Last summer, as the Monterey Peninsula district in California planned to go back to school, homeless students quickly became a major focus.

Superintendent PK Diffenbaugh worried about the 200 students without stable housing or the internet. How could they access learning opportunities like everyone else if school remained remote?

The months since the pandemic have spotlighted many such inequities within the district, helping Diffenbaugh’s team see more clearly where they needed to focus when designing a back-to-school experience that could work for students with few resources.

That’s why, when Monterey reopened with remote learning in August, students without homes gained access to supplies and laundry machines as well as a safe physical space to learn.

What happened in Monterey could serve as a powerful lesson for other school systems.

Monterey is one of seven districts participating in a national cohort that has been planning more equitable and resilient approaches to teaching and learning — both for going back to school and for long-term sustainable change.  This network of learning communities, called the Always Ready For Learning Strategy Lab, is  working together to develop school system strategies.

Here are six takeaways from Strategy Lab districts’ back-to-school plans:

  1. Prioritize who gets access to in-person learning.
  2. Get crystal clear on learning objectives.
  3. Make learning more targeted and available anytime, anywhere.
  4. Know how each student is progressing.
  5. Attend to each student’s comprehensive needs.
  6. Include stakeholders in the process.

Read the full article about lessons learned from schools that faced adversity by Lauren Schwartze and Nate Kellogg at The Hechinger Report.