Youth in foster care experience significant obstacles in their lives, and the pandemic will only exacerbate the challenges of frequent transitions between homecare placements and schools and unmet physical and mental health needs. For a choice system to be effective, that system must prioritize the children who have the greatest barriers facing them.

The U.S. education system was fraught with obstacles for first-generation college students long before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. But the path to a college degree has become even more perilous for millions of middle- and low-income students in the last few months.  Policymakers and school leaders in more places must address the immediate pressures while also building a more innovative and tenable college advising solution for the future.

Just as schools receive charters to run independently of districts, teachers could receive charters to run classrooms independently of schools. In addition to providing teachers with more autonomy, charter teachers would give families the opportunity to select not the school their child attends but the individual who guides their child’s learning and development.

The pandemic will decide when schools can reopen. Educators must start building robust online learning systems for next year. We need schools to be realistic about the coming year and use this summer to prepare to address the academic and social-emotional needs of every student virtually. Instead of re-spacing desks, teachers should concentrate on delivering high-quality, content-rich instruction online. Instead of focusing on complicated transportation scenarios, districts can implement innovative new virtual roles for teachers