All educators -- principals, counselors, and teachers alike -- are redefining their roles.

COVID-19 has required school administrators to implement necessary school closures and remote learning. In fact, all educators – principals, counselors, and teachers alike – are redefining their roles. With so many new needs from the field, the Texas Education Agency has responded swiftly with extensive guidance and updates. In this edition of the Strategist, we highlight several such resources for school administrator support during COVID-19.

Due to COVID-19, TEA has cancelled STAAR testing for the remainder of the school year and adjusted our state’s A–F Accountability System. For the 2019–20 school year, TEA proposes to label all districts and campuses Not Rated: Declared State of Disaster. College, career, and military readiness data will be reported only on TEA reports such as Texas Academic Performance Reports. It will not be used in ratings calculations for the 2019–2020 school year.

In just one month, we have shifted from an accountability mindset to focus on student equity and access to remote learning opportunities. Below we highlight some of the key changes that will undoubtedly impact the decisions you make as an administrator through the rest of the 2019–2020 school year.

As schools adjust to remote learning, administrators will create new connections among their students, staff, and community of families. Now more than ever, leaders are evolving and adapting to ensure that students are successful.

Texas OnCourse Support

Texas OnCourse is here to support you and your team in these uncertain times. While best practices may not yet be established, we would like to hear how your leadership team is approaching this unprecedented challenge. Our goal is to share ideas and lessons learned. No one need be alone in leading our districts through this severe disruption to education. Please take two minutes and tell us about your team's leadership during COVID-19.

As ever, Texas OnCourse’s professional development and curriculum resources are free and available online. Additionally, our team has created and organized valuable resources for Texas educators and their students specific to COVID-19. Check out these links and share with your staff:

Covid-19 Resource Roundup for Students

Videos, digital handouts, career assessments, and more for educators to share directly with students while the school doors are closed. We’ll be updating this page with new resources regularly, including a short video series we’re producing in the coming weeks.

Covid-19 Resource Roundup for Educators

Resources for remote advising and current information from all major Texas education agencies and education service providers. Regularly updated with new links.

Staying On Course for College and Career during COVID-19

Everything educators need to know about helping students stay on course for post secondary success during COVID-19.

Open Discussion: Sharing Practices for Supporting Your Students during COVID-19 Webinar

Over 600 educators registered for this webinar, held live April 7. In it, we and our community of educators shared important updates and practices on working with students at this time. If some of you were able to join us, thank you for participating! Here is access to our webinar recording. We consider it one of our best.

Additional Resources

TEA Website for Coronavirus (COVID-19) Support and Guidance

This webpage from TEA has general public health resources, superintendent debriefs, and more.

Cybersecurity Tips and Tools (PPT)

This informational presentation from March 24 covers cybersecurity challenges with a remote workforce.

COVID-19 Mental & Behavioral Health Grief & Trauma Informed Virtual Support and Statewide Resources List (PDF)

It is important to recognize that students and their families may be struggling with stress, anxiety, grief, and loss. This PDF includes a list of statewide resources that can help schools connect families with specific resources as needs are identified.