GA Partnership Releases CARES Impact Study Year-One Report
MEDIA CONTACT: Robert Gaines, rgaines@gpee.org, 404-223-2464
-Follow the GA Partnership on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram
November 17, 2022 – The Georgia Partnership for Excellence in Education today released the Year-One Report from its CARES Impact Study, a multi-year, multi-strand research project designed to examine Georgia school districts’ use of Federal COVID relief funds. The study was launched in 2021 with funding from the Georgia Department of Education. Its aim is to understand how local school districts are spending relief funds and identify best practices to help students recover from the pandemic’s negative effects on student learning and well-being. The study’s first report, the Baseline Report, drew on a statewide survey of local school districts administered in fall 2021. The Year-One Report is based on a follow-up survey conducted in June 2022 and interviews with local school districts and state leaders.
The report captures the expenditures of federal funds to date and highlights the ways in which the use of relief funds have shifted as pandemic conditions changed. With a public dissemination and robust stakeholder engagement component, the project also aims to cultivate shared learning about and public support for public education in Georgia.
Running through June 2025, the high-level goals of the project are to:
- Generate actionable knowledge that supports student success
- Facilitate the application of emerging knowledge in district and state policy
- Bolster public support for public education
The project will continue to:
- survey school districts in 2023, and 2024 and capture information on their use of federal COVID-19 relief funds; stakeholder interviews to more closely examine issues identified in the survey;
- develop case studies with an in-depth analysis of the use and impact of funds;
- and facilitate stakeholder roundtables, briefings, and presentations to lift up best practices and what’s working in Georgia school districts.
“This year-one report is an important step in our efforts to really understand how school districts leaders in Georgia are leveraging the CARES funds to support student learning in the midst of the pandemic,” GPEE President Dr. Dana Rickman said. “We’re looking forward to expanding on the report’s findings.”