Over the last few weeks, the White House, the Department of Education, and other federal agencies have released a significant amount of guidance to support schools, educators, and families regarding COVID-19 (Coronavirus). For updated information, please visit Coronavirus.gov, CDC.gov/coronavirus, and USA.gov/coronavirus.

For education-related information, the Department has established a dedicated Coronavirus webpage (ed.gov/coronavirus), which includes resources for institutions of higher education and for K-12.

• The website includes guidance for students at institutions of higher education, and covers Coronavirus-related scenarios that could impact students who are enrolled in study abroad programs, students who meet full-time requirements but fall below 12 credit hours, students who are quarantined and miss class, campuses that have temporarily stopped offering ground-based classes to prevent the spread of Coronavirus, and foreign schools that serve Americans who receive Federal financial aid. 
• Also see a letter from the Office for Civil Rights that addresses potential discrimination associated with coronavirus.

The Department has provided additional information for families and communities including:

• Information regarding certain flexibilities under the Every Student Succeeds Act, or “ESSA;”
• Information regarding services to children with disabilities;
• A fact sheet from our Office for Civil Rights on the risk of Coronavirus in schools while protecting the civil rights of students; and a short webinar on Online Education and Website Accessibility.
• Information on the Family Education Records Privacy Act, or “FERPA,” as it pertains to K-12 and higher education students.
• Information for Accrediting Agencies Regarding Temporary Flexibilities Provided to Coronavirus Impacted Institutions or Accrediting Agencies.

The Department will continue to update its website, ed.gov/coronavirus. Please direct education related questions to COVID-19@ed.gov. 

Today, in his daily press conference with members of the Coronavirus Task Force, President Trump announced that Secretary DeVos was taking some additional actions to support students, educators, and schools impacted by COVID-19.

Secretary DeVos announced students impacted by school closures due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic can bypass standardized testing for the 2019-2020 school year. Upon a proper request, the Department will grant a waiver to any state that is unable to assess its students due to the ongoing national emergency, providing relief from federally mandated testing requirements for this school year.

“Students need to be focused on staying healthy and continuing to learn. Teachers need to be able to focus on remote learning and other adaptations,” the Secretary commented. "Neither students nor teachers need to be focused on high-stakes tests during this difficult time. Students are simply too unlikely to be able to perform their best in this environment. Our actions today provide turnkey flexibilities for state and local leaders to focus on the immediate needs of their students and educators without worrying about federal repercussions.”

The Secretary also announced that the office of Federal Student Aid is executing on President Donald J. Trump’s promise to provide student loan relief to tens of millions of borrowers during the COVID-19 national emergency.

All borrowers with federally held student loans will automatically have their interest rates set to 0% for a period of at least 60 days. In addition, each of these borrowers will have the option to suspend their payments for at least two months to allow them greater flexibility during the national emergency. This will allow borrowers to temporarily stop their payments without worrying about accruing interest.

“These are anxious times, particularly for students and families whose educations, careers, and lives have been disrupted,” said Secretary DeVos. “Right now, everyone should be focused on staying safe and healthy, not worrying about their student loan balance growing. I commend President Trump for his quick action on this issue, and I hope it provides meaningful help and peace of mind to those in need.”

Career and Technical Education (CTE) Month is a public awareness campaign occurring every February to celebrate the value of CTE and the achievements of CTE programs. In recognition, several senior Department officials visited CTE programs at schools across the nation.

Deputy Secretary Mick Zais gave remarks at South Carolina’s College Technical System Conference and visited several CTE-rich schools, such as the Academy for Technology and Academics (ATA) in Conway, South Carolina. There, he observed ATA’s innovative programs for students pursuing careers on nearly a dozen pathways.

Assistant Secretary Scott Stump gave remarks and met with CTE educators and stakeholders at conferences in Pennsylvania and Illinois. While in Illinois, he visited Heartland Community College in Normal and participated in a roundtable discussion with students, teachers, and state and local leaders about the potential benefits of the $900 million increase in CTE funding in the president’s budget request. Stump also traveled to Indiana, where he visited Whiteland Community High School to learn more about how the school is preparing students for the workforce through its award-winning Agriculture Science program.

These CTE visits are a part of a continued Department-wide effort to highlight schools around the country that provide students with multiple pathways to success during National CTE Month.

On Jan. 31, U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos announced new flexibility for four states that are rethinking education in order to better serve students and meet local needs. Massachusetts, North Carolina, Texas, and Vermont were recently approved to participate in the Education Flexibility Program (Ed-Flex), which was updated by the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). Ed-Flex encourages local innovation and returns power to states from the U.S. Department of Education by allowing states to waive certain federal statutory or regulatory requirements under the law. In their successful applications, these states proposed to use additional flexibility to release school districts from onerous federal requirements in favor of locally driven approaches.

ED UNVEILS NEW CIVIL RIGHTS INITIATIVE TO COMBAT SEXUAL ASSAULT IN K-12 PUBLIC SCHOOLS

Last month, the U.S. Department of Education announced a new Title IX effort to combat the troubling rise of sexual assault in K–12 public schools. It builds on the Department’s work to implement the “Pass the Trash” provisions of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), which prohibits schools from simply moving employees who have committed acts of sexual misconduct. The Office for Civil Rights will start nationwide compliance reviews to examine how schools address misconduct complaints under Title IX, and more closely review data on sexual misconduct submitted to the federal government by the nation's school systems. This new initiative will also include public awareness campaigns, quality reviews of data submitted by school districts on sexual assault offenses, and a nationwide proposal to collect more detailed data on sexual assault and incidents perpetrated by school staff or personnel.

The year 2020 marks the 100th anniversary of the first federally funded program to assist people with disabilities who had not acquired their disabilities as a result of serving in the military. Vocational rehabilitation programs are part of OSERS’ RSA, which administers and supports a comprehensive array of formula and discretionary grant programs and projects that serve and assist individuals with disabilities. RSA developed a historical perspective video, “The State Vocational Rehabilitation Services Program: The First 100 Years,” as part of its 100 Years of Vocational Rehabilitation celebration. Visit the Vocational Rehabilitation 100th Anniversary page to follow along with the RSA’s year-long VR100 celebration.

Secretary DeVos and senior officials from the departments of Health and Human Services, Homeland Security, and Justice met with families from the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School (Parkland, Florida) shooting at the White House to launch the federal school safety clearinghouse SchoolSafety.gov.  A one-stop-shop of resources for K–12 education administrators, educators, parents, and law enforcement officials, this website builds on the recommendations of the 2017 Federal Commission on School Safety.

SchoolSafety.gov features 1) the School Safety Readiness Tool, a self-assessment for schools across 10 foundational safety elements; 2) a secure information sharing platform; and 3) an array of best practices and resources on key school safety topics to both promote vigilance and build capacity to respond to incidents.  The website will be continually refined and expanded.

Last month, the U.S. Department of Education and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced a new coordination agreement in order to better serve student loan borrowers. The newly signed Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) will allow the two agencies to share complaint information from borrowers and meet quarterly to discuss observations about the nature of complaints received, characteristics of borrowers, and available information about resolution of complaints.

ED’s Office of Educational Technology (OET) will host a series of Regional Digital Equity Summits in Spring/Summer 2020 that will bring together state and local education leaders and community collaborators to identify strategies, connect with resources, and explore opportunities to address local digital equity challenges of broadband access, affordability, and use for students at school and home. The Summits are FREE to attend and will take place in Alaska, California, Illinois, Montana, Pennsylvania, and Texas. As new information becomes available, the OET Summit website be updated.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has proposed procedures for the first phase of the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund auction, which will make up to $16 billion available for the deployment of fixed broadband networks across rural America. The Rural Digital Opportunity Fund is targeting funding towards some of the least-served parts of the country and October’s Phase I auction could bring high-speed broadband to as many six million unserved homes and businesses this year, representing the FCC’s biggest step ever toward bridging the digital divide.

In  a separate action, the FCC also proposed targeted changes to its White Space device rules to pave the way for improved broadband coverage for rural Americans. White Space devices operate in portions of the broadcast television bands that are not used by television stations and can be used to provide broadband and other wireless services.

The Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) announced a series of public input sessions to identify critical opportunities and challenges facing Appalachia's economic future. Envision Appalachia: Community Conversations for ARC’s Strategic Plan will gather insights from these public sessions, coupled with guidance from regional, state, and local partners, and will inform ARC's strategic plan for fiscal years 2021-2025. ARC develops a new strategic plan every five years in accordance with the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). More than 3,000 Appalachians provided input to develop ARC's current strategic plan, which expires on September 30, 2020.

Agriculture Secretary Perdue created the Rural Development Innovation Center to identify and develop new tools to better serve rural communities in achieving prosperity.

The Innovation Center is hard-wired into USDA’s structure with a mission to identify best practices and bring continuous improvement in program delivery to enhance the quality of life in rural communities. The Center works to transform rural communities through strategic partnerships, data analytics and regulations management.

In the heart of barley country Fairfield, Montana, is a small, rural town with an approximate population of 650 people. Fairfield Elementary’s (FES) early K-6 school has an enrollment of 155 students. The school and its success are everything to this community.

The school, which is connected to the grades 7-12 building, sits on the edge of town near the Rocky Mountain Front and services students from all over the area. Students are lucky to interact on a daily basis with their mentors at the high school as students share classrooms in the building.

Over the past 25 years, Fairfield has striven to stay at the top of technological advances. Every room is equipped with a smartboard and a projector, EK-2 are equipped with iPads, grades 3-6 are equipped with Chromebooks and FES is fortunate to have two 30 computer hard wired labs for varying activities and maker space activities. The school prides itself on always striving for success and opening its doors to offer many activities to the community.

Read more about National Blue Ribbon School Fairfield Elementary…