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Credit: Allison Shelley for American Education
This is a STOCK PHOTO. No location or date available.
April 15, 2021
The best way schools can help students catch up academically after a year of distance learning is to ensure they feel relaxed, safe and connected to their friends and teachers as they return to the classroom.
A year after the pandemic forced school districts to close campuses, students across California are beginning to return to the classroom at least a few days a week. But their experiences during the pandemic and their needs upon returning to school academically, as well as emotionally have varied greatly.
March 16, 2021
As students begin returning to the classroom as the pandemic eases, schools are bracing for an onslaught of serious mental health conditions that, for some students, may take years to overcome.
In the year that campuses were closed due to Covid-19, students experienced waves of loneliness, fear, upheaval and grief. Some lost loved ones, others saw their parents lose their jobs and their families sink into poverty. Nearly all experienced a degree of depression from being apart from their friends and missing important milestones like proms, graduations and being on campus as college freshmen. Even students who thrived with distance learning endured periods of frustration and sadness.
SACRAMENTO State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond on Thursday outlined actions, priorities and investments needed to address the ongoing impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on students.
Thurmond laid out critical next steps for ways the California Department of Education, state leaders, and school districts can work together to support student success.
The priorities, discussed during a virtual media briefing Thursday, build on the work of the CDE since the onset of the COVID-19 public health crisis and outline additional goals designed to jump-start schools’ recovery and close equity gaps.
“Our educators, parents, and communities have never worked harder to support students during this crisis, and we all are deeply concerned by the ways the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated impacts on our highest-need students. Our actions and investments moving forward must be bold, meaningful, and targeted to accelerate learning and advance educational equity,” said Thurm
SACRAMENTO The California Department of Education is launching additional virtual educator trainings and mini-grants designed to address equity gaps, strengthen distance learning, and support students’ social-emotional wellness during the pandemic, State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond said Tuesday.
The latest professional development webinars and the new grant opportunities are the latest efforts to build on the CDE’s training, guidance, and direct assistance provided to schools and educators throughout the months-long pandemic.
“Like all educators, I am concerned about the pandemic’s continued impact on our students, especially those students already pushed to the margins by historic and systemic inequities that have existed for generations and created persistent barriers to educational opportunity,” said Thurmond. “We know that until we eradicate the COVID-19 virus, some forms of remote learning will remain necessary in the weeks and months ahead