To slow the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19), hundreds of K–12 school districts across the United States are closing for anywhere between two weeks and two months (or longer). This comes on the heels of similar closures of higher education institutions, many of which opted for early spring breaks and transitioning to online learning to finish out the semester.

The problem? Not all schools are equipped for distance learning.

This extends beyond the availability of devices and into communities where internet access isn’t guaranteed. Students who in the past have relied on the free Wi-Fi many public libraries offer may soon lose that resource, as more and more libraries temporarily halt operations.

Some challenges are addressed more easily than others; the Comcast Corporation, for example, is offering free Wi-Fi for low-income residents with increased speeds and removing restrictions on data plans temporarily. But that doesn’t lessen the burden for educators who have limited or no experience in teaching remotely.

In response, there’s been an outpouring of support from companies, organizations, and individual educators. Below you’ll find a list of resources now available to teachers, students, and their families and caregivers. We will update the list as more resources become available, so check back frequently. Help us grow the list by sharing new resources with us on Twitter, Facebook, or by email.

Resources from ILA

Children's Choices, Teachers' Choices, Young Adults' Choices reading lists

From the Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy and The Reading Teacher

These resources are always available online to subscribers; however, we’ve made them open access to all educators during these school closures.

• Hybrid and Blended Learning
• Mobile Documentation: Making the Learning Process Visible to Families
• Teaching, Learning, and Sharing Openly Online

From ILA E-ssentials

We have also made these members-only resources open access to all educators during the school closures:

• Blended Learning
• Digital Discussions: Using Web 2.0 Tools to Communicate, Collaborate, and Create

From Literacy Daily

• Building an Open Narrative With Open Learning
• Connecting Readers With Online Reading
• Expand Your Classroom Boundaries Through Virtual Field Trips
• Using Literature to Eradicate Xenophobia: One Educator’s Response to COVID-19

• Reading Rescue: Preventing the COVID-19 Slide With Lessons for Comprehension and Fluency at Home

Additional resources

Resources for educators

• Amazing Educational Resources—This Google doc is chock-full of education companies such as Scholastic, Adobe Connect, and Britannica that are offering free subscriptions and resources as a result of the many school closures.
• Flyleaf Publishing has created a portal to free resources for students and instructors.
• This coalition of education organizations (which includes ISTE, EdSurge, and Education Week to name a few) is dedicated to making sure the learning keeps going during this outbreak.
• Key Messages and Actions for COVID-19 Prevention and Control in Schools—The World Health Organization (WHO) has released this guiding document to help schools around the world prepare for the coronavirus.
• “Preparing for Distance Learning Due to School Closures”—This article contains eight useful tips on how educators can prepare for moving to a remove learning system.
• NNSTOY created this Google document featuring online resources, strategies, articles, and other considerations.
• Resources & Supports for Extended School Closure—Here’s another Google doc loaded with links to resources for educators. The three main sections (currently) are Best Practices for Site Distance Learning Planning; Trainings & Webinars -Teachers, Administrators & Staff; and Resources for Administrators & Teachers. The document is open for educators to add more resources.
• The Teacher Created Materials YouTube channel has resources to help families and caregivers work with students, including lessons about the Fab Four from Lori Oczkus.

Resources for families and caregivers

• Free internet access—For those families and caregivers with no internet at home, this deal for two months of free access from Comcast can help students remain connected to educational materials during school closures.
• Amazing Educational Resources—We mentioned this one under already as a resource for educators, but there are quite a few resources on this list that would be great for families and caregivers, like 123 Homeschool for ME, Age of Learning, Beanstalk, and Everydae SAT Prep.
• Little Free Library—School closures disrupt students’ access to books. If you can’t get to a local public library, maybe you have a Little Free Library nearby.
• This Facebook post has more links to kid-friendly resources than we had time to count.
• Virtual Field Trips—This Google doc contains links to more than 30 virtual field trips to help keep students engaged with learning while away from school.
• Virtual Museum Tours—Google Arts and Culture teamed up with museums from around the globe to offer ways to explore their exhibits virtually.
• The Barbara Bush foundation has released a new toolkit for at-home learning, which features free online resources for young learners and adult learners alike.
• The Teacher Created Materials YouTube channel has resources to help families and caregivers work with students, including lessons about the Fab Four from Lori Oczkus.

Remote learning for educators

• Starting on Monday, March 16, 3:00­–3:30 p.m. ET, Kylene Beers is running Facebook Live events each day for at least a week or two. Each day will include a special guest speaker. Connect with Kylene on Facebook for more details.

Coronavirus information

• “Children and Coronavirus: 4 Questions Answered”—With the incidence of the coronavirus on the rise, understanding the ramifications this virus has for educators' students is important.
• nCoV2019.live—Want to keep up to date with the latest data about the coronavirus? Look no further than this site, created by a high school junior in Washington State.
• The New York Times is providing free access to articles containing the most important news and guidelines about the coronavirus outbreak.
• The Washington Post has a created a free email newsletter that sends subscribers a compiled list of all breaking news stories about the coronavirus outbreak.

This post was updated May 4, 2020, to reflect addition of the 2020 Choices reading lists.