The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated students’ differential access to resources and conditions like high-quality instruction, electronic devices and internet access, food security, and support services that foster learning and well-being. in response, The National Academy of Education will establish an interdisciplinary committee to synthesize research on interventions that address such opportunity-to-learn gaps, focusing on policies and practices that seek to build opportunity across school, family, and community contexts for students of color, students from low-income families, students with disabilities, and English learners. Interventions will encompass, for example, school-based tutoring programs to improve English language arts achievement for Black and Latinx students, community-based learning pods to support low-income families, and home-based interventions to improve access to the internet and electronic devices. Findings from this study will be relevant to policymakers and practitioners as they address the medium- and long-term effects of the pandemic on educational inequalities.
What are the most promising strategies to address opportunity-to-learn gaps exacerbated by the pandemic for students of color, students from low-income families, students with disabilities, and English learners in K-12 public schools?
