Our Families Need Us. This Is What We Do: Lessons from LEARN Charter School Network's COVID-19 Response Spring 2020

After Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker issued a temporary school closure last March because of COVID-19, leaders at the LEARN Charter School Network got busy thinking about what remote learning would look like; they had a track record of performance to safeguard. Pre-COVID, the 20-year-old Chicago-area charter school network of 10 college-prep K-8 schools consistently outperformed nearby neighborhood public schools. But translating LEARN's academic program to remote learning wasn't the network's first or only agenda item last spring. It was also focused on ensuring the well-being of its students and families during a period of uncertainty and turmoil. As school districts across the country considered the prospect of a school year dominated by remote learning, LEARN's experience last spring shows how even small systems can support and connect with families and students during unprecedented and unpredictable times. Social workers, special education staff, and staff as a whole banded together to attend to students' social-emotional well-being and ensure that their basic needs were being met. These supports also helped the network address technical and communication challenges it faced with its families. The network connected students to services and supports, marshaled new resources to support families, and created systems to streamline parent communication. As a result, LEARN strengthened its connections as a community during the pandemic. [For the full report, "Lessons from Remote Learning in Six School Systems," see ED608269.]