely will take much more than federal leadership (Vox)
• Here’s how we reopen schools this fall (Slate)

Distance learning

Learn more about what’s working in distance learning — or not, as well as the way that the digital divide impacts students’ opportunities for learning and growth.

• A Day in the Life of a Hybrid Teacher (Education Week)
• Lessons on building community from a pandemic (eSchool News)
• How to Create Engaging Instructional Videos (Edutopia)
• Teacher Tips: How to Reduce Screen Time When School Is Online (Education Week)
• For Kids at Home, ‘a Small Intervention Makes a Big Difference’ (The New York Times)
• COVID-19: Evidence-Based Practices (DOEd Regional Education Laboratories)
• Remote learning doesn't have to be awful. Here's what actually works (Fast Company)
• Eight Tips for Successful Online Learning (Education Week)
• 80 Tips forSwitch to plain text editor Remote Learning From Seasoned Educators (New York Times)
• Making virtual learning work for you: Tips from Khan Academy founder Sal Khan (PBS NewsHour)
• How to Create Community in a Virtual Classroom (Edutopia)
• 6 Classroom Strategies that Work for Generating Student Discussions Online (KQED MindShift)
• Reading the Virtual Classroom Is Hard, but It Can Be Done (Edutopia)
• 8 Strategies to Improve Participation in Your Virtual Classroom (Edutopia)
• COVID-19 & Remote Learning: How to Make It Work (Education Week)
• How Teachers Want Emergency Distance Learning Improved (KQED)
• Pandemic High: How one of Chicago’s largest schools rebuilt itself for cyberspace (Chalkbeat)
• Educators look for ways to help students disengaged from distance learning (PBS NewsHour)
• Four Key Lessons from District Leaders Tackling the Homework Gap (New America)
• How distance learning illuminates disparities among students and teachers (PBS NewsHour)

Equity

School closures and learning from home have had a widely different impact on families. Many families lack access to the Internet or enough devices for all of their children, or the ability to afford alternative schooling options such as learning pods and private tutors. Additionally, many families are experiencing financial insecurity that affects access to housing, food, health care. 

• COVID-19 Education Equity Guide: Supportive School Climates That Foster Students’ Social, Emotional, and Academic Development (Education Trust)
• Low-Income Children Less Likely to Experience ‘Live’ Contact With Teachers, Analysis Finds (Education Week)
• Teachers on TV? Schools Try Creative Strategy to Narrow Digital Divide (The New York Times)
• ‘Equity hubs’ give families struggling financially a chance at pandemic pods (The Washington Post)
• A Quiet And 'Unsettling' Pandemic Toll: Students Who've Fallen Off The Grid (National Public Radio)
• These Wi-Fi Buses Bring School to Students (The New York Times)
• More Than 1 in 4 Homeless Students Dropped Off Schools’ Radar During the Pandemic (Education Week)
• Parents Are Watching Like Never Before. 'Trust Us' Isn't Enough (Education Week)
• In Internet Dead Zones, Rural Schools Struggle With Distanced Learning (National Public Radio)
• Shielding Students From the Economic Storm (Education Week)
• How COVID-19 Is Hurting Teacher Diversity (The New York Times)
• As N.Y.C. Reopens Schools, Homeless Families Face New Challenges (The New York Times)
• School Closures Cut a Critical Line to Dental Care for Poor Students (The New York Times)
• Growing Demand For Wilderness Education May Widen Learning Inequality (National Public Radio)

Impacts on communities and families

Learn more about the personal impacts of COVID-19 on individuals, families, and communities from these vignettes.

• A semester of trauma, sickness and death at a New York school (Hechinger Report)
• The ‘Katrina-to-Covid Class’: How the coronavirus era affects New Orleans students more acutely (Hechinger Report)
• For the Corona Family, Normal Life Faded Away as COVID-19 Wiped Out Jobs, School and Other Daily Routines They Relied On (The 74)
• As coronavirus ravaged Indian Country, the federal government failed its schools (The Hechinger Report)
• Pandemic didn’t halt these Detroit students’ education (The Detroit News)