Schools

Data is continually emerging on how students are faring academically as the COVID-19 pandemic continues. From the near-universal school closures in March 2020 through widespread disruptions and shifting instructional modes throughout the 2020–21 school year, students’ educational progress has been Read More

This week’s summary focuses on indoor air quality as a critical part of reducing within-school and within-classroom virus transmission risk. A recent piece in JAMA discusses COVID-19 transmission reduction in terms of source controls, such as masking and distancing, and Read More

This week’s summary highlights a few burning questions that have persisted throughout the pandemic – how COVID-19 has affected (1) employment, especially that of parents of school-age children, (2) students’ mental health and wellbeing, and (3) college life. How is Read More

In February, the U.S. Department of Education (ED) announced the first systematic effort to collect nationally representative data on the status of school reopening and instructional modes across the country. Last week, the first results were released with data from Read More

Spring Break & COVID-19 Indianapolis was the city with the highest hotel occupancy rate in the nation this past week, thanks to hosting the NCAA men’s basketball tournament. However, it is not the only place seeing an increase in travel, Read More

This week, the CDC issued revised guidance for schools on safe, in-person operation. The main change is a reduction in the physical distancing recommendations from at least 6 feet of space between students in classrooms to at least 3 feet, Read More

Last week, Congress passed, and President Biden signed into law, the American Rescue Plan Act. The legislation has pronounced implications for schools and students with substantial dollars targeted to K-12 education and higher education, funding to support the childcare industry, Read More

One major impediment to research on the relationship between K-12 schooling modes and COVID-19 health metrics—and to better understanding the effects of schooling modes on many outcomes of interest—is the lack of comprehensive, detailed data on school operations and policies. Read More

As school district administrators and policymakers turn to planning for the future, they are increasingly focused on potential interventions for remediating learning and developmental setbacks due to pandemic-caused schooling disruptions. Tutoring interventions have been discussed on the blog in past Read More

Vaccination Allocation & Equity This will be another big week for vaccine policy, law, and ethics. Johnson and Johnson’s Emergency Use Authorization application for its one-dose vaccine will be reviewed this week by the Food and Drug Administration (they also Read More