As the federal Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) funds approach their expiration date in September 2024, schools and districts across the nation are facing a budgeting season like no other. ESSER funding has played a pivotal role in supporting schools in recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, but with the deadline looming, districts and charters must take stock of their investments and ensure that programs that are making a positive impact for students continue in a post-ESSER world.
A team at the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction (NCDPI) has been examining COVID-19 learning recovery in the state as part of their Using Longitudinal Data to Support State Education Policymaking project, which is part of the IES-funded RESTART network. In addition to the research, members of the team at NCDPI developed a toolkit to help local leaders make decisions about what programs to continue or discontinue in the face of the upcoming expiration of federal funding to help schools with learning recovery post-pandemic. Through their work in the Office of Learning and Research (OLR) and the Division of Innovation at NCDPI, Rachel Wright-Junio, Jeni Corn, and Andrew Smith are responsible for managing statewide programs, conducting research on innovative teaching practices, and sharing insights using modern data analysis and visualization techniques. In this guest blog, they describe the need for the toolkit, how they developed it, how it is being used, and next steps.
The ESSER Funding Cliff Toolkit: A Data-Driven Approach
To help district and school leaders navigate the financial uncertainties following the end of ESSER funding, the OLR team created a Funding Cliff Toolkit as a starting point for data-driven decision-making based on unique local contexts. The toolkit provides a comprehensive set of resources, including a Return on Investment Framework and Calculator that uses detailed data on ESSER expenditures as well as the impacts on student outcomes of various investments. By using this toolkit, schools and districts can assess what worked during the ESSER funding period, identify areas for improvement, and create sustainable financial plans that ensure effective programs continue regardless of funding.
Knowing the far-reaching implications for this type of tool, the OLR team worked with federal programs and finance leaders across NCDPI. Additionally, they consulted leaders including superintendents and chief financial officers of North Carolina school districts and charter schools in the design process to ensure that the tool met their immediate needs. Finally, Drs. Brooks Bowden, associate professor at the Graduate School of Education at the University of Pennsylvania, and Nora Gordon, professor at the Georgetown University McCourt School of Public Policy, served as collaborators on the design of the ROI toolkit to ensure validity of the tool.
Rolling Out the Toolkit: Engaging Leaders Across the State
In rolling out the toolkit, the OLR Team intentionally invited diverse stakeholders to the table, including district staff from finance, federal programs, academics, and cabinet-level leadership. It was crucial to bring together the financial, compliance, and programmatic pieces of the “ESSER puzzle” to allow them to work collaboratively to take stock of their ESSER-funded investments and explore academic progress post-pandemic.
To ensure that the ESSER Funding Cliff Toolkit reached as many district leaders as possible, the OLR Team organized a comprehensive rollout plan, which began with a series of introductory webinars that provided an overview of the toolkit and its components. These webinars were followed by nine in-person sessions, held in each of the eight state board of education regions across North Carolina where over 400 leaders attended. Building upon the initial learning from informational webinars, in-person learning sessions featured interactive presentations that allowed district teams to practice using the tool with simulated data as well as their own. By the end of the session, participants left with new, personalized data sets and tools to tackle the impending ESSER funding cliff. After each session, the team collected feedback that improved the toolkit and subsequent learning sessions. This process laid the groundwork for continued support and collaboration among district and school leaders.
What's Next: Expanding the Toolkit's Reach
Next steps for the OLR Team include expanding the use of the toolkit and working with district and charter schools to apply the ROI framework to help districts make evidence-based financial decisions across all funding sources. Districts are already using the toolkit beyond ESSER-funded programs. One district shared how they applied the ROI framework to their afterschool tutoring programs. Other districts have shared how they plan to use the ROI framework and funding cliff toolkit to guide conversations with principals who receive Title I funds in their schools to determine potential tradeoffs in the upcoming budget year.
As North Carolina schools inch closer to the end of ESSER, the goal is to continue to encourage districts and charters to incorporate evidence-based decision-making into their budgeting and program planning processes. This ensures that districts and schools are prioritizing those programs and initiatives that deliver the most significant impact for students.
In addition to expanding support to North Carolina districts and schools, we also hope that this supportive approach can be replicated in other SEAs across the nation. We are honored to have our toolkit featured in the National Comprehensive Center's upcoming Communities of Practice (CoP) Strategic Planning for Continued Recovery (SPCR) and believe that cross-SEA collaboration in this CoP will improve the usefulness of the toolkit.
Rachel Wright-Junio is the director of the Office of Learning and Research (OLR) at the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction (NCDPI); Jeni Corn is the director of research and evaluation in OLR; and Andrew Smith is the deputy state superintendent in the NCDPI Division of Innovation.
Contact Rachel Wright-Junio at Rachel.WrightJunio@dpi.nc.gov for the webinar recording or copies of the slide deck from the in-person sessions.
This guest blog was produced by Corinne Alfeld (Corinne.Alfeld@ed.gov), NCER Program Officer.
