With parents and caregivers having front row seats to their childrens' educations during COVID-19, they are coming to demand innovation and reform more urgently and vociferously. However knowledge and understanding of what communities and students want to know about learners and learning environments remains uneven at best. 

Policymakers, social researchers and activists have been innovating in how they are asking caregivers, students and educators about what schools should do and do differently and reaching out during the pandemic to learn from communities. Having explored “the how” in our last conversation, we are convening experts on May 25 (10am-12pm EDT), to explore “the what” and hear from you what you know about family/student demand for measures of and information about a) student success, and b) learning environments.

The goal of this dialogue is to inform governmental and philanthropic investment by exploring what communities are asking for, especially when it comes to skills assessment and other forms of data and information about students and their performance/ growth and the performance/growth of their schools. Hearing from you about what you are learning from the communities with which you are engaging will help the Walton Family Foundation know how philanthropy should direct investment to address gaps between information supply and demand in existing measurements and assessments.