Responding to the COVID-19 Pandemic

Coronavirus.gov: Serves as a primary communication platform for the President’s Coronavirus Task Force. This website explains the symptoms of COVID-19 and risk factors for transmission and acute illness; publishes updates from federal agencies on salient aspects of the pandemic; explains social distancing and other preventive actions individuals can/should take; and conveys an extensive set of linked documents for additional information, including Guidance for Schools and Childcare Programs.

Coronavirus (COVID-19): Provides the latest updates on the national pandemic situation, including guidance for how to protect individual health and reduce virus transmission, what to do if you think you are sick, state-specific data and links to public health websites, and information resources for specific audiences including healthcare professionals and facilities, families, child care and school settings.

Interim Guidance for Administrators of US K-12 Schools and Childcare Programs: How to Plan, Prepare, and Respond to Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19): Provides guidance for individuals who oversee the daily operations of public and private childcare programs and K-12 schools, at both the school/facility and district level. The guidance can help programs, schools and their partners understand how to help prevent the transmission of COVID-19; to respond quickly should a case be identified; and to plan for the continuity of teaching and learning if there is community spread of COVID-19.

See especially, Checklists for Teachers and Parents.

COVID-19 ("Coronavirus") Information and Resources for Schools and School Personnel: Presents selected information resources to assist both K-12 schools and higher education institutions to disseminate critical information about the disease and its potential transmission to students, families, staff and community members. ED regularly updates this page as more information and resources become available.  Readers are invited to send questions on which the Department can be helpful to: COVID-19@ed.gov.

Comprehensive Center Network COVID-19 Education Resources: Offers a repository for education resources related to COVID-19. Additional resources and further curation are being updated.

REMS TA Center
Coronavirus Disease 2019, COVID019: Presents the latest recommendations specific to COVID-19 from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, U.S. Department of Education, and the REMS TA Center.

FERPA & Virtual Learning Environment: Describes what FERPA is and what the school official exception to the general consent requirement is and how it works in the virtual learning environment.

As COVID-19 spreads, most states have laws that address how schools should respond to pandemics: Presents a state-by-state database of the text of state statutes and regulations—as well as noncodified guidance from state health and education agencies—that relates to pandemic planning for schools. Child Trends and EMT Associates, Inc. have designed this tool as a resource for educators, policymakers and general audiences to learn more about pandemic planning for schools within their states

Interactive Map: Coronavirus and School Closures: Shows status of school closures in all 50 states. This site is updated at least daily by Education Week, which is hosting an extensive website on Coronavirus and Schools.  

Grief Organizations and Grief Camps: Furnishes state-by-state listings of grief camps, hospice and grief organizations intended to support children and families who are grieving. The Eluna Network compilation of state and local resources also lists curated books and web-based materials to support children and families impacted by grief, addiction and loss.

Coronavirus and School: A State-by-State Guide: Tracks the coronavirus pandemic's impact on the nation's schools – such as whether the buildings and facilities educating each state’s K-12 students are open or closed, how long this process takes, and additional updates as confirmed by state authorities, official statements, and original reporting. To add, this page enlists a status report on each state, links to relevant state documents, specific state-level directives (if any) about continuity of learning/remote learning, and summaries from Education Week reporters offering additional information and context.

Governors Make the Call – Chart Highlights Details of Each State’s Stay-at-Home Orders: Describes each state governor’s “stay-at-home” order, including effective dates. (This resource does not document local restrictions imposed by counties or municipalities.) Those orders impact school closing and re-opening and are therefore important for planning by school systems. The National Academy of State Health Policy [NASHP] hosts this process as part of its COVID-19 State Action Center.    

Examples of State Actions and Approaches

Arizona: COVID-19: Guidance and Suggestions: Presents guidance and resources for Arizona’s public district and charter schools as they navigate COVID-19 response. Each selected resource posted for school leaders includes information about distance learning technology resources and available funding support; and specific guidance about testing and assessments, special education, and high school graduation considering the statewide school closure for the remainder of the 2019-2020 school year. The website provides an abundance of resources for families, too, including distance learning methods, access to school meals, childcare, and social, emotional, and behavioral supports.

California: Distance Learning: The California Department of Education [CDE] presents considerations for developing a distance learning plan that supports effective engagement for students; addresses considerations to ensure equity and access for all students including individuals with disabilities, low-income households, and English learners; offers a five-tiered continuum of learning options to best fit students’ support needs; and an extensive set of resources that support distance learning. Additionally, provides a framework for how LEAs can continue to deliver high-quality educational opportunities to students when the LEA has suspended on-site instruction.

Illinois: Education-Related Guidance for Schools and School Districts Regarding Coronavirus/COVID-19 (3/12/20) Delivers guidance from Illinois’ State Board of Education to schools and school districts to inform decisions regarding student absenteeism, school closures, e-learning program options and other ideas for home learning.  This document includes links to numerous free resources regarding e-learning and other home learning options.

Kansas: Continuous Learning 2020: Provides guidance and resources to school districts as they develop and implement Continuous Learning plans, as required by the Kansas State Department of Education.  KSDE’s quickly convened Continuous Learning Task Force of exemplary educators has developed a statewide framework for continuous learning; a protocol for 5-day planning at the LEA level;  recommendations for supporting students, teachers, and families family partnerships and support; tips for on-line teaching and learning; options for schools without digital learning capacity for families;  approved technology platforms and related hyperlinks; recommended time guidelines for students based on age; and numerous ways to connect established learning goals to the current circumstances.

Kansas: Learning Across Kansas: Provides supplemental education content for elementary, middle school and high school students featuring grade-specific educational content delivered in 30-minute televised episodes from some of the state’s most talented and acclaimed teachers.  The calendar of scheduled programs, jointly arranged by the state’s four PBS stations, is intentionally expansive to provide numerous opportunities for students and families to participate, despite their unique routines, priorities and challenges.

Kentucky: New KDE Task Force Will Aid Districts During COVID-19 Closure Period: Describes the Education Continuation Task Force, a group that will serve as a guiding coalition to help facilitate the delivery of services to Kentucky students during the current period of school closure.

Louisiana: Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Frequently Asked Questions for K-12 Schools: Guides status of ongoing updates and information in relation to general emergency preparedness, dimensions of school climate, and student experience during this new normal – including seat time and distance learning; special education, early childhood programs, and federal child nutrition feeding programs. Pandemic-impacted management topics (e.g. assessment and accountability, data systems, and non-public school choice programs) for the statewide K-12 education system are added to the site.

New York: COVID-19 Guidance for Medicaid Providers: Serves as a one-stop repository for rapid dissemination of quickly evolving guidance to take fullest possible advantage of extraordinary flexibilities in Medicaid health care coverage (e.g. tele-health, direct support for persons needing long-term care, child and family treatment support, transportation), and as a clearinghouse for key federal (e.g. CDC, CMS) and state-specific information. Note: Every state Medicaid program is unique, within broad federal parameters. States can and often do learn from and adapt innovations from one another to best meet the needs of their own populations.

New York: State Department of Education Coronavirus (COVID-19): Presents information and guidance to PreK-12 schools from the Board of Regents and the state education agency (SEA) in response to the novel coronavirus. Also, includes a statewide website featuring continuity of learning resources (for both technology-based and non-technology-based circumstances), updates on building closures, specific guidance for several categories of employees and licensed professionals, and newsworthy features.

Wisconsin: K-12 School Closure FAQs (3/15/20): Provides guidance to Wisconsin school districts for implementing the Governor’s order to close all public and private schools.  The guidance also refers readers to a specific Information on COVID-19 website established by the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction.

Talking to Children About COVID-19 (Coronavirus): A Parent Resource: Provides insight and guidelines for parents and caregivers to provide guidance and reassurance to children who can feel anxious about this new type of virus.  The National Association of School Psychologists advises that acknowledging a level of concern without panicking is appropriate, and can generate actions that reduce the risk of illness. Helping children cope with anxiety requires providing accurate prevention information and facts without causing undue alarm. This website provides extensive tip sheets and other resources in numerous languages.

Helping Children Cope with Stress During the 2019-nCov Outbreak: Provides tips for caregivers to help children deal with stress during the COVID-19 outbreak.  This one-page tip sheet was produced by the World Health Organization.

Resources for Supporting Children’s Emotional Well-being During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Presents guidance, recommendations and resources from child trauma experts at Child Trends and the Child Trauma Training Center at the University of Massachusetts.

Talking with Children: Tips for Caregivers, Parents, and Teachers During Infectious Disease Outbreaks (Spanish language version): Helps parents, caregivers, and teachers learn some common reactions to anticipate in children and youth at each developmental stage.  SAMHSA provides guidance to parents and caregivers to help manage children’s responses, how to listen and respond in a helpful way, and to recognize when children, youth, parents, caregivers or teachers might need more (professional) help. 

How to Talk to Your Anxious Child or Teen About Coronavirus: Presents advice and tips for parents discussing the Coronavirus with anxious children and teens. The Anxiety and Depression Association of America [ADAA] offers strategies to help children cope with any anxiety they may be experiencing.

Talking to Children About Coronavirus (COVID19): Suggests ways to talk with young children about the evolving coronavirus outbreak, from the perspective of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.  This two-page tip sheet concludes, “Most children, even those exposed to loss or illness, are quite resilient. However, by creating an open environment where they feel free to ask questions, we can help them cope with stressful events and experiences and reduce the risk of lasting emotional difficulties.”

Resources for Families During the Coronavirus Pandemic: Provides tips and resources to help families navigate social distancing and school closures with high-quality media and at-home learning opportunities for their children.

Top Ten Tips for Parents (Adapted from the Triple P Positive Parenting Program): Provides ten tips for parents on how to cope with stress and anxiety during an outbreak. This tip sheet was created by the Arizona Department of Child Safety.  It is presented in both English and Spanish.

CDC COVID-19: How to Prepare (For Parents): Presents indicators of stress during an infectious disease outbreak, to guide parents about changes in their children that might indicate anxiety. This CDC page also provides guidance for supporting children through this period, including answering their questions and sharing facts, reassuring them that they are safe, limiting exposure to news coverage and social media, and keeping up regular routines. It offers self-care tips for parents to cope with stress due to COVID-19. “When parents and caregivers deal with the COVID-19 calmly and confidently, they can provide the best support for their children. Parents can be more reassuring to others around them, especially children, if they are better prepared.”

NCFL Providing Free Online Learning Resources for Kids During COVID-19 School Closures: Invites parents and children to continue healthy academic habits while away from school for several weeks due to the coronavirus outbreak.  Parents can access free on-line resources for out-of-school time from the National Center for Families Learning, if they will provide their email address (which subscribes them to a monthly newsletter).

Planning for Virtual/Distance School Counseling During an Emergency Shutdown: Explains how schools can deliver comprehensive virtual school counseling programs during emergency school closures. The American School Counselor Association recommends that school counselors continue to teach the school counseling curriculum as much as possible, but prioritize the most critical academic, career, and social-emotional lessons.

Flexibility in the Midst of Crisis (Psychology Today, 3/11/20): Discusses appropriate psychological preparation for children and youth to help weather the pandemic crisis.  Provides suggestions for developing flexibility as a key coping attribute, and offers a variety of primary resources to support activities and behaviors that can enhance psychological resilience in young people.

The Pandemic Toolkit Parents Need: Introduces eight tips for parents from child psychologist and trauma expert Bruce Perry MD, PhD, offering guidance to anticipate stress related to COVID-19 pandemic and school closures; and how to manage it through self-regulation to increase one’s own resilience and support growth of resilience in one’s children, too. 

Trauma-Informed Parenting during Our “Staycation”: Offers tips for keeping students’ families rooted in safety and growing in connection during the CIVID-19 quarantine.  The Attachment & Trauma Network Inc. presents seven (7) tips for parents to recognize, understand and manage predictable behaviors and responses of their children during the national emergency, including self-care and self-management.  This resource is presented in a clear, simple and nicely-illustrated form. 

Resources for Talking with Children and Youth about Coronavirus: Collects resources from Child Mind Institute, Mental Health America, the National Child Traumatic Stress Network, and other organizations to assist families and caregivers in supporting youth with mental health needs during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Simple Activities for Children and Adolescents Amidst COVID-19 Outbreak: Recommends best practices for activity ideas to parents and caregivers whose families are sheltering in place, social distancing, and homeschooling due to closures amidst the COVID-19 outbreak.

Covid-19 Resources for Parents, Families and Youth: The National Federation of Families for Children’s Mental Health has developed training videos, toolkits, and activities that are simple for parents to navigate – including a set of six Helpful Parenting Infographics from the international Parenting for Lifelong Health program, specific resources for families of children with disabilities or special health care needs, and direct links to more than a dozen additional COVID-19-related resource pages from national and international organizations.

Coronavirus/COVID-19 Resource Library: Shares resources compiled by the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry [AACAP] for parents, patients, and clinicians to help with the impact of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19).

Psychological Effects of Quarantine During the Coronavirus Outbreak: What Healthcare Providers Need to Know: Introduces foreseeable psychological effects of quarantine, added with strategies for how healthcare providers (including school-based counselors, nurses and school social workers) can implement care for their students’/patients’ and their own mental well-being during periods of quarantine.

Helping Homebound Children During the COVID-19 Outbreak: Establishes positive measures families can utilize to include children in planning for the family, and proactive behaviors to help support their sense of agency and control.

Ways to Promote Children’s Resilience to the COVID-19 Pandemic: Considers five recognized protective best practices long established in the literature that can shield children from harm and increase the chances they adapt positively to adversities like the coronavirus pandemic. For each protective factor listed, Child Trends’ experts offer numerous suggestions at both the parent/ caregiver and the community/systems levels to support and strengthen that protective factor in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic and its associated social and economic stressors. 

The Trauma of Pandemic School Disruption: Analyzes implications of trauma related to school disruption for students, school staff members, families, and communities at large, presented in a video by John Gailer, developer of the Trauma-Skilled Schools Model.

School Disruption as a Dropout Risk Factor: Examines short and long-term effects of school disruption on the nation’s dropout rates in the context of the current pandemic. This discussion by Dr. Sandy Addis, director of National Dropout Prevention Center, is shared in a video presentation.

Coping in Hard Times: Fact Sheet for Parents (NCTSN): Describes how families’ ways to reconcile may be affected by economic hardships. This comprehensive product from the National Child Traumatic Stress Network offers a variety of ways to cope during these uncertain times.

CDC Coronavirus Disease 2019: Manage Anxiety & Stress: Provides explanation and resources to help individuals (parents, caregivers, first responders and other professionals, people with existing mental health challenges) anticipate, prepare for and manage fear, anxiety and extraordinary stress.

          See also, CDC Emergency Preparedness and Response: Taking Care of Your Emotional Health

Taking Care of Your Behavioral Health During an Infectious Disease Outbreak (Spanish language version): Describes feelings and thoughts individuals may have during and after social distancing, quarantine and isolation. This SAMHSA tip sheet suggests ways to care for one’s own behavioral health in these circumstances and provides resources for more help.

Coping with Stress During Infectious Disease Outbreaks (Spanish language version): Provides tips for coping with stress during an infectious disease outbreak. This SAMHSA fact sheet describes common signs of stress and how to recognize when to get help.

Common Sense Education: Resources for Educators During the Coronavirus Pandemic Offers tips and free tools to support school closures and transitions to online and at-home learning.

4 Resources to Support Students During the Pandemic: Shares effective practices to work in remote learning spaces. Provides students and families alternatives in navigating the new normal of COVID-19.

Teacher, Interrupted: Leaning into Social-Emotional Learning Amid the COVID-19 Crisis: Provides tips and resources from the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence to help educators use social emotional learning [SEL] skills during the pandemic crisis.

How to Stay Resilient and Mentally Healthy During the Coronavirus Outbreak: Discusses tips for reducing anxiety while coping with Coronavirus fears. Suggestions discussed in this 45-minute radio segment include staying positive, going outside, adapting to changes, and breathing and meditation. The radio piece features Jonathan Kanter, director of the Center for the Science of Social Connection at the University of Washington, and Elissa Epel, a stress scientist and psychiatry professor at the University of California/San Francisco. The host webpage also links to several related web-based resources.

How I Navigate Coronavirus as an Educator with Anxiety: Presents and explains, from a classroom teacher’s perspective, strategies to help educators cope with stress and uncertainty associated with the Coronavirus. 

Educator Self-Assessment for Supporting Student Well-Being: Furnishes an educator self-assessment for supporting student well-being, and an array of trauma-informed strategies to foster student well-being and resilience during the pandemic emergency.  Strategies outlined in this product of the Center for Great Teachers and Leaders can be used to support all students, while emphasizing the importance of identifying students who require support that, in typical times, is provided through more targeted and intensive mental health interventions.  The included Educator Context and Stress Spectrum was designed to support teachers and principals in gaining a greater awareness of how their current personal and professional context affects their levels of stress in the time of COVID-19.  The self-assessment resource includes a self-care planning tool to help teachers identify areas of strength and growth related to self-care, and develop self-care plans.

A Trauma-Informed Approach to Teaching Through Coronavirus: Guides education professionals in applying trauma-informed best practices to support school-based communities. This resource features recommendations for educators during the COVID-19 crisis, from experts from the National Child Traumatic Stress Network.

Social Emotional Learning During COVID-19: Calls attention to mental health needs that students may be impacted by at-home during extended school closures and documents alternatives to support social emotional learning from a distance. Public School Forum of North Carolina’s Education Matters series addresses this challenge in a 25-minute video featuring a senior research scientist at Duke University, a state consultant for school counseling, and an elementary school principal.

Sustaining the Well-Being of Healthcare Personnel During Coronavirus and Other Infectious Disease Outbreaks: Explains foreseeable roadblocks for health care professionals (e.g., school nurses, counselors, and social workers) during infectious disease outbreaks and suggests numerous self-care strategies and actions available to professionals whose schedules often require special attention for those in need.

Taking Care of Yourself: Offers a list of best practices individuals can utilize in maintaining awareness, finding balance, and connecting after difficult events. This self-care guidance reflects the expert perspective of the National Child Traumatic Stress Network.

Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19): Reducing Stigma: Defines stigma, explains how fear and anxiety about a disease can lead to social stigma that hurts everyone and is counterproductive; and offers a list of steps that communicators can take to help counter stigma during the COVID-19 response.

Coronavirus: Multilingual Resources for Schools: Shares accurate information about coronavirus with all school staff and families, including families of English learners. This site explores how schools and districts can effectively include students who are immigrants and English language learners, and their families, in all key communications (e.g. school closure plans) related to COVID-19.  The site provides an array of multilingual fact sheets and infographics in English, Spanish, and (simplified) Chinese. Check back often, as the host is frequently updating this page as new resources becomes available.

COVID-19 and Homelessness: Strategies for Schools and Early Learning Programs: Offers strategies for schools and early learning programs to protect the health, safety, and well-being of children and youth experiencing homelessness during school closures. SchoolHouse Connection recommends that districts provide outreach to families and youth identified as homeless to ensure safety and basic needs outside of school, then address students’ access to learning and mental health needs.

OCR Short Webinar on Online Education and Website Accessibility: Offers guidance for providing online education and ensuring website accessibility for students with disabilities for schools utilizing distance learning amid physical school closures (8 minutes). S

School Responses to COVID-19: ELL/Immigrant Considerations: Makes recommendations for providing equitable access to nutrition, health, and online learning services for English language learners (ELLs) and students from families or immigrants. Considerations include families without access to medical care or insurance, fear of utilizing health services due to immigration status, children acting as caregivers to younger siblings, and lack of access to devices or internet service.

Support for Kids with ADHD During the Coronavirus Crisis - Cómo apoyar a niños con TDAH durante la crisis del COVID-19 (Spanish language version): Synthesizes suggestions from mental health experts for helping children with ADHS (and their families) to cope and succeed.  While families are struggling to care for (and homeschool) children cut off from their normal routines and activities, those who have ADHD may need extra structure and support to manage attention and behavior challenges and keep on track with learning in this challenging situation.

COVID-19 Frequently Asked Questions, in Plain Language: Addresses a variety of topics related to the COVID-19 pandemic, drawn from numerous reliable government sources that can be helpful to parents of students. The FAQ has been developed by the PCORI Knowledge Translation Center at American Institutes for Research. Provided as a resource for schools, day care and healthcare organizations, and other public centers to distribute, this resource is designed to make basic health information accessible and comprehensible to everyone, regardless of education level or background.  The FAQ is provided in English, Spanish, and Simplified Chinese.

Shift to At-Home and Online Learning Underscores the Importance of Culturally Responsive Education Practices in Schools: Shares insights from a middle school principal and a Mathematica researcher about disparities that impact learning opportunities for some individuals to continue learning at-home. This one-hour video episode of On the Evidence features research and the field on implementing culturally responsive practices to weaken and surmount social and institutional barriers that inhibit student success.

An Unexpected Tool for Remote-Learning During Coronavirus: Public TV Stations: Documents how public television stations are taking the initiative to fill a void created by the digital divide for families lacking access to more advanced solutions used for online learning. Television-based learning represents a low-cost, readily accessible solution for districts that have been forced to develop and implement long-term online lesson plans on the spot, while facing a shortage of available devices and WiFi access for many students.

Center for Health Care Strategies, Inc. (CHCS)
Addressing the Needs of Medicaid Populations During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Collects resources for health care stakeholders aimed at lessening harmful impacts of COVID-19 on high-risk populations. Vulnerable populations that rely heavily on Medicaid, including families with low-incomes, people of color, and those with complex medical, behavioral health, and social needs, are being disproportionately impacted. (CHCS pledges to expand and refresh this library of key guidance, reference materials, and tools over time.)  

Navigating Uncertain Times: How Schools Can Cope with Coronavirus: Collects news, resources, expert advice, and innovative practices from across the U.S. to inform schools’ decision-making for establishing and operating effective remote learning.  Ed Surge and its parent organization, International Society for Technology in Education [ISTE], pledge to continuously replenish this sight.  ISTE and Ed Surge are also offering a weekly live webinar series,

Understanding the Impact of Coronavirus on K-12 Education: Describes how K-12 schools are coping, the move to remote learning and how students and educators are being impacted by the virus.

Preparing to Take School Online? Here Are 10 Tips to Make It Work: Provides tips to support schools that are transitioning to online learning.

Feds Give E-Rate Applicants New Flexibility to Get Help from Vendors: Shares FCC announcement immediately waiving certain rules to promote internet connectivity for students during the coronavirus pandemic.  Work with your state’s E-rate coordinator to explore how to take fullest advantage of this immediate opportunity.  

Helping Teachers and Students Make the Switch to Remote Learning: Shares lessons learned from educators that have moved to 100% remote learning in China, Seattle and Australia.  From preserving student-teacher 1:1s to bringing lessons to life in the virtual classroom, this site offers useful advice for educational organizations that are moving online. Microsoft is providing educational institutions with free access to Microsoft Teams (enhanced versions have monthly user fees). 

Apps and Websites for Improving Parent-Teacher Communication (Spanish language resources): Identifies and describes a vetted list of apps and websites that provide practical, regular communication tools to encourage active engagement among students, teachers and parents.  More than half of the programs selected by Common Sense Education are available for free.

Power Up Your Parent Teacher Communication: Offers numerous programs, tools and tip sheets, introduced in a short video clip; and recommends Resources for Educators During the Coronavirus Pandemic.

Maintaining Ties When School Closes Is Critical to Preventing Dropouts: Recommends “virtual support” methods and practices to maintain engagement of students at risk of dropping out of school.  "The idea is to try to find ways that, once a week at the minimum, you're doing some sort of face-to-face where the students can hear you talking and they can respond to you in conversation." This Education Week blog explores techniques to strengthen the “school experience” dimension of learning.

Public Health Emergency – Community Resilience: Discusses the concept of community resilience, its importance during public health emergencies and subsequent recovery, and strategies recommended by U.S. DHHS to build community resilience.

Supporting Middle Level Educator through COVID-19: Promotes learning events and collaborative online spaces to support middle level educators through the COVID-19 pandemic. Offers tips for selecting remote learning resources and how to effectively use them to keep students engaged outside the classroom.

Coronavirus (COVID-19) Resources for School Communities: Provides a platform for parents and educators to access social media networks, published resources, and scheduled and recorded webinars to apply the evidence-based RULER approach to social and emotional learning to the current national emergency. The Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence has developed this hub to help teachers, caregivers and school leaders build and sustain positive emotional and learning environments for children while they are staying home due to school closures. 

Video Chats, Phone Calls, Postcards: Teachers Rebuild Connections with Students During Coronavirus Pandemic: Examines the loss of school rituals for both students and teachers as part of their school closure experiences. This Education Week article describes numerous ways that K-12 schools and districts are improvising shared experiences to rebuild their communities.  

Resources During COVID-19 for Youth, Families & Schools: Offers a schedule of free interactive on-line sessions to support virtual connections for students during large-scale physical isolation, including school closures. Scheduled and moderated by Please Pass the Love, an Iowa-based non-profit committed to expanding school mental health supports for students, meet-up sessions focus on various developmental levels (e.g. elementary programs, middle school programs, high school programs) and interests (e.g. art sharing sessions); along with adult programs for educators, administrators, school counselors and others who work with children and youth.

Virtual Learning in a Time of School Disruption: Explores advantages of utilizing virtual learning practices along with strategies to effectively engage students at significant risk of alienation from learning in a brief video podcast presented by Ray McNulty, President of the National Dropout Prevention Center. 

Communicating with Your Audience During COVID-19: Five Essential Tips: Highlights useful tips for thinking through the elements of communicating during a crisis that can be used for family engagement.

Aunt Bertha: The Social Care Network: Presents a meaningful on-line search tool inviting families to search for free (or reduced) cost services (e.g. medical care, food, housing, education, transportation, job training, legal aid) by zip code. Specific COVID-19-related programs and services are also currently featured. This tool, along with 211.org supports efforts of school social workers to link students and families to instrumental support through the current emergency.

Free Distance Learning Plans for K-2 Students and Their Families: Introduces “fun and friendly” weekly learning plans for K-2 children, assists educators of young students with opening up lines of communication for their families, and engages students in new digital learning routines. Common Sense Learning offers these free resources as a quick-start guide to help establish a comfortable distance learning climate at home. The three packets – one each for kindergarten, grades 1 and 2 students - are structured around basic principles including: 1.) Start with digital citizenship, 2.) Set reasonable goals, and 3.) Attempt a schedule. 

National Association of School Psychologists
Health Crisis Resources: Presents a selected set of resources to help schools and school districts to provide support for their students and community in the event of a health crisis like the COVID-19 pandemic.  Resources include Responding to COVID-19: Brief Action Steps for School Crisis Response Teams; Preparing for Infectious Disease Epidemics: Brief Tips for School Mental Health Professionals; Countering COVID-19 Stigma and Racism; and many more.

National Center for School Mental Health
COVID-19 Responses: Presents resources that offer general information about the coronavirus (signs and symptoms, official national and international updates); that can support schools in educating students effectively while protecting their health and emotional wellbeing; and that can serve parents and caregivers by informing their support for young children and youth as they weather the crisis and the many transitions it is causing.

National Child Traumatic Stress Network [NCTSN]
Parent/Caregiver Guide to Helping Families Cope With the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19): Provides parents and caregivers with important information about the COVID-19 outbreak, and how being prepared can reduce one’s stress and help calm likely anxieties. This fact sheet, developed by leading experts in trauma-informed practices, will help parents think about how an infectious disease outbreak might affect their family—both physically and emotionally—and what they can do to help their family cope.

National Council for Behavioral Health
Resources and Tools for Addressing Coronavirus (COVID 19): Offers curated information resources for the general public, and for behavioral health organizations, focusing on understanding, mitigating and addressing behavioral health impacts of the pandemic on individuals, families and organizations. 

National School Boards Association
COVID-19: Preparing for Widespread Illness in Your School Community: Provides information and strategies for situational planning to address COVID-19 challenges in a school district. Offers a planning checklist for school leaders to plan for an outbreak and other general guidance resources.

REMS TA Center
Continuity of Teaching and Learning Online Resources: Presents free products and resources to support education agencies in their infectious disease planning efforts. Accesses training packages, publications, online courses, tabletop exercises and more on our new COVID-19 Resources Page.

The Collaborative for Academic, Social and Emotional Learning [CASEL]
SEL Resources During COVID-19: Explains how social and emotional learning [SEL] offers a powerful means to explore and express emotions, build relationships, and support each other – children and adults alike – during this challenging time.  This site offers sets of guidelines for three distinct audiences: parents and caregivers, educators, and leaders.

Center on the Developing Child, Harvard University
Partner Resources, Tools and Guides - COVID-19 Resources: Lists links to national and international resources that can help families, school social workers and other helpers to address a variety of concerns related to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Center’s team of experts has curated on-line resources spanning family needs from child care to housing, from food insecurity to health care and medical information.  A growing set of recordings in the Center’s “Brain Architects Podcast” series addresses contemporary COVID-19-related topics.

Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO)
CCSSO Supporting States Amid Coronavirus Outbreak: Presents guidance and resources from federal agencies to maintain efforts of state education leaders, support of schools, and districts in their preparation for, and response to, the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak in the United States. The website also includes CCSSO webinar slide decks, links to on-line resources for parents, and to support e-learning and provision of special education and related services during the national emergency.

National Academy for State Health Policy
COVID-19 State Action Center: Publishes resources to both feature, and inform, pertinent developments in state-level health policy to address and manage the CIVID-19 pandemic.