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Holistic Education School located in Mumbai, India, created a strategic improvement plan to address the poor foundational reading skills of its kindergarten students. Curriculum Based Measure (CBM) assessment data showed a rise in reading performance during the implementation of the plan, from 87% of the students scoring below grade level in 2016 to 89% achieving grade level benchmarks in 2021. An instrumental case study qualitative research design was employed to describe the nature of changes made in relation to the increase in performance. Data were collected from a variety of sources and coded through inductive and deductive processes that achieved intercoder agreement of 97.87% and 0.73 Kappa coefficient for reliability. Triangulation, member checking, and clarifying researcher bias, were employed to maximize validity. The findings describe the nature of transformation undertaken by the strategic improvement plan on key systems-level elements like curriculum, professional development, student engagement, parent engagement, and school leadership.

There is an urgent need for consensus around the matter of screen time (ST) during the COVID-19 pandemic. Some governments announced restrictions for online schooling time per day to protect students from perceived risks of prolonged screen-use, but critics and an emerging body of research question such regulations. Our review of 52 empirical studies found (a) an overwhelming majority of literature shows effect sizes too small to be of practical or clinical significance, and (b) findings more specifically on educational ST are inconclusive and critically underrepresented. These facts, along with the undeniable benefits of online learning in the absence of brick-and-mortar schooling and the ominous forecasts of learning loss caused by prolonged school closure, inform our recommendations for a more moderate policy and practical stance on restrictions - one that is focused on responsibly leveraging the educational and social benefits of ST in a world still recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic.