Students across the country are heading back to school—many for the first time in almost 18 months. Even as communities struggle to contain the latest surge in infections, it’s a big milestone in the road back from the COVID pandemic.
As school systems look to the future, many are taking a moment to reflect on what they learned during a period of unprecedented disruption. A common refrain among education leaders is that we must think beyond a “return to normal” and finally address the longstanding inequities in our education system that the pandemic laid bare. That work should start with the most important school-based factor in students’ success: the quality of their teachers.