A further look into the pandemic’s impact on classroom learning

The challenge

The RAND Corporation and the Center on Reinventing Public Education launched the American School District Panel in the fall of 2020. The American School District Panel is the first nationally representative standing panel of school district leaders in the United States. It provides an opportunity for superintendents to share their perspectives and contribute to decisions about education policy and practice. The Center on Reinventing Public Education, a nonpartisan research and policy organization based at Arizona State University’s Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College, has since released numerous reports, including a report in July of 2023 documenting how the quality of classroom teaching fell during the COVID-19 pandemic due to unexpected challenges in staffing and teacher development.

A previous grant funded twice-yearly surveys and resulted in district profiles based on in-depth interviews with American School District Panel members. As the project came to a successful close, project collaborators saw a need to extend the research work.

The approach

Renewal of American School District Panel is being led by Robin Lake, director of the Center on Reinventing Public Education at ASU’s MLFTCMa, in collaboration with Lydia Rainey, an MLFTC research scientist. This is a five-year grant renewal to further extend the project’s research and impact through collaborations with RAND, topical briefs and case studies of school district leadership strategies.

This project aims to:

• Conduct follow-up phone interviews of five to 10 people per survey.
• Produce two reports per year, at least one of which will be co-authored with RAND.
• Lead the project’s advisory group and organize annual in-person meetings.

The Center on Reinventing Public Education team is conducting phone interviews with those taking part in surveys to further explore open-answer responses and deepen understanding. Between five and 10 respondents will be interviewed per survey, with two surveys conducted annually. This work is supported by a research analyst and project manager, and will require frequent coordination with RAND research partners.

The Center on Reinventing Public Education analyzes qualitative data to write two reports annually. A communications team will publish the reports through blogs and webinars. Additional opportunities to share findings can occur such at professional conferences.

The Center on Reinventing Public Education team is leading the project’s advisory group. This includes coordinating relationship-building and opportunities for strategic consultation and communications strategy support from its partners. Annual in-person meetings are geared to inform survey designs, research learning agendas, and report messaging with up-to-date perspectives from team advisors. This work is supported by a research analyst and project manager and requires frequent coordination with research partners at RAND.

Findings and impact

The grant extension will result in further collaborations with RAND, topical briefs and case studies of school district leadership strategies.