In the fall of 2020, schools are opening in a season of continuing trauma for students, families, and staff members. The deaths and illnesses of family, friends, and colleagues are perpetual reminders of how fragile life is and how the emotional needs of children and adults are a central responsibility of educational leadership.

We have interacted with thousands of school leaders and educators since COVID-19 essentially closed every school in the nation. In call after call, webinar after webinar, and video meeting after video meeting, these educators have expressed a growing belief that the start of the 2020-2021 school year will be anything but normal. Most anticipate there will be some form of remote learning involved even if students are able to physically attend school.

What will school look like in the fall? Will it be in-person, virtual, or some combination of the two? Teachers, students, and families are asking the same questions across the nation.

At Central Coast High School, where students are referred due to not being on track to graduate because of a history of failing classes, there were high levels of Ds and Fs. The number of students failing classes was making it even harder for students to graduate.

This is truly an unprecedented time in American educational history. I have been honored to continue relationships with schools across the country, albeit remotely, and am humbled by their leaders’ and faculties’ dedication to making this time as normal and productive as possible for their students

Many teachers are expert users of technology, so the focus on tech-based delivery is not too difficult for them. But some of their colleagues ­– and many of their students – are overwhelmed. In almost every school district, even those that have had one-to-one computer availability, a significant number of families have not had computers or internet access.

Twenty years ago, it was the first few hours after disaster struck that largely determined whether an organization would emerge from a crisis with its reputation intact.

The Marshall Memo is a weekly digest of the best ideas and research from a wide range of publications. Every Sunday, I sit down and read through the journals and magazines that came in that week (I subscribe to more than 60).

This week I was asked by an educator, “What does collaboration look like?” It’s a profound question, because the answer is much deeper than educators and administrators sitting around a table and being pleasant to one another. Collaboration is hard work and often requires a level of vulnerability that does not come easily to many faculty members.

The second study in the past month to document the long-term outcomes of effective early childhood education was released by the Consortium for Policy Research in Education (CPRE).

Everyone I know complains that there is too much to do and not enough time to get everything done. One of the biggest thieves of time is our email inbox. But to be fair, the inbox is not the problem; it’s the inefficient way in which we interact with emails.