The Elementary and Secondary School Relief Fund or ESSER, is an unprecedented opportunity to jumpstart innovation in K-12 education nationwide. Based on discussions I have had with school superintendents across the country, I have learned that there are several critically important factors school leaders must keep in mind when evaluating how they will utilize their remaining federal stimulus funding.

These include:

1. Stimulus funding has time limits but almost no limits on how it can be used in creative ways, in combination with other funds, and in ways that extend the impact far into the future;
2. Recreating the post-pandemic approach to education must be avoided – it did not work for far too many students then, and it certainly will not work now;
3. New approaches to education must have definite goals, but must also incorporate technology in new ways to respond to evolving needs;
4. New instructional models that use evidence-based approaches able to be scaled to benefit all students are needed to meet the moment now;
5. Students need relevant learning experiences that engage and inspire them while imparting both knowledge and skills that demonstrate the possibilities for college and career;

Discussions about federal stimulus funding, post-pandemic recovery, and the state of our public education system tend to diverge dramatically: Are we rushing headlong toward a monumental fiscal cliff that will devastate school district finances and hobble efforts of districts, schools, and teachers to recover from the pandemic? Or is it, in the blunt words of the old maxim “never let a good crisis go to waste,” a time to leverage the funding and the moment to reimagine, retool, and reinvigorate public education?

The answer, of course, is that it depends on the perspective and actions of those in charge of districts, schools, and classrooms. A deficit mentality that looks at the current situation as only one of recovery to a semblance of the pre-pandemic status quo will view the impending deadlines to use federal stimulus funding as one-way tickets to difficult destinations of scarcity and challenge that can only be minimally mitigated.

A growth mindset views the coming drawdown of federal stimulus funding as part of a larger narrative to reinvent education to achieve better, more equitable outcomes for all students. The pandemic magnified pre-existing inequities, inefficiencies, and insufficiencies; returning to the pre-pandemic status quo inherits all those problems but places them in an educational attainment context that is 20+ years in the past. Federal stimulus funding can be used on any activity that improves student outcomes.

This might seem like a recipe for short-term thinking and spending. In fact, with a little courage, knowledge, and strategy, these funds can become a down payment on innovative, sustainable change: Courage to question established practices and replace what hasn’t been working with new approaches backed with evidence; knowledge about how stimulus funding can be blended and braided with other federal funding, as well as state and local funding, to create a more wholistic and sustainable approach; strategy to plan for an unpredictable future with flexible approaches that can grow and evolve with the needs and the times, such as scaling up proven technological solutions that can be used in multiple modalities and for a variety of pedagogical purposes.  

And stimulus funding can be used in a “forward funded” manner that allows for pre-payment of contracts for multiple years to extend the functional utility of the funds beyond the deadlines, which takes a measure of courage, knowledge, and strategy to accomplish. 

If it is possible to be innovative with stimulus funding, what can or should be done? The first step is to deeply understand the lessons from the pandemic, but also the last 20-30 years in charting a new course. An overly myopic frame is as problematic as an overly optimistic one. The reality of the situation demands immediately actionable tactics that nest inside a strategic framework that is both clear in its goals and flexible in its execution.

Also, school leaders need to embrace an approach that better marries content knowledge with skill acquisition. Achieving passing scores on summative assessment that measure core subject knowledge is necessary but even less sufficient than it was before the pandemic. Students need to be exposed to curriculum and instruction that builds essential thinking, learning, and collaborating skills necessary for college or career. Relatedly, students are ever more focused on understanding and pursuing career or employment goals and need the opportunities to explore different occupations and see the connectedness to their present reality and future opportunities.  

The pandemic created unprecedented challenges for education while exposing problems that have been lurking inside our education system for a long time. These problems demand immediate attention in ways they were not given before the pandemic and ESSER funding can form the core of a strategic, innovative, sustainable approach to forging a more equitable, more successful future for all students.

About the author

Todd Wirt, Ed. D, is Discovery Education’s Vice President of Partner Success, and supports Discovery Education partners nationwide as they build dynamic digital learning environments connected to today’s world. A former North Carolina public school superintendent, Dr. Wirt helped create Discovery Education’s new guide to ESSER funding, now available here.