PreK–12 RESTART Network Lead (Research on Education Strategies to Advance Recovery and Turnaround)

The RESTART Network Lead engaged in four primary activities:

1. Network coordination. The Lead created and fostered a dynamic peer learning community composed of the network’s research teams and early career researchers, focused on sharing and using evidence to help accelerate PreK–12 pandemic recovery. The Lead hosted convenings with core research team members to accelerate and facilitate the network’s accomplishment of its goals. Convenings included knowledge-building activities and discussions of pertinent topics such as advancing school and district partnerships and effective dissemination strategies for local and national audiences. The Network Lead also engaged an advisory board composed of leaders from organizations and associations that represent key constituents of the network, including local, state, and professional associations representing governors, state education agency leaders, state board members, superintendents, principals, and educators focused on social and emotional learning. The Network Lead trained early career researchers in causal research methods, policy, grant writing, and dissemination through a series of conference and training sessions. For example, they organized a three-part series for early career researchers on the core research teams about the use of infographics to share findings with specific audiences.
2. Scan and synthesis of pandemic recovery needs and activities. The Network Lead carried out a scan of recovery activities and created a robust inventory of strategies being implemented to meet the recovery needs of underserved students in the following six areas: (1) literacy curricula, (2) social and emotional learning curricula, (3) accelerated learning programs, (4) tutoring programs, (5) summer school/school extensions/afterschool programs, and (6) teacher training or educator supports. The scan yielded a total of 4,197 abstracts related to COVID-19 pandemic recovery in K–12 schools. Full-text screening was completed on 1,569 abstracts, and full-text coding was conducted on 182 articles. The Lead leveraged this coding in addition to a scan of approved Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) state plans and evaluation information gathered from the Office of State Grantees to create an interactive map of recovery activities. Additionally, the Lead conducted a narrative synthesis that distilled lessons learned and programmatic effects on student well-being from the activities identified in the scan of recovery activities.
3. Network leadership. The Network Lead brought together a broad and diverse set of researchers and beneficiaries focused on pandemic recovery by (a) connecting network members to others involved in recovery activities and (b) launching and facilitating a forum of researchers, practitioners, and policymakers to identify recovery research needs and opportunities. They held three national forums and two virtual symposia that included a diverse range of people, including leaders at the state, school district, and school levels, as well as education researchers, membership organizations, and federal leaders. These activities served to broaden and strengthen the impact of the network.
4. Dissemination. The lead implemented a multifaceted dissemination strategy to disseminate and promote the network’s activities, findings, and products. This included hosting a network website that serves as a hub for pandemic recovery research and resources; posting to social media; identifying opportunities to communicate about the network and its activities, including organizing briefings for key stakeholders and presenting at national conferences; and coordinating with national associations and federally funded programs to promote the work of the network. The approach to dissemination and communication about the network emphasized formats that practitioners and policymakers would find engaging and accessible, such as short briefs, infographics, videos, blogs, and newsletters.