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American democracy rests upon the concept of a Free Appropriate Public Education (FAPE). This is the essential mission of public schools. As we emerge from the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, with more disruption on the horizon, we must redefine our concept of access. The “A” in FAPE must shift to stand for “Accessible.”

Over the past three years, as my co-authors and I researched our book Whole: What Teachers Need to Help Students Thrive, we have journeyed into the most challenged American neighborhoods to find the most successful schools. The lessons they teach can help us re-imagine what it means for education to be truly accessible. Here are four priorities to guide the transformation.

1) Student access to learning begins with student mental health monitoring and intervention.

Students must be mentally and emotionally ready to learn. Distraction, acting out, and student disengagement are not caused by laziness or poor parenting. These behaviors are the autonomic responses of bodies filled with the stress hormone cortisol. They are the result of fear and anger, anxiety and grief.

Just as post-pandemic life will include taking the temperature of shoppers walking into a store, access to learning must begin with immediate and continuous vigilance of student mental health for readiness to learn. Intervention cannot be a long-term response with an IEP. Mental health intervention requires quick, responsive action if we are to ensure access to learning.

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