The COVID-19 pandemic revealed new cracks in the foundation of our K-12 education system. As the long-term effects on student learning have become clear, these cracks have become impossible to ignore. While there are some signs of progress, students’ test scores continue to lag behind 2019 scores in both math and reading, indicating a need for broader, transformational change to boost student achievement. Now, we’re faced not only with the question of how to help students recover, but also how we ensure that future generations of students can continue to thrive when faced with system-level crisis.
As public schools with already-limited budgets grapple with the consequences of the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) funding cliff, the uncertain future of federal funding, and changing state and local funding landscapes, there is an opportunity for the social sector, particularly philanthropy, to play a significant role in driving transformational change to build a more resilient K-12 education system. By working to deliver the strategies that have shown the most promise in mitigating and recovering from student learning loss to more students, and by finding new avenues to support learning, philanthropy can bridge the gap between the current state of our education system and an adaptable, future-proofed system that can persist and even thrive when presented with significant challenges.
In this piece we’ll walk through several of these strategies, providing examples of where philanthropy can contribute to the transformation of our K-12 education system: personalized learning, strategic resourcing, and community engagement.
Using AI to optimize personalized learning
What it is: Personalized learning provides tailored instruction by adjusting the content provided based on students’ existing strengths and needs. 2 The advent of AI has brought its benefits into sharper focus as new tools have provided opportunities to revisit what it means to personalize learning, and to provide that personalized learning more affordably and efficiently. When AI is incorporated, personalized learning can be transformative, closing learning gaps by allowing students to focus on areas where they need the most targeted instruction at scale, while also providing data to teachers that can help them tailor their lessons, assess student progress, and identify trends across student groups to drive equity.
Where it’s worked: Khan Academy’s school-based offerings have demonstrated the potential impact of personalized learning. Their efficacy studies have found that when Khan products are used as recommended for at least 30 minutes per week or at least 18 hours over the course of a school year, students experience a roughly 20 percent gain in learning.
How philanthropy can play a role: Personalized learning tools can support students’ learning during crisis, even when that crisis physically removes students and teachers from school buildings, and AI presents an opportunity to efficiently scale toward system transformation. To reach more students, philanthropy can invest in the development and use of modern, AI-driven tools that combine rigor and flexibility to improve student outcomes, particularly for schools with a high percentage of underserved students who may lack access to quality digital resources. Foundations can also enable the successful implementation of these solutions by providing support for teacher training programs that help teachers understand how to leverage data and AI to inform their practice.
Tying purchasing to instructional priorities through strategic resourcing
What it is: Given schools’ increasingly constrained budgets, one way to transform our education system and build resilience is through strategic resourcing: the alignment of finance, budgeting, and purchasing with instructional priorities. Strategic resourcing presents an opportunity to transform siloed budgetary decisions into choices that drive student learning. School and district leaders indicate that strategic resourcing would help to direct sufficient funding toward instructional priorities and improve teacher recruitment and retention. More than six in ten believe that strategic resourcing would have a lot of impact on student achievement.
How philanthropy can play a role: To drive transformation and build a financially resilient education system through strategic resourcing, philanthropy can invest in technical assistance and information sharing designed to help school and district leaders align budgeting and procurement with instructional priorities. Outcomes-based contracting, which makes some portion of payment to vendors contingent upon achievement outcomes, is one promising mechanism for strategic resourcing where philanthropy could invest.
Supporting students’ non-academic needs through community engagement
What it is: During the pandemic, many schools turned to community-based organizations to help meet students’ needs. Community partners can often provide meals, mental health services, and other resources that enable students to come to school prepared to learn. Strong partnerships between schools and communities are key to both academic achievement and building resilience, as they foster a network of support that can respond to challenges quickly.
Where it’s worked: During the pandemic, Los Angeles Unified School District worked with local community organizations to support remote learning and meet students’ non-academic needs. The district collaborated with organizations like California Community Foundation, Los Angeles Food Bank, and World Central Kitchen to provide tutoring, food distribution, mental health services, and learning support to families. The district also partnered with local internet providers to arrange free internet access for students in need, and with public television stations to provide at-home learning content aligned with grade-level standards.
How philanthropy can play a role: To build a resilient education system, philanthropy can invest in the communities that support students and their schools. These investments can be transformative, giving schools the tools that they need to elevate their students’ academic achievement. Foundations can facilitate partnerships between schools and local organizations or directly fund organizations and programs that address non-academic barriers (e.g., food insecurity, housing instability) that may prevent students from coming to school prepared to learn. Both avenues can provide the support that schools and families need to be able to weather a crisis.
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The pandemic revealed critical gaps in our education system, but it also showed us the path forward. By investing in proven strategies like these that support students and their schools, we can build a transformed, future-proof education system ready to face any challenge.