Among the dire educational consequences of the pandemic, the impact on student absenteeism stands out. The long months of remote learning, hybrid schedules and repeated quarantines frayed bonds among students and between students and educators and fractured routines of attending school. Left unaddressed, these high levels of absenteeism threaten to undermine the unprecedented investment of federal Covid-relief funds in public schools.
To help education policymakers and practitioners respond, FutureEd and Attendance Works today are releasing a comprehensive, newly updated Attendance Playbook that distills more than 200 research papers and resources to provide more than two dozen evidence-based strategies for improving student attendance post-pandemic. These include stronger bonds with teachers, the rapidly expanding use of telehealth services, even green school buses. Not on the list: punitive crackdowns on truancy, which have shown little effect on reducing unexcused absences.
FutureEd continues to track the progress in spending federal Covid-relief funds, with the today's update showing that states and districts have used more than $95 billion or just over half the $189 billion in ESSER funding.
At the state level, our latest legislative tracker highlights 55 bills in 23 states that would increase or restructure teacher pay. We’re also paying attention to legislation that would expand private-school choice and broaden parents’ control over their children’s education.
There have been a host of recent leadership transitions in the education sector. We track them on our website in The Churn. And as a service to the education sector, we provide a listing of upcoming in-person and virtual education policy events. Send your events and leadership news to [email protected], and we’ll be happy to post it.
Thanks and best wishes,
Tom
Thomas Toch
Director, FutureEd
McCourt School of Public Policy
Georgetown University
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