Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, equipping each student with a personal laptop or other computing device is no longer revolutionary—it’s a necessity. As virus cases continue to climb, students rely on their district-issued devices to learn remotely and in hybrid classrooms.  

As school districts nationwide struggle to educate their students during the COVID-19 pandemic, Middletown Public Schools in Connecticut has found its stride. This fall, the district successfully implemented a hybrid learning approach that provides its 4,600 students a mix of in-person and remote instruction. It hasn’t been easy, admits Superintendent Michael Conner, EdD. But through the hard work and dedication of Middletown’s innovative educators and school staff, the district has avoided the “cataclysmic learning loss” predicted nationally, he says. In fact, Middletown’s students are performing better in English language arts than they were one year ago and have experienced only minor learning loss in math, Conner says. Those results are significant in a district where half of the students come from historically underserved populations.

What is the secret to Middletown’s success?

Now, more than ever, digital learning is no longer confined to a school or classroom. Instead, learning is mobile and should be available to students anytime and anywhere. As we prepare for Digital Learning Day’s (DLDay’s) tenth birthday on February 25, 2021, the Alliance for Excellent Education (All4Ed) invites educators to join our Future Ready Schools^® (FRS) DLDay network because together we’re better, together we’re future ready.  

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, rates of anxiety were rising among today’s students. But after months of school closures and social distancing, indicators of students’ overall health and well-being have suffered even further. In fact, findings from a survey of students by America’s Promise Alliance “suggest that students are experiencing a collective trauma [during the pandemic] and that they and their families would benefit from immediate and ongoing support.”  

It takes a village to educate a child, especially during a global pandemic. Fortunately, “we have a very large village in Wichita,” says Rob Dickson, chief information officer for Wichita [Kansas] Public Schools. Through teamwork and a collective commitment to meeting every student’s needs, school and district leaders are working with the local Wichita community to reimagine and reconfigure the learning environment for the district’s 49,851 students.

If you ask the students, teachers, and staff at Sutton Middle School to describe what sets their school apart from other Atlanta schools, they all agree—it’s the school’s diversity.  

In mid-August, the Val Verde (California) Unified School District began the 2020–2021 school year with all 20,000 students engaged in high-quality distance learning. Like districts nationwide, Val Verde implemented full distance learning in the spring and again this school year to protect the health and safety of students, staff, and families during the COVID-19 pandemic. But unlike some districts, Val Verde already had the tools, resources, and plan in place to transition students seamlessly to a remote environment thanks to the district’s preparation and participation in the Future Ready Schools^® (FRS) network.

“Community” is more than a word at UCLA Community School (UCLA-CS). Just as “community” sits at the center of the school’s name, a strong sense of community guides the teaching and learning practices at this unique school located in Los Angeles, California.  

On any given day, about 30 percent of students in Middletown City (Ohio) School District lack the home internet connectivity they need to participate in learning activities outside of school. It’s a reality that Superintendent Marlon Styles, Jr., and his team have worked diligently to address since he arrived in the urban school district three years ago.

Ever since Middletown Township Public Schools (New Jersey) joined the Future Ready Schools^® (FRS) network in 2015, the district has prioritized personalized learning for both its students and staff. At that time, district leaders never expected they would draw on that forward-thinking approach and commitment to innovative practices to educate students during a worldwide health crisis—or that such a crisis would reveal underlying equity issues in their district.