Providing Supports to Students, Young Children, and Families

The COVID-19 pandemic has been an unprecedented crisis with acute consequences for students, young children, families and caregivers, faculty, staff, and whole school and campus communities. Many students and young children experienced social isolation, loss of a loved one or other trauma, or anxiety in relation to the pandemic. The families and caregivers of students and young children continue to experience unemployment and difficulties providing for basic needs such as food, housing, and health care. The academic impact of lost instructional time is a serious issue across the nation, as many students have fallen behind academically. Thus, providing supports to students, young children, and families is integral to holistic and long-lasting recovery.

“Let’s take on mental health — especially among our children, whose lives and education have been turned upside down. The American Rescue Plan gave schools money to hire teachers and help students make up for lost learning. I urge every parent to make sure your school does just that...We can all play a part.”
President Joe Biden, State of the Union Address

View Resources

The resources on this page share school, early childhood education program, and campus strategies to meet students’ and young children’s social, emotional, mental health, developmental, academic, financial, and other needs. The resources include a specific focus on students furthest from opportunity and from historically underserved communities. These resources help to ensure that the resources provided by schools, early childhood programs, and campuses will be able to connect with and meet the needs of all students who are struggling to recover from the academic, social, and emotional losses brought about by the pandemic. Teachers, early childhood providers, faculty, staff, schools, districts, early childhood programs, institutions of higher education, other places of educational instruction, and States may use these lessons learned, best practices, and Federal resources to guide their strategies for meeting a diverse array of students’, young children’s, and families’ needs during the pandemic recovery process.

Reducing Chronic Absenteeism: Lessons From Community Schools

This report and accompanying fact sheet from the Learning Policy Institute offer evidence-based strategies to improve student attendance and engagement, including increasing effective communication with families, making schools more engaging for students, and meeting students’ needs by investing in community schools.

Empty classroom chairs and desks
Happy female teacher giving high fives to young students in a classroom

Empathic Instruction: A Powerful Tool for Addressing Inequitable Disciplinary Actions in Schools

This resource outlines data on and impacts of race-based discipline disparities in schools. The infographic describes an intervention — the Empathic Instruction intervention — that schools and school districts can implement to disrupt bias, instill a growth mindset among teachers that positively impacts students, and reduce discipline disparities.

An expansive rural landscape with a road in the middle and corn fields on both sides of the road

Implementing Trauma-Informed Practices in Rural Schools

This brief shares an overview of research on adverse childhood experiences and describes the components, benefits, and impacts of trauma-informed approaches in rural schools. The brief outlines the challenges of implementing trauma-informed practices in the rural school setting and offers strategies for the implementation of trauma-informed practices.

Understanding Flexible Rural Career Pathways

This resource acknowledges the uniqueness of rural communities and provides knowledge necessary to create career pathways that connect the community to the student’s unique dreams. Knowledge includes factors that contribute to successful programs, challenges in rural education, and promising current interventions.

A man's leather shoes standing on painted arrows in the road

Submit Your Lessons Learned and Best Practices

Have a lessons learned or best practice that focuses on helping students, young children, and families continue to recover from the pandemic? Visit the Best Practices Submission page to view details on submission requirements, and then e-mail bestpracticesclearinghouse@seiservices.com to share your lessons learned or best practice.

Provide Feedback

Have feedback to share on a resource accessed on the Clearinghouse site? We want to hear from you. Select the button below to share your feedback with the U.S. Department of Education and the Clearinghouse team.

Collage of immigrant students

Newcomer Toolkit

With an overview, sample tools, and resources, this toolkit is designed to help U.S. educators: elementary and secondary teachers, principals, and other school staff who work directly with immigrant students—including asylees and refugees—and their families.

Parent, teacher and kids meeting in classroom at Montessori school for education, learning and teaching

Family Engagement: Online Technical Assistance Toolkit

This online resource toolkit for educators offers best practices for authentically engaging with families and community members.

Submit Your Lessons Learned and Best Practices

Have a lessons learned or best practice that focuses on helping students, young children, and families continue to recover from the pandemic? Visit the Best Practices Submission page to view details on submission requirements, and then e-mail bestpracticesclearinghouse@seiservices.com to share your lessons learned or best practice.

Provide Feedback

Have feedback to share on a resource accessed on the Clearinghouse site? We want to hear from you. Select the button below to share your feedback with the U.S. Department of Education and the Clearinghouse team.

View Resources