Re-Centering Schools Initiative
The pandemic pulled focus away from what matters in education.
When the pandemic struck, priorities shifted in every school and every classroom in America. School leaders heroically scrambled to address unprecedented and immediate technology and operational needs within their buildings. From air quality to spacing desks six feet apart, the pandemic necessitated a shift in focus to pressing operational and safety issues, and away from “bread and butter” issues of teaching and learning. School leaders need both the tools and capacity to re-center on what matters in their communities: student achievement and well-being.
Every child deserves access to a school environment that is safe,
supportive, and thriving.
At Boston Schools Fund, we believe the following must be at the center of the school return and recovery process for fall 2021: the social-emotional wellness of all students, staff, and families; individualized understanding of student learning needs and allocation of resources to meet those needs; and evidence-based, therapeutic approaches to learning that acknowledge the traumas of the past year. Focused on student achievement and well-being, our Re-Centering Schools initiative work is grounded in the concept of re-centering schools back to what matters after 14 months of pandemic-disrupted learning.
School Re-Centering Guide & Website
In partnership with Attuned Education Partners, we have developed a School Re-Centering Guide and an accompanying website, EdRecentered.org, uniquely tailored for the Boston K-12 education landscape.
This comprehensive resource was designed with school and system leaders in mind, to help them re-center on what matters in their school communities: student achievement and the well-being of students, staff, and families. Our Guide and website are filled with easy-to-follow recommendations, approachable tools, and comprehensive resources for assessment and planning that leaders can immediately put to use for reopening and recovery — all grounded in national research-based best practice.
Introducing Our Boston Re-Centering Cohort
As Boston students transition to full in-person learning for the remainder of the 2020-21 school year, Boston Schools Fund has formed a cohort of five Boston Public Schools principals to support and equip these school leaders with the tools, extra resources, and capacity they need to implement elements of the Re-Centering Schools Initiative in their school communities.
We are committed to supporting school communities most proximal to pandemic effects through return and recovery.
The neighborhoods represented within our Boston Re-Centering Cohort are some of those hardest hit by COVID-19. Four out of five of cohort schools are made up of more than 90 percent students of color.
