The COVID Constituency: Emerging Priorities for Education Leaders

The COVID Constituency, comprising a growing movement of parents, teachers, students, education leaders, and organizations, desires systemic changes in education, rather than a reversion back to the pre-pandemic system. As state and district policymakers consider how they want to use their federal dollars for education transformation, it is imperative that they tap into the experiences and priorities of the communities that have the most at stake. The COVID Constituency seeks to collect firsthand experiences, perceptions, and priorities from students, parents, and teachers, and then translate them into actionable policies that will fundamentally change education for the better. This report anchors this work, providing an initial landscape of existing education opinion surveys conducted since the start of the pandemic and identifying clear and significant public support for bold education initiatives. The report introduces the COVID Constituency and discusses the inadequacies and widening chasms of the pre-pandemic education system; the concerns and priorities of the new movement; and planning and funding considerations for bold change.