The COVID-19 pandemic has brought remarkable changes to life as we know it. In the context of PK-12 schools, students, families, and educators have maneuvered unprecedented challenges while trying to maintain focus on student learning and development. As the rest of the society pushes forward the path toward normalcy, educational stakeholders are left to ponder: What is the new normal of schools and schooling?

When the pandemic began, two Loyola researchers recognized the need to study the experiences of multilingual learners and immigrant-origin youth. Dr. Amy Heineke, a professor of education specializing in teaching multilingual learners, and Dr. Elizabeth Vera, a professor of counseling psychology focused on immigrant-origin youth and families, prioritized this population to promote equity amid the extraordinary circumstances.

Funded by the Spencer Foundation, the study, entitled English Learner and Immigrant-Origin Youth and Families: A Comparative Case Study of Learning Experiences During and Following the COVID-19 Pandemic, invited students, families, and educators in three focal Midwestern settings to share their perspectives and experiences during distance learning and following the return to in-person learning.

These rich perspectives informed the development of this six-facet framework that seeks to inform future practice in schools. Unlike common deficit-based perspectives that emphasize what was lost during the pandemic, this framework emphasizes strengths – what stakeholders learned, accomplished, and realized during the pandemic that should be sustained and bolstered in educational policies, programs, and practices moving forward.