 | KEY MESSAGE: Equitable access to resources can help mitigate the impact of the pandemic on student outcomes and accelerate learning for all students. |
 | Talk about “acceleration” rather than “loss.” Many people believe the term “learning loss” does not accurately capture how students experienced the pandemic and misses the learning that did occur. Communication might instead consider describing the “impact of lost instructional time” or “disrupted learning,” and opportunities to “accelerate learning” – avoiding deficit language. |
 | Focus on forward-looking impact. It is important to emphasize that the pandemic has a long-lasting impact on student success, and that investments now will pay dividends both in the short-term and throughout a student’s experience. For example, providing high-quality tutoring today is an investment in our graduation rate years from now. |
 | Know who the services where available to AND who received services. |
| How were students identified for support, especially those who were disproportionately impacted by COVID? |
| If funds were passed onto schools, how were school funds determined? |
A theory of action, or logic model, is a tool to help you explain and talk about the reasons why resources were deployed as they were. The following graphic illustration of the relationship between a program’s resources, activities, and its intended effects is meant to help you speak about this investment priority. Logic models clearly and concisely show how interventions affect behavior and achieve a goal.
Download the graphic as a template you can edit.
Resource links related to research on this investment priority:
- Department of Education, (2021), ED COVID-19 HANDBOOK Roadmap to Reopening Safely and Meeting All Students’ Needs, Volume 2, https://www2.ed.gov/documents/coronavirus/reopening-2.pdf page 32
- Travers, J., (2018). What is Resource Equity, ERS Working Paper. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED593369.pdf
- Jackson, C.K., Johnson, R., and Persico, C. (2016). “The Effects of School Spending on Educational and Economic Outcomes: Evidence from School Finance Reforms,” The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Vol. 131, No. 1: 157-218. https://doi.org/10.1093/qje/qjv036.
- Baker, B. (2016). “Does Money Matter in Education?” Albert Shanker Institute. http://www.shankerinstitute.org/sites/shanker/files/moneymatters_edition2.pdf.
This section contains a templates to support messaging of ESSER investments related to addressing lost instructional time through providing equitable access to education resources.
