Following the September National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) results showing significant impacts on students’ learning, these sessions will highlight strategies and best practices to help states, districts, and schools improve learning outcomes for students, especially in literacy and mathematics. The series seeks to build engagement from the field; identify collaboration opportunities among research, practice, and funding; and lift best practices and resources for practitioners and policymakers to take action to address learning loss and academic recovery.

“We always knew the pandemic would have a profound impact on students’ learning, which is why the Biden-Harris administration made it a priority from Day One to safely reopen our schools and secure the American Rescue Plan’s $122 billion investment in public education,” said U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona. “From that moment on, our Department has encouraged state and local leaders to spend their American Rescue Plan dollars on evidence-based strategies for ensuring our students can catch up in the classroom. With the latest results from the Nation’s Report Card as our call-to-action, today, I’m pleased to announce a new expert-led speaker series that will equip educators, school leaders, and district administrators with the latest information on the science of learning and the most promising tools for accelerating academic recovery, so that they can raise the bar to support our students and level up their skills in the critical areas of math and reading.”

The sessions will occur monthly from October through February and will center on sustained, cohesive efforts to improve educational practice. The kickoff event on October 26, hosted at the U.S. Department of Education, is a call to action to practitioners, education leaders, teachers, parents, students, and policymakers to leverage the extraordinary level of available federal resources to mitigate learning loss and accelerate academic recovery.

Additionally, the Department will be issuing a guide to drive strategies in districts and states on how to best address learning loss and academic recovery. This guide will be a follow-up to the extensive guidance provided in the handbooks on reopening and recovery provided by the Department in early 2021.

The subsequent four convenings include topics focused on:

• Learning research-based practices from content experts
• Highlighting promising practices from SEAs and districts
• Leveraging ARP funding to implement literacy and math achievement best practices at scale
• Offering dedicated time and expertise to support action planning (i.e., guided working sessions and support from technical assistance providers).

More information on the additional convenings to come.

The Literacy and Math series is part of the Biden-Harris Administration’s commitment to supporting students’ academic recovery and ensuring recovery efforts are meeting student, parent, and family needs. As part of that effort, in January, Secretary Cardona laid out his vision for education in America by boldly addressing opportunity and achievement gaps in education.