Preparing School Districts for the ESSER Funding Cliff

ESSER funding is set to expire in September 2024. The underlying purpose of the funding was to address student learning losses during the pandemic. Many school districts used these funds to implement new strategies or initiatives to close the learning losses. With the expiration of ESSER funding on the horizon, school districts will need to determine which ones worked and which did not. This session will explore the basics of academic return on investment (AROI), including how to select a target program for the AROI analysis, the need for a clear definition of the intended outcome of an educational initiative, and the relative costs and benefits of different means to accomplish those outcomes.