For all the debate about the severity of pandemic-era “learning loss,” it’s undisputable that COVID-19 “likely exacerbated the instructional gaps that students already had,” as Craig Simmons notes in the Summer 2021 issue of Educational Leadership. To help school administrators and teacher leaders figure out what policies and practices will best assist students whose learning has been especially affected by this past year, the National Center for Learning Disabilities has released a report on best practices for accelerating learning for students with special needs. The report breaks down the research-based strategies and models educators can use to get students up to speed (including streamlining curricula and leveraging student interests), as well as offering policy recommendations at the state and federal level around funding, teacher shortages, and other issues schools will face this year.
September 1, 2021
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Vol. 79•
No. 1