The exact cause of teacher shortages is unknown. Some experts argue that shortages are localized, while others say that the lack of teachers is due to low unemployment and other factors. Regardless, school systems face big challenges with their teacher workforce, including finding enough teacher candidates and retaining the teachers they have, as…

Public schooling has always been politically fraught, but current disagreements over issues related to race, sexuality, gender, and COVID-19 have reached a tipping point. According to this report from the Center on Reinventing Public Education and RAND, half of school system leaders say that these disagreements are disrupting schooling. Almost one…

Nokomis Regional High School, which draws nearly 600 students from eight different towns in rural Maine, has spent 10 years transforming its instructional model to immerse students in meaningful learning experiences that relate to their interests and passions. Project-based learning, interdisciplinary courses, and career exploration units are…

Maloney High School, in Meriden, CT, has made significant strides in increasing underrepresented students' access to challenging courses, with content ranging from college preparation to career-oriented learning. Creative student-and-family-centered strategies, which incorporate quantitative data and individual counseling, have increased awareness…

Between 2015 and 2019, Holyoke Public Schools in Massachusetts cut its dropout rate nearly in half and increased its graduation rate by 10 percentage points, with notable gains among historically marginalized student groups. The district cites Opportunity Academy (OA), an alternative education program within the district's high school, as a key…

In the summer of 2022, the Center on Reinventing Public Education convened a panel of education and youth development experts to take stock of recent efforts to address students' mental health and well-being and to reestablish core elements of social and emotional learning (SEL) in schools. The panel agreed that the pandemic's impact has been…

This project is part of the American School District Panel (ASDP), a research partnership between the RAND Corporation and the Center on Reinventing Public Education at Arizona State University's Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College (CRPE). This report concludes research on five school systems to reveal the academic, social, and political challenges…

In this report, we complement our latest fall 2021 survey research from the American School District Panel with in-depth interviews of leaders on the ground in five school systems. Our goal with these interviews was to learn from system leaders about the academic needs of children as they return to school, how districts and charter schools are…

In response to concerns about the children of first responders needing a safe, supervised place to learn in the midst of COVID-19 school closures, the City of North Las Vegas funded education nonprofit Nevada Action to set up a microschool. Students left the school district to learn at the microschool, which received from the city facilities,…

Before the pandemic, Community Works in New Orleans, Louisiana ran large-group (100- to 200-student) after-school and out-of-school-time programs that integrated enrichment and academics for youth in grades K-8. When school buildings closed in March 2020, Community Works started offering more versatile programming options to meet the needs of…

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues, emerging evidence provides a deeper understanding of the pandemic's impact on the more than 8 million young people with disabilities. This includes youth who receive special education services under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) or who qualify under the Rehabilitation Act of 1973…

In this report, we update our ongoing research on five school systems to reveal the academic, social, and political challenges posed by the pandemic and what system leaders and their staff are doing to address student learning loss. The report is part of the American School District Panel, a research partnership between the RAND Corporation and…

This paper draws from the Center on Reinventing Public Education's (CRPE's) study of pandemic pods conducted in 2020 and 2021 to understand what lessons can be drawn from the focused implementation of the whole-child approach in pandemic learning communities and to what degree these lessons are applicable to traditional schooling. The majority of…

The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted the delivery of educational and therapeutic services for students with disabilities across the world, creating new obstacles for students, parents, teachers, and administrators navigating the impact of sudden halts in services and supports. Based on CRPE's most recent study of special education in charter and…

KaiPod Learning is a for-profit company offering students enrolled in online schools the opportunity to learn in a physical location with adult supervision, academic support, and extracurricular enrichment. Tuition is attendance based, with the option of students going two, three, or five days per week. This report discusses how KaiPod Learning…