The COVID-19 pandemic forced fundamental changes to the nation’s schools at a breathtaking pace. When building closures first took effect in March 2020, many teachers, students, and parents entered uncharted waters. Across the country, thousands of educators worked around the clock to reengineer how schools serve students in the midst of the pandemic.
To track the evolving activities in schools, the American Enterprise Institute developed the COVID-19 Education Response Longitudinal Survey (C-ERLS). C-ERLS gauges how public schools provided instruction, as well as other essential educational services such as meals and technology assistance, across the duration of the pandemic. C-ERLS was designed to be rapid (captures data in two–three-day windows), reliable (collects information from school district websites), representative (reflects changes in districts across the country), and repetitive (conducted in six waves throughout the spring).
Data were gathered at the district level, and—given that district websites operate as central communication hubs—that information is assumed to apply across all district schools. As such, the data reflect district policies, not necessarily how schools are implementing those options. The sample includes information on 250 public school districts, which contain 10,289 schools.
Fall 2020 Reopening
Spring 2020 Remote Learning
Featured Article
Op-eds about Fall 2020 Reopening
- The Hill: We got the school reopening story wrong
- Newsweek: Last spring’s ’emergency learning’ should inform how schools reopen
- Newsweek: Competition among schools is healthy, especially in a pandemic
- Real Clear Education: 3 questions parents should ask about remote learning this fall
- Washington Examiner: School leaders seeking ‘best worst option’ this fall
Op-eds about Spring 2020 Remote Learning
- AEIdeas: What effects of spring school closures could spill over into the fall?
- AEIdeas: Where districts settled after a semester of tumultuous change
- AEIdeas: Closed for the year: Some schools strengthen offerings while others throw in the towel
- AEIdeas: Will school districts be up for the challenge of closing remotely?
- AEIdeas: School districts are up and running just 3 weeks since statewide closures
Survey Data
Publically available versions of the six waves of C-ERLS datasets are available below, along with variable definitions, documentation, and update history.
A methodology overview for the publicly available data is available here.
Overview of C-ERLS Methodology
The AEI education policy team developed the COVID-19 Education Response Longitudinal Survey (C-ERLS) rapidly in response to the pandemic that was prompting change in districts and schools. With limited staff resources, we designed C-ERLS to maximize the value of the information we could gather by satisfying multiple priorities, including making it rapid, reliable, representative, and repetitive.