On January 21, 2021 the President
issued Executive Order (E.O.) 14000 to assist members of the
educational community in each State in safely reopening schools for
face-to-face instruction and ensuring schools remain open. E.O.
14000 directs the Department to make widely available and easily
accessible a variety of resources from the field and Federal
agencies and technical assistance to support their dissemination
and use. The hub for these resources will be the Clearinghouse
described in E.O. 14000. The Department’s Office of Elementary and
Secondary Education (OESE) will lead development and implementation
of the Clearinghouse in partnership with other ED offices and
relevant Federal agencies. At the heart of the Clearinghouse will
be the lessons learned and best practices collected from schools,
districts, States, and institutions of higher education from across
the country.
It will address three
major topics related to operating safely during the COVID-19
pandemic: • Safe and Healthy Environments: School and campus
approaches to implementing the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention’s (CDC) recommended mitigation strategies and preparing
for and sustaining in-person operations safely. This includes
recommendations across all grade and age levels of students served,
with focus both on reopening buildings for the first time as well
as keeping them open safely. • Providing Supports to Students:
School and campus strategies to meet student social, emotional,
mental health, academic, financial, and other needs, including
access to food and other basic needs. This includes a specific
focus on the most vulnerable learners and ensuring that resources
provided by schools and campuses will be able to connect with and
meet the needs of those disconnected from learning. • Teacher,
Faculty, and Staff Well-Being, Professional Development, and
Supports: School and campus strategies to address the social,
emotional, health, and other needs of teachers, faculty, and staff.
In order to quickly categorize, review, and approve submissions for
inclusion in the Clearinghouse, the Department would like to
request that voluntary submissions include the following
information: (1) Contact information; (2) Topic (e.g., safe and
healthy environments; providing supports for students; teacher,
faculty, and staff well-being, professional development, and
supports); (3) Target audience (e.g., early childhood, PreK-12,
postsecondary); (4) A short description (two to three sentences);
(5) What makes it a lesson learned or best practice (e.g., it is
based on local data regarding number of cases of COVID in the
community, State or Federal guidance, research), including a
summary of the impact and any evidence of positive outcomes and
clarification of the type of setting the practice has been used in
(e.g., rural/urban/suburban, public/private/proprietary, 2-year or
4-year higher education institution, Historically Black College or
University/Tribally Controlled College or University/Minority
Serving Institution; other educational settings such as
correctional facilities); and (6) Whether there is a focus on
racial equity and/or another equity focus, such as a focus on
historically underserved populations including students with
disabilities; English learners; students from low-income
backgrounds; first-generation college students; students
experiencing homelessness; students in or formerly in foster care;
Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Intersex, Asexual
(LGBTQIA) students; undocumented students; student veterans and
military-connected students; student parents; and international
students.
EO: EO
14000 Name/Subject of EO: Supporting the Reopening and Continuing
Operation of Schools and Early
On behalf of this Federal agency, I certify that
the collection of information encompassed by this request complies
with 5 CFR 1320.9 and the related provisions of 5 CFR
1320.8(b)(3).
The following is a summary of the topics, regarding
the proposed collection of information, that the certification
covers:
(i) Why the information is being collected;
(ii) Use of information;
(iii) Burden estimate;
(iv) Nature of response (voluntary, required for a
benefit, or mandatory);
(v) Nature and extent of confidentiality; and
(vi) Need to display currently valid OMB control
number;
If you are unable to certify compliance with any of
these provisions, identify the item by leaving the box unchecked
and explain the reason in the Supporting Statement.