ReConnected Learning Resources
Strategies for Using American Rescue Plan Funding to Address the Impact of Lost Instructional Time
A recently released comprehensive guide from The U.S. Department of Education on how ARP ESSER funds can be used to address lost instructional time. […]
Practical Guide for Operationalizing CDC’s School Guidance
The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment released updated back-to-school guidance on July 20, 2021 based on new guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for how K-12 schools can reduce the… […]
Storyvine: Create Video Stories with Your Phone
Storyvine captures video with your smart phone, using customized video templates. This easy-to-use tool for structured storytelling yields better stories and keeps content authentic. Use Storyvine to create polished video stories in the amount of… […]
Tips for Telling Engaging Stories
Do you have a compelling story to tell? Stories are a great way to share what you have learned from your experiences, encounters, and projects. This brief quick-reference will help you get started. […]
COVID-19 Learning Impacts Toolkit
The Colorado Department of Education created a COVID-19 Learning Impacts Toolkit to help district and school leaders plan and implement strategies to address the impacts of lost instructional time on the learning and wellbeing of… […]
Chiefs for Change ESSER Planning Workbook
Districts are now faced with a “once in a lifetime” funding opportunity to advance student achievement; the time is now to get this right. This is an opportunity for staff and the community to generate… […]
Advancing Summer Opportunities to Stem Pre-K – 5 Learning Loss and Accelerate High School Engagement
The COVID-19 pandemic has upended life around the globe for the last year for families and children, especially for those furthest from opportunity. Intuitively, we know children need targeted support to address the short- and… […]
Colorado School District Needs Inventory: Fall 2020
As a follow-up to the spring 2020 statewide needs assessment, The Colorado Department of Education (CDE) and The Colorado Education Initiative (CEI) partnered on a second needs inventory administered from October 14 to October 30,… […]
Colorado School District Needs Inventory: April 2020
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Colorado Department of Education administered the district and charter needs inventory from late March to early April. Superintendents, BOCES directors, and charter and approved facility school leaders were… […]
What the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 Means for Education Equity
CEI partnered with The Education Trust to better understand what the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 means for education equity. This detailed explanation of Colorado funding allocations includes how funding can be used, strategies… […]
Turnaround for Children Toolbox
The Turnaround for Children Toolbox is an online hub for science-grounded ideas and resources that empower educators—including teachers, school and district leaders, student support staff, and many others—to embed an equitable whole-child purpose into our… […]
FAFSA Resources for Educators
Colorado students received more than $1.5 billion in financial aid for the 2020-21 school. My Colorado Journey has published a toolkit to help students get their piece of the pie for 2021-22 through submission of… […]
Schoolhouse.world
CEI has partnered with with Schoolhouse.world, to bring an online platform that pairs students with tutors around the globe to Colorado. Schoolhouse.world was launched in early 2020 by Sal Khan, the founder of the popular… […]
Words Beyond Walls
Words Beyond Walls is a community-driven nonprofit that supports young adults with justice system experience to facilitate creative writing and arts workshops for incarcerated students. […]
A Parent’s Guide to Virtual Learning: 4 Actions to Improve Your Child’s Experience With Online Learning
National Center for Learning Disabilities provides this resource to families to support children with disabilities during remote learning. […]
COVID-19 Resources & Guidance from NAEHCY
This collection from the National Association for the Education of Homeless Children and Youth (NAEHCY) have been gathered to assist in providing service to students experiencing homelessness. Resources at the national and state levels on… […]
Tough as a Mother
Being a mom is tough – but so are you. If you are using alcohol or other drugs to cope with stress, you are not alone. Support is available so you can be the strongest… […]
Art with Heart
Teaching kindness and Social /Emotional Learning through Art. Primarily for Elementary students, but if high school students would like to volunteer this would be a wonderful addition for your college resume. This group meets once… […]
The Story of the Oyster & The Butterfly: The Corona Virus and Me
This book brings empowerment and resources to dissociative children and their therapists. It reminds children of their “inner and outer powers” and how they can utilize them during moments of crises. This book also supports… […]
Teacher Digital Learning Guide
This guide created by the U.S. Department of Education is designed to provide important resources and recommendations to support teacher implementation of digital learning. Digital learning is defined as “any instructional practice that effectively uses… […]
Narrative and COVID-19: Resources and Reading Lists
The Coronavirus pandemic is shaping (and being shaped by) narratives. These articles, essays, research and resources offer insights into narrative change strategy in the context of COVID-19. […]
CDE Grant Writing
View a 50-minute Grant Writing training video created by the Colorado Department of Education. This training covers: CDE Grants Overview and Trends Application and Scoring Rubric Tips for Planning your Grant Application Tips for Writing… […]
Advancing Science Research Teaching (ASRT)
The ASRT program is designed to equip high school teachers with the knowledge, insights, and activities to increase science research opportunities for their students. The program can be customized to help teachers that provide science… […]
Eight Successful Youth Engagement Approaches
Visit youth.org to find content for these areas of youth engagement: Youth councils Youth governance Youth serving on boards Youth voice Youth leadership programs Youth service Youth Organizing […]
Leadership, Change, and Redesign in Rural Colorado Districts
Nine Colorado school districts are actively participating in the Homegrown Talent Initiative (HTI), a cohort-based model that opens pathways for community collaboration and resource sharing while developing new plans for student engagement and economic prosperity…. […]
The State of Reopening Education in Colorado
Hear from leaders representing urban and rural Colorado school districts districts in this video presentation of The State of Reopening Education in Colorado. This discussion was held on November 13, 2020 and revolved around core… […]
Family SPEAK
Alliance for Kids offers a curated list of resources for learning at home in their Family SPEAK website. The list includes: Promoting Social-Emotional Skills During Virtual Learning; Learning Pod Resource Guide for Families; Dial-A-Story; Motheread/Fatheread,… […]
Free Educational Programming: kanopy
Pikes Peak Library District (PPLD) offers free movies, documentaries and educational programming in the online platform kanopy. You need to sign in with your PPLD card and PIN number. The categories for content include movies,… […]
Beyond Reopening Schools: How Education Can Emerge Stronger Than Before COVID-19
An analysis of global trends in education and proposed actions to transform education systems in the new normal post-COVID. […]
9 Virtual Teaching Success Stories We Can All Learn From
Creative and impactful moves from teachers across the country to connect in new ways. […]
Back to School Guides For Creating a Caring School Community
The more connected staff, students, and families feel to their school environment, the more likely they are to find success. Now more than ever it is critical that educators use community building activities to foster… […]
SPECIAL REPORT: Taking Care of Teachers
This report includes tips on how to combat teacher exhaustion, address work-life balance, and limit anxiety through mindfulness. […]
Planning for the Next Normal at School
To assist schools in proactively addressing the health needs of the school community, a number of nationally recognized and trusted school health organizations have come together to develop a playbook for when learning starts again… […]
COVID-19 Early Literacy Loss: Strategies for States
In 2019, 35% of fourth-grade students in the U.S. performed at or above NAEP proficient in reading—accounting for just one of every three students. Students of color and those living in poverty or rural areas… […]
Case Study: Adams 12 Five Star Schools Learning Pods
In Adams 12 Five Star Schools, learning pods are a no-cost, in-person option for students. Learning pod activities are conducted during the standard school day time frame for students who need access to internet connectivity… […]
SHAPE AMERICA – SEL Skills in Health and Physical Education
For health and physical education teachers who are still teaching virtually, the Virtual and Distance Learning Resource Guide helps teachers adapt the health. moves. minds. lessons and activities to meet the needs of distance learning…. […]
Leveraging Social and Emotional Learning to Support Students and Families in the Time of COVID-19
This blog post offers practical strategies from schools around the country to provide social and emotional (SEL) support to children and families in the time of remote learning. These SEL moves seek to foster equity,… […]
Back to School Planning: School Nutrition Guidance
View the back-to-school planning webpage for school nutrition guidance and resources related to the reopening of schools for the 2020-21 school year. Find guidance on applicable school food service waivers, program operations and more. Submit… […]
Reopening Schools Planning Toolkit
This toolkit provides guidance for these content areas: Health and Safety Continuity of Learning Conditions for Learning Planning and Communication Policy and Funding More detailed guidance will be added over time; as the situation evolves,… […]
About The Hub
As public education evolves during uncertain times, The Hub is expanding to broaden our repository of resources and expand opportunities for information-sharing, collaboration, and learning. This overview outlines what you will find in each… […]
Reopening Schools: Health Guidance by COVID-19 Phase
The Colorado Department of Public Health & Environment, Colorado Department of Education and the Governor’s Office worked together to develop this guidance for Local Public Health agencies (LPHAs) and districts as they develop school plans…. […]
Buffering Stress During Difficult Times
Join Finessa Ferrell, Social Emotional Learning Specialist at CEI, in this 12-minute video that explores the six areas we have to tackle to help students and adults buffer stress: Balance, Breathing, Belonging, Boredom, [getting]Better and… […]
The Challenges of Reopening
Looking toward fall, how should schools rebound and innovate, while keeping health, wellness, and equity at the center? How can education reinvent, not just reopen? The Harvard Graduate School of Education explores this topic In… […]
Guidance on Culturally Responsive School Reopenings
The country is on the brink of beginning again. And as we restart our national engines, let’s do so with a steady and cautious hand, not taking for granted the sobering lessons that COVID-19 is… […]
COVID-19 Stress, Distress & Trauma Series
This 14-part video series addresses a range of topics related to how the brain and responds to stress, and resulting behaviors and responses. Each video is close-captioned with an auto-translate option. […]
Strategic Reopening Collaborative Toolkit
We know many educators, students, and their families are experiencing stress and anxiety—for some quite severe. From a learning perspective, this stress forces the brain to operate in a state of near constant engagement, negatively… […]
Trauma-Responsive Schools Theory of Change Toolkit
The Trauma-Responsive Schools Theory of Change Toolkit is now complete and available for download, free of charge. This toolkit offers an action plan for implementing trauma-responsive practices to help address each school’s unique priorities using… […]
Colorado Education Initiative