Providing Supports to Students, Young Children, and Families

The COVID-19 pandemic has been an unprecedented crisis with acute consequences for students, young children, families and caregivers, faculty, staff, and whole school and campus communities. Many students and young children experienced social isolation, loss of a loved one or other trauma, or anxiety in relation to the pandemic. The families and caregivers of students and young children continue to experience unemployment and difficulties providing for basic needs such as food, housing, and health care. The academic impact of lost instructional time is a serious issue across the nation, as many students have fallen behind academically. Thus, providing supports to students, young children, and families is integral to holistic and long-lasting recovery.

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“Let’s take on mental health — especially among our children, whose lives and education have been turned upside down. The American Rescue Plan gave schools money to hire teachers and help students make up for lost learning. I urge every parent to make sure your school does just that...We can all play a part.”
President Joe Biden, State of the Union Address

The resources on this page share school, early childhood education program, and campus strategies to meet students’ and young children’s social, emotional, mental health, developmental, academic, financial, and other needs. The resources include a specific focus on students furthest from opportunity and from historically underserved communities. These resources help to ensure that the resources provided by schools, early childhood programs, and campuses will be able to connect with and meet the needs of all students who are struggling to recover from the academic, social, and emotional losses brought about by the pandemic. Teachers, early childhood providers, faculty, staff, schools, districts, early childhood programs, institutions of higher education, other places of educational instruction, and States may use these lessons learned, best practices, and Federal resources to guide their strategies for meeting a diverse array of students’, young children’s, and families’ needs during the pandemic recovery process.

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Comprehensive Mental Health Supports

From Recovery to Thriving: How the American Rescue Plan is Supporting America’s Students was part of the U.S. Department of Education’s virtual summit. This Webinar spotlights States and school districts that have used ARP funding to provide comprehensive mental health supports for students, including students who have been historically underserved.

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Behavioral Needs: Evidence-Based Practices for Educators

This practice guide offers positive, evidence-based teaching practices that support and respond to students’ social, emotional, and behavioral needs in learning environments.

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How to Engage the Arts to Build COVID-19 Vaccine Confidence

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shares field guides, resources, and examples that public health professionals, health communicators, teachers, and community organizations can use in their work to increase COVID-19 vaccination confidence and demand through the arts.

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U.S. Department of Education: Supporting Child and Student Social, Emotional, Behavioral, and Mental Health Needs

This resource is intended to supplement the information in the ED COVID-19 Handbook, Volume 1: Strategies for Safely Reopening Elementary and Secondary Schools, Volume 2: Roadmap to Reopening Safely and Meeting All Students’ Needs, and Volume 3: Strategies for Safe Operation and Addressing the Impact of COVID-19 on Higher Education Students, Faculty, and Staff, by providing focused information and resources to enhance the promotion of mental health and social and emotional well-being among students.

This resource highlights seven key challenges to providing school- or program-based mental health support across early childhood, K-12 schools, and higher education settings, and presents seven corresponding recommendations. The appendix provides additional useful information, including (1) numerous examples corresponding to the recommendations highlighting implementation efforts throughout the country; (2) a list of Federal resource centers; (3) a list of resources to assist educators (teachers, providers, and administrators) in implementing the recommendations; and (4) guidance on existing programs that can support social, emotional, and mental health services for students.

Submit Your Lessons Learned and Best Practices

Have a lessons learned or best practice that focuses on helping students, young children, and families continue to recover from the pandemic? Visit the Best Practices Submission page to view details on submission requirements, and then e-mail Bestpracticesclearinghouse@ed.gov to share your lessons learned or best practice.

Provide Feedback

Have feedback to share on a resource accessed on the Clearinghouse site? We want to hear from you. Select the button below to share your feedback with the U.S. Department of Education and the Clearinghouse team.

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Student Engagement and Attendance Center: Attendance Supports Reflection Tool for State Education Agencies

These tools help guide State and local education agency staff in reviewing their attendance guidance and identifying opportunities to strengthen the guidance and supports across an array of instructional settings. The State-level version also offers strategies to support local education agency efforts to boost attendance.

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U.S. Department of Education, Office of English Language Acquisition: Addressing the Impact of COVID-19 on Multilingual Learners and Their Social and Emotional Well-Being

This fact sheet describes the disproportionate impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on English learners and provides recommendations for creating supportive learning environments to help English learners overcome these impacts.

Submit Your Lessons Learned and Best Practices

Have a lessons learned or best practice that focuses on helping students, young children, and families continue to recover from the pandemic? Visit the Best Practices Submission page to view details on submission requirements, and then e-mail Bestpracticesclearinghouse@ed.gov to share your lessons learned or best practice.

Provide Feedback

Have feedback to share on a resource accessed on the Clearinghouse site? We want to hear from you. Select the button below to share your feedback with the U.S. Department of Education and the Clearinghouse team.

View Resources