Translating the broad benefits of school—including the community, social connections, emotional support, academics, and enrichment it provides—into a new model of teaching and learning during extraordinary times is no easy task. Doing so while taking into account the diverse learning needs, languages, and living situations of students across your district is even more complex. 

The purpose of this resource is to support LEAs by providing suggestions to use or adapt as you see fit. We hope it can help leadership teams avoid having to reinvent the wheel.

This website offers two sets of resources to assist LEA leaders planning for teaching and learning in the context of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The Health and Safety Guidebook provides a single place for accessing up-to-date State and federal guidance around the safe reopening of schools, and the Field Guide for Accelerating Learning, Equity and Well-Being focus on providing supports to address key considerations for ensuring the continuity of teaching and learning through various instructional models. Both sets of resources offer practical, easy-to-understand resources, tools, and tips for leadership teams as well as ready-to-use communication and planning resources to support implementation. We recognize that local educational agencies will be making decisions based on the needs, concerns, and goals of their school and district communities, including local health and safety precautions. These playbooks do not supersede any of those but are meant to provide resources for planning based on them. 

NEW: We have updated the Health & Safety Guidebook to provide additional support in navigating, responding to, and communicating about steps that LEAs are taking to ensure that schools are returning to in-person instruction in a way that maximizes future equity outcomes and addresses the diverse needs of California’s students while continuously adapting to the challenges posed by COVID-19.

We hope the Health & Safety Guidebook and the Continuity of Learning Playbooks may serve as a robust starting place for you as you navigate these challenging decisions for your LEA community.

As educators, parents, and leaders, we believe equity should underlie all that we do. As such, we felt it was important to highlight equity considerations in each section rather than make it a standalone, add-on item. 

If you want to see equity-related recommendations at a glance, you can visit this table. 

If you’re looking to dive deeper into this work, our colleagues at Pivot and Unbound Ed have developed a great Equity Toolkit with some ready-to-use surveys and tools. And the great folks at SDCOE offer these additional guides on supporting particular subgroups of students: 

• • Native American students 
  • LGBTQIA+ students 
  • African American students
  • English learners 
  • Migrant students
  • Students in foster care or experiencing homelessness
  • Dual-language learners

The Health & Safety Guidebook is a resource designed to support LEA leadership teams plan for and maintain a safe return to in-person instruction on school campuses. The Guidebook has been updated based on the COVID-19 and Reopening In-Person Instruction Framework & Public Health Guidance for K-12 Schools in California, 2020-2021 School Year issued by the California Department of Public Health on January 14, 2021, as well as other State guidance for the K-12 setting. The purpose of the Health & Safety Guidebook is to provide rationale, tools, and resources for LEAs to use or adapt to address action steps framed around the community health context, facilities and school operations, safe school environments, and cohorting for safe learning.

These guidelines and considerations are based on the best available public health data at this time, international best practices currently employed, and the practical realities of managing school operations, as new data and practices emerge. All decisions about following this guidance should be made in collaboration with local health officials and other authorities.