An expanded definition of student success should guide the pandemic-era learning recovery

By Jason Atwood, Director, Research and Learning Across the country, educators, policymakers, and innovators are urgently working to help schools recover from the academic and mental health impacts of Covid-19 and pandemic-related school closures. As they make the necessary investments and develop programs to accelerate student progress, it’s imperative to make decisions based on what […]

NewSchools Launches a New Live, Interactive Series Lifting Up What Works In Education 

This month Bright Spots, a new live, interactive series hosted by NewSchools debuted on LinkedIn. We’re excited to connect with more education innovators and stakeholders in real-time and lift up what’s working during this time of rebuilding and reinvention in education. This series features our NewSchools colleagues in conversation with the innovators we fund and […]

How Schools Can Center Student and Teacher Wellbeing

By Jason Atwood, Director, NewSchools Venture Fund As schools unveil their reopening plans for the fall, the need to address student and educator mental health and wellbeing must take priority, even before concerns about getting students caught up academically. Students will have a harder time learning and teachers will not be as effective if schools […]

Students Assessments Aren’t Delivering on Their Promise for Accountability or Equity

Now is the Time to Reassess our Student Assessment Policies By Erin Harless, Manager of Research and Learning, NewSchools Venture Fund The education sector is in the midst of an overdue reckoning about its role in perpetuating systemic racism in this country, from curricula that perpetuates a Eurocentric worldview to an educator workforce that does […]

SEL Has Never Been More Important: Three Equity-Focused Tools to Use at Home

Cameron White

By Cameron White, Senior Associate Partner Even before the COVID-19 public health crisis, equity-minded educators recognized the importance of social-emotional learning (SEL) in supporting students’ growth. In a survey conducted by EdWeek before widespread school closures, almost 90 percent of K-12 district leaders had already invested in products designed to support SEL. COVID-19 has reinforced — or […]