Information on what districts and states are doing to continue learning for all learners during school closures.
District Plans
District Responses to COVID-19:
The Center for Reinventing Public Education (CRPE) has developed a database of school district responses to COVID-19. Each district entry includes how the district supports special populations, including students with disabilities and English learners. The database currently includes 82 districts serving nine million students and will be updated continuously. The page also includes a map displaying districts color coded by whether they offer no instructional resources, access to general resources only, formal curriculum but no instruction, curriculum and instruction, or curriculum, instruction, and progress monitoring.
The Oklahoma City Public Schools’ Continuous Learning Plan page publishes packets at the beginning of each week. Printed packets are also available at meal distribution sites. Learning packets are organized by grade for grades Pre-K–8 and by subject for grades 9–12. All packets are available in English and Spanish. The page also links to videos recorded by teachers explaining the weekly packets for their subject. Some videos are available in Spanish. There is a separate section for English language learners with resources for elementary and secondary students as well as dual language resources for grades Pre-K–2. Oklahoma City Public Schools also provides information on meal sites and contact information for counseling services in English and Spanish.
The Chicago Public Schools District Response to COVID-19 page provides a letter from the chief executive officers in English, Arabic, Chinese, Polish, Spanish, and Urdu. The Remote Learning page contains remote learning guidance for parents. This guidance is available in English, Arabic, Chinese, Polish, Spanish, and Urdu. Chicago Public Schools has also provided remote learning packets, organized by grade and available in English and Spanish, and enrichment learning resources, containing independent projects and materials separated by grade in English and Spanish. All learning packets specify the caregiver support that may be necessary for each activity.
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools:
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools’ COVID-19 information page provides news updates for students and families. The page also provides details on meal distribution in English, Spanish, Portuguese, and French. The Remote Learning page provides learning packets by grade level. Grades Pre-K–5 are available in English and Spanish. There is a dedicated page for K–12 English Learner Remote Learning organized by grades K–5, 6–8, 9–12, and K–12 digital tools. There are also supplemental learning resources to engage students in learning at home. These resources include the ELL Parent and Family Supplemental Resources document with communication tools, digital tools to overcome a language barrier, and local resources for students and families.
Miami-Dade County Public Schools:
Miami-Dade County Public Schools’ COVID-19 Coronavirus page offers hotlines for emergency operations, instructional learning plan, mental health services, parent assistance, employee assistance, and adult and career/technical education. The Instructional Continuity Plan page clarifies the roles of students, teachers, and families in distance learning, as well as different options for teachers to deliver content. The Distance Teaching and Learning page provides resources and links for educators, parents, and students. These pages provide information on Internet hotspots, online platforms, professional development, the process for requesting devices (in English, Spanish, and Haitian Creole), guidance on student attendance, webinars on the instructional continuity plan (in English, Spanish, and Haitian Creole) and distance learning Frequently Asked Questions (in English, Spanish, and Haitian Creole).
Fort Worth Independent School District:
The Fort Worth Independent School District learning at home page offers resources for students, families, and educators. Information for parents is available in English and Spanish. The Learning at Home: Curriculum At-a-Glance page provides families and teachers with an overview of what students will learn each week for each content area. The elementary documents are organized by grade level and the secondary documents by subject. Each grade level and subject document includes strategies for English learners (ELs). There are separate documents with activities and strategies for ELs. The activities for grades PK–5 and for middle school are organized by grade level, and activities for high school are organized by proficiency level. The Curriculum At-a-Glance page also provides links to activities students can do at home for elementary dual language, elementary English as a second language (ESL), and secondary ESL.
Boston Public Schools’ distance learning site contains information on free breakfast and lunch sites, how to request a Chromebook, learning at home for students, technology resources, and taking care of your health. The site provides a short survey for families to share their needs during school closures. The survey is available in 10 languages. The Learning at Home for Students page is organized by grade level and includes pages for special education and English learners. The English Language Learner page contains a multilingual library for students. The page encourages parents to read with students in their home language and suggests other activities to promote language at home. The page provides links to books in nine languages and is updated weekly.
The Independent Austin School District (AISD) website presents a variety of resources that PreK—Grade 12 students and their families can use to learn at home. The website is organized into grade-level clusters, resources for families, special student populations (Special Education and Gifted and Talented) and free online resources. Each grade-level cluster contains a weekly schedule that is organized by subject (i.e., Social Studies, English Language Arts, etc.). The site contains links to readings, handouts, dreambox lessons, as well as preparation resources for the TEKS assessment. The AISD website also provides useful information to families and caretakers. This includes tips on how to discuss the outbreak with their children, mental health resources, and suggestions on how to be productive during school closures. While there are no resources that are specifically targeted towards English learners, all of the resources on the website are available in Spanish.
Fairfax County Public Schools Distance Learning Plan:
Fairfax County Public Schools’ distance learning plan defines the roles of technology tools, weekly instructional packets, learning videos, and e-books in distance learning. Fairfax County Public Schools is distributing printed weekly packets to students’ homes as well as posting them on their website. A distance learning schedule is included in the plan. The plan includes learning supports for students with disabilities and English learners, as well as contact information for parent information phone lines in eight languages. The plan also provides information for adults (teachers and caregivers) on the roles and responsibilities in distance learning and where to go with questions. The plan explains the priorities and considerations and approximate timeframes for students in PreK–6, 7–8, and 9–12. The distance learning plan is available in over 80 languages.
Seattle Public Schools: Family Resources for COVID-19 Related School Closures:
Seattle Public Schools’ Family Resources page includes information on meals for students, learning resources, childcare, talking with children about COVID-19, Internet access for low-income Seattle residents, and mental health services. The Learning Resources page includes pages for preschool, elementary school, middle school, high school, and special education students. Each grade level page includes an “SPS Guidance and Expectations for Continuity of Learning” document with guidelines for educators on how to continue to support student learning. The document includes expectations of educators by role. Each grade level page also contains learning packets which are posted weekly. The page also offers suggested home learning schedules, translated into Amharic, Chinese, Somali, Spanish, and Vietnamese. There is also a packet of tech-free activities for students in grades K–5, also available in Amharic, Chinese, Somali, Spanish, and Vietnamese. The Family Resources page and Learning Resources page can both be translated into nearly 100 languages.
Surry County Schools Distance Learning:
Surry County Schools in North Carolina has posted task boards for students in grades Pre-K–5 by school. There are links to 11 elementary schools with their own task boards, including a document with English language development lessons. Each grade level has a content objective, a skill (such as compare and contrast), and activities for listening, speaking, reading, and writing. The document contains links to all activities and is available in English and Spanish. For grades 6–12, the site offers phone and email contacts for technical support for their online learning platform. Surry County Schools also provides weekly updates to the community, social and emotional learning resources in English and Spanish, and information on free grab-and-go meals.
State Plans
The California Department of Education site provides information and resources regarding COVID-19 and California’s response. The site includes releases from the State Superintendent of Public Instruction, webinars, and general FAQs. It also provides resources for mental health, distance learning, early learning, school meals, and special education. The distance learning resources include English language development learning sites, games and activities, multilingual resources, and the English Learner Update Newsletter.
District of Columbia Public Schools:
District of Columbia (DC) Public Schools’ Coronavirus (COVID-19) Updates page offers information on meal sites, distance learning, additional resources for families, and letters to families available in six languages. The Distance Learning page is organized into sections for learners, family, and support. The learners page is organized by grade level for elementary and middle schools and by subject level for high schools. All three levels have a language instruction section, which includes suggested pacing, beginner English as a second language (ESL) learning resources, English Language Arts-ESL learning resources (elementary) and intermediate ESL (middle and high school). All learning resources are organized into weekly learning plans. Weekly learning plans contain links to resources but can also be completed without Internet once printed.
This document compiles resources that educators can distribute and use to support remote learning for PreK–Grade 12 students. The document is organized by grade-level clusters and subject areas. The document presents links and descriptions to the learning resources. Additional information about each resource is presented that states the availability of the resource in other languages, and whether or not the resource targets any special student populations such as English learners (ELs), or students receiving special education services. The document also includes some EL resources that are classified by grade-level clusters. While the document is well-organized and includes numerous resources including multilingual ones, the links presented in the document are not working links and need to be copied and pasted into a browser or a search engine.
South Dakota State-Wide Title III Consortium’s English Learner Distance Learning Planning Guide:
This guide from the South Dakota State-Wide Title III Consortium serves to guarantee equal access to all district learning platforms for English learners (ELs) in Grades K–12, maintain and accelerate English language acquisition skills, maintain and accelerate content area instruction, and support and communicate with content area teacher, students, and families. All resources listed are available on a Padlet that is linked in the document. The Padlet also contains additional resources, including resources in Spanish and other languages. The document contains considerations including the language barrier for ELs in content instruction; providing English language development; maintaining accurate grades; supporting students with special needs; communication with EL families; and collaboration between teachers and stakeholders. The document includes suggestions for each consideration as well as additional resources.
This page provides resources for educators and families of K–12 students during school closures. There are sections for specific content areas, English learners (ELs), and students with disabilities. The section for ELs includes guidance on provisional identification and placement of ELs, guidance on remote learning for ELs, and remote learning resources to help meet the needs of ELs. The guidance on remote learning for ELs provides strategies and tools for collaboration between core content and English as a Second Language teachers, strategies for developing activities that include all four language domains (listening, reading, speaking, and writing) at the elementary and secondary levels, online supports, and activities not reliant on technology.
New York State Department of Education: Continuity of Learning:
The New York State Department of Education’s Continuity of Learning page provides guidance and resources for schools conducting remote learning. The page provides digital content resources by subject area and population (special education and English learners (ELs)). The content resources for ELs includes an English Language Learner Resource Collection created by the Office of Bilingual Education and World Languages to support teachers in adapting and developing lessons to meet the needs of ELs at all levels of proficiency. The collection organizes resources by content area and includes resources for students with interrupted formal education (SIFE) and for parents of ELs. The Continuity of Learning page also provides guidance on technology and non-technological options for remote learning and resources for educators on teaching online, professional learning, and instructional planning. The page also contains resources for districts creating continuity of learning plans including planning tools, points for consideration, and sample plans.
North Carolina Department of Public Instruction: Resources for ELs During Remote Learning:
The North Carolina Department of Public Instruction (NCDPI) has created a site for supporting English learners (ELs) during remote learning. The site contains a page with information from North Carolina state agencies, including general information on digital teaching and learning as well as the Migrant Education Program with resources for newcomer ELs and students with interrupted formal education (SIFE). The site contains a page for Online Teaching and Learning with EL-specific resources for teachers, students, and families. The site also has a page specifically for Low-to-No-Tech Resources, with sets of weekly activities for grades K–8 available in English, Spanish, Portuguese, Somali, Arabic, Chinese, and French. The NCDPI page also contains resources for EL teacher professional development and self-care for teachers, students, and families.