Is Your School District Prepared for the Upcoming ESSER Cliff?

Hello friends,

According to a recent?NWEA Center for School and Student Progress study,?K-12 academic achievement gains have not only stalled?over the past school year, but have?fallen short of pre-pandemic trends.??

This is obviously extremely disheartening news for all of us in the field.?Especially?when we know that many districts will soon be facing a significant funding cliff once ESSER relief funding officially expires next September 2024.?

In order to accelerate learning recovery, it’ll be more important than ever for district leaders to apply the lessons learned from the past year about what worked and what didn’t, while keeping sustainability at the forefront of their planning.?

Here are some tools and resources that can help:?

6 Key Factors to Assess Every District’s Risk of an Upcoming Fiscal Cliff???

We recently analyzed which?states will face a steeper ESSER funding cliff?in 2024,?but which districts are the most at-risk??As districts prepare to release their FY23 statements this fall, now is a great opportunity to explore this question and act early. Our latest publication highlights 6 key factors that indicate whether a district will be facing a steeper ESSER funding cliff and provides guidance for what state leaders can do now to support districts in sustaining their learning acceleration efforts.

Advocating for Education Equity as ESSER Spending Winds Down?

This new brief by The Education Trust provides advocates with key questions to ask district leaders to ensure ESSER investment decisions are being made in ways that center equity and improve student outcomes.?Read the brief here.?

10 Ways to Spend Remaining ESSER Dollars to Transform Schooling for Good

There’s still time to spend ESSER dollars in strategic ways before the upcoming ESSER cliff.

Read the publication for inspiration or use it as a checklist to evaluate your district’s spending to date.?

Read the brief.

More ESSER Strategy Resources

• What States Can Do to Support Districts Through the COVID Recovery Window to Accelerate Student Learning. One avenue for maximizing remaining ESSER dollars has remained largely untapped: garnering state support. ERS Partner Ventura Rodriguez and Senior Advisor Katie Roy provide advice?for how state leaders can support district leaders in their academic recovery efforts.
• Using ESSER Funds for Tutoring: Q&A with Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools. Many districts turned to high-dosage tutoring as a proven strategy for academic recovery. But what does it look like to build one of these programs from the ground up???
• ESSER Staffing and Scheduling Guides.?These nine guides explore research, highlight opportunities for sustainable investments, make priority recommendations, and provide concrete examples from districts already doing this work.?

Building the ESSER Network: A Q&A with ERS Partner Emily Parfit

We sat down with our newest Partner to discuss her work with the ESSER Network, a cohort of 18 districts who regularly convened to share stories and strategies on using ESSER funds as strategically and effectively as possible. This included where to invest, the processes of implementation for those investments, creating models of continuous improvement, and more.?Read the interview.

Stay tuned for more “Every school. Every student.”—a newsletter featuring tools and resources to empower?K-12 leaders to redesign school systems and improve student outcomes.

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