NWEA Playbook Offers Schools a Blueprint for Climate Resilience

BOSTON, Jan. 13, 2026 – As extreme weather events increasingly force school closures and disrupt communities, the K-12 assessment and research organization NWEA today released a new playbook designed to guide educators through the complex process of disaster preparedness and recovery. Titled "Lessons in Resilience," the report provides a research-backed framework for schools to mitigate the profound impacts of climate-related disruptions on both teaching and learning.

Drawing on lessons from districts that have navigated previous disasters, the playbook arrives at a critical time. Recent research has illuminated the severe and often underestimated consequences of school closures. The new guide moves beyond identifying the problem to offering actionable strategies, emphasizing that proactive planning and a focus on human needs are the cornerstones of effective recovery.

A Blueprint for Before and After the Storm

The NWEA playbook outlines a multi-faceted approach, urging school leaders to move beyond reactive responses. A central recommendation is the development of a comprehensive disaster response plan before a crisis hits. This involves a thorough assessment of local climate risks—whether they be hurricanes, wildfires, floods, or extreme heat—and the establishment of clear roles, actions, and communication protocols. The organization stresses that these plans must be living documents, regularly tested through drills and exercises to ensure they are effective under pressure.

Another key pillar of the framework is the importance of community integration. The playbook advocates for schools to build strong relationships with local organizations in advance, positioning themselves to serve as resource hubs during recovery. In the chaotic aftermath of a disaster, schools are often natural community centers. By forging partnerships ahead of time, they can help coordinate essential services like housing support, mental health counseling, and access to aid without overwhelming school staff.

Once students are able to return, the guide emphasizes the psychological importance of reestablishing normalcy. Restoring daily routines and familiar school rituals provides a sense of predictability and stability, which is critical for helping children process trauma. This focus on emotional well-being is paramount, with the playbook explicitly stating that schools must address students' and teachers' first-order needs before a meaningful academic recovery can begin.

The Compounding Cost of Closed Schools

The urgency behind this new playbook is underscored by NWEA's previous research. A report released by the organization in the summer of 2025, "The Impact of Severe Weather Events on Education," revealed the staggering academic cost of weather-related disruptions. It found that missing even a single day of school can result in learning losses two to four times greater than the instructional time missed. For middle school students, one week of missed school was associated with nearly three weeks of reading loss and four weeks of math loss.

This "compounding effect" occurs because disasters disrupt more than just the school day; they destabilize students' entire lives, impacting housing, family income, and mental health. The 2025 report also highlighted significant equity concerns, noting that students from socially vulnerable communities and families of color are often at higher risk for adverse impacts. For instance, research showed that Black and Hispanic students experienced greater reductions in test scores due to extreme heat compared to their White peers, often due to disparities in school infrastructure, such as inadequate HVAC systems.

These findings paint a grim picture of how climate change can deepen existing educational inequities, making proactive and equitable recovery plans not just a best practice, but a moral imperative.

Prioritizing People for a Lasting Recovery

The playbook makes a powerful case for a "people-first" approach to recovery. It argues that academic remediation efforts are destined to fail if the underlying trauma experienced by students and educators is not addressed. This means prioritizing mental and emotional health support from the outset.

"This new playbook is the second part of our research into the impacts of extreme weather events on teaching and learning," said Dr. Megan Kuhfeld, Director of Growth Modeling and Analytics at NWEA. "The first report we released this past summer felt unfinished without looking at what districts can do to better prepare for future disasters and how best to support students and teachers through the recovery phase and beyond. This playbook is a collection of insights drawn from lessons in resilience from districts that have faced disasters and what they did to recover."

This philosophy aligns with findings from organizations like the American Association of School Administrators (AASA), whose research on districts impacted by natural disasters has shown that teachers' needs are frequently overlooked. When educators are struggling with personal losses and professional burnout, their capacity to support students is severely diminished. The NWEA guide advocates for robust support systems for teachers to ensure their well-being, which is foundational to the entire school community's recovery.

From Plan to Practice: The Challenge of Implementation

While the NWEA playbook provides a clear roadmap, putting it into practice presents significant challenges, chief among them being funding and resources. Federal resources like SchoolSafety.gov and FEMA grants exist to aid schools in developing Emergency Operations Plans (EOPs). However, accessing these funds can be a major hurdle. In 2022, for example, reports indicated that over a billion dollars in federal school safety funding went unused, suggesting a gap in awareness or capacity for districts to navigate complex application processes.

Furthermore, the winding down of pandemic-era Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) funds, which gave many districts a lifeline for addressing learning loss and mental health, creates new financial pressures. Implementing the playbook's recommendations—from infrastructure upgrades to hiring additional mental health professionals—will require sustained and accessible funding streams at the federal, state, and local levels.

Beyond the immediate response, the playbook outlines long-term strategies to support communities through what can be a multi-year recovery process. This includes multi-tiered systems of support that provide both universal social-emotional services and more intensive therapeutic care, alongside targeted academic interventions. This long-term view is critical, as research from institutions like the RAND Corporation has shown that disasters can cause persistent "scarring" to human capital, with impacts on test scores, graduation rates, and college enrollment that linger for years if not actively addressed. By providing a data-informed, compassionate, and practical guide, NWEA aims to help schools not only rebuild but also become more resilient in the face of a changing world.