Key Policy Letter from U.S. Secretary of Education: Helping P-12 students recover from the impacts of the pandemic and thrive

Posted by U.S. Department of Education on May 16, 2023

Dear College, University, and School District Leaders:

As you know, the COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on our students’ learning and mental health and has widened long-standing inequities and opportunity gaps for low-income students, students of color, English learners, and students with disabilities. Thanks to your leadership and close collaboration with parents, families, and educators, many more students are on the path to recover from the pandemic and succeed in school, college, and future careers. However, the continued challenges our students face make it clear that we must provide even more support to help them fully recover.

The purpose of this letter is to encourage colleges, universities, and school districts to work together to use Federal Work Study (FWS) and other federal resources to increase the number of college students supporting school-aged children and youth as tutors, mentors, student success coaches, and other student support roles in our nation’s schools and out-of-school time programs.

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The National Partnership for Student Success invites schools and districts to connect with the NPSS for support designing, implementing, and improving programs that offer tutoring, mentoring, student success coaching, post-secondary transition coaching, or wraparound/integrated student support coordination.

The NPSS can also support schools and districts in engaging with community and national organizations and networks that can provide these types of student support.