A Year That Forced Change: Examining How Schools and School Systems Adapted to the Challenges of the COVID-19 Pandemic and Calls for Racial Justice in 2020. Policy Brief

In the spring of 2020, the COVID-19 virus shuttered schools across the country and world and calls for racial justice expanded into nearly every sphere of social and political life as the nation reeled at another life violently taken at the hands of a police officer. School system leaders faced difficult decisions about delivering instruction while maintaining the safety and well-being of students, families, faculty, and staff. Moreover, the spotlight on racial injustice also drew attention to the need for educational reform to better serve historically marginalized students with academic, social, emotional, and other special needs. This research explores how educational institutions and their systems responded to two sudden disruptions, the COVID-19 pandemic and increased awareness of racial inequity. This research compared responses from traditional, charter, voucher-receiving private schools and rural and urban districts. The findings were based on 68 interviews with district, school, and community leaders and 46 interviews with parents, plus website, social media, and document analysis across four states and Washington, DC. [For the "School System Responses to Racial Injustice. Technical Report," see ED629491. For the "System Responses to Crisis: Organizational Perspectives. Technical Report," see ED629492.]