On October 11, 2024 the RESTART Network hosted the 2024 Virtual National Symposium: Lasting Lessons: Embracing Enduring Shifts in PreK-12 Education Systems featuring the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP) and the Council of the Great City Schools (CGCS). The symposium included presentations from researchers, school leaders, and policymakers about the enduring changes in PreK-12 education in the wake of the pandemic. 

Symposium Topics 

• Recovery research & policy: RESTART Network's California Expanded Learning Opportunities and Chicago Skyline Early Literacy research teams shared highlights from their studies. Researchers from CALDER Center discussed the Road to COVID Recovery project. 
• National policy efforts: Discussions featured principals associated with NASSP and leaders from Denver Public Schools, a CGCS district focused on the lasting lessons from the pandemic and being ready for future educational disruptions. 

Presenters

• Dr. Susan Therriault, Principal Investigator and Institute Fellow, American Institutes for Research (AIR) and RESTART Network

• Dr. Jonathan Isler, Administrator, California Department of Education Office of Research Requests and Partnerships (ORRP)

• Dr. Julian Betts, Professor, Department of Economics, University of California at San Diego

• Dr. Alex Marrero, Superintendent, Denver Public Schools

• Dr. Simone Wright, Chief of Academics, Denver Public Schools

• Dr. Elaine Allensworth, Lewis-Sebring Executive Director, University of Chicago Consortium on School Research

• Dr. Elise Dizon-Ross, Researcher from the Road to Recovery 

• Greg Waples, Senior Program Manager, State Engagement and Outreach, National Association of Secondary School Principals

• Dr. Michael Rubin, Principal, Uxbridge High School, Massachusetts

• Dr. Terri Daniels, Principal, Folsom Middle School 

Full Event Recording

Symposium Clips

Introduction

Supporting Professional Learning for Curriculum Implentation: Lessons Learned from Studying Chicago's Skyline Curriculum for Early Literacy

Striving for Achievement in a Post-Pandemic Era

Learning Recovery in California: Lessons from a Research-Practice-Partnership

Impacts of Academic Recovery Interventions on Student Achievement in ESSER Year 3

Principal Perspectives Panel

The RESTART Network is part of a larger set of federally funded grant programs designed to generate and share evidence-based strategies with the goal of accelerating post-pandemic academic recovery. 

Photo credit: Allison Shelley/The Verbatim Agency for EDUimages