ESSER Spending Brief: Creating Lasting Impact

Frank D. Grossman / December 2021

In the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, Congress allocated nearly $190.5 billion in aid to K-12 schools in the form of the Elementary and Secondary Schools Emergency Relief (ESSER) fund. It is vital that this money be used to create sustainable impact, supporting our children’s learning far beyond the life of this unique funding cycle. First, educators must select evidence-based solutions. Brown University's Annenberg Institute for School Reform provides an ever-expanding review of research-based interventions. Second, as you plan to use ESSER funds, there are five important points to keep in mind to ensure lasting improvements:

  • Start with the end in mind. What is the improved future-state an initiative or program will achieve? Be specific about the tangible changes the ESSER funds will deliver, the impact they will have on your school or system, and the ways students will benefit after ESSER funding is gone.

  • Create alignment across current and prospective initiatives. Work collaboratively across departments to create an Initiative Map. This will uncover redundancies and misalignments as well as potential synergies, and people or projects that represent underutilized assets. Create Design Briefs for all projects and hold cross-department reviews. With those resources and opportunities in mind, start to brainstorm your new initiatives! Collaboratively charting and then discussing existing and prospective initiatives as they relate to organizational assets and priorities can reduce siloed thinking, bring about coherence, and create impact (and it is a lot of fun!).

  • Engage ALL stakeholders. Integrate multiple perspectives throughout the process. Include input from across all departments as well as students, families, and community members — those who will implement and those who will be impacted by the work. Utilize a formal process of need-finding that allows for the capturing of experiences of this diverse group of stakeholders. Create Personas and User Journeys to facilitate the process and build understanding and empathy for these multiple perspectives. This will ensure that initiatives are successfully implemented and meet the needs of those closest to the work.

  • Ensure Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion are visible and integrated. The process must include students, families, community members, and teachers in meaningful ways. As mentioned above, utilize a planning process that thoughtfully includes multiple perspectives. Ask whose voices are missing (or being discounted) and use Listening Protocols that acknowledge the power of those included. To mitigate power differentials, it is often useful to bring in a facilitator that is not embedded in your organization. Additionally, when designing instructional initiatives, build on the assets of students and families by acknowledging and including their experiences, histories, and linguistic traditions in authentic ways.

  • Build cycles of continuous improvement. Be clear about what success will look like, how it will be measured, and data that will be used to make mid-course adjustments. Use a Comprehensive Data Rubric to drive this process systemically and effectively. Create owners for all data and business processes. Measure implementation as well as impact data, and develop action-oriented processes that bring together multiple stakeholders. Use standardized agendas and protocols to drive action. Central office or school personnel may not have the knowledge to effectively use the data, so be intentional about how staff are taught to understand data to uncover issues and drive change.

The global Covid-19 pandemic has had a devastating impact on children and their families. Still, the future beckons. ESSER funds can, and must, be used to create long-term success. Educational leaders must be strategic and use the funding to create an improved educational reality for all students.

*IIG uses all resources highlighted in Blue when working with schools, districts, and educational organizations to design and implement projects. Our approach has been highly successful. Please contact us for more information on how we can help you create lasting and meaningful results.

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Reimagining the Possible: A Positive Frame for Education Planning in the COVID Age