School in Uncertain Times
Written by Ben Rayer (Partner) and Brigid Moriarty-Guerrero (Senior Consultant)
In response to the challenging time we are living through now, we at 2Revolutions feel that it might be helpful to share some thoughts on what schools might want to consider as they manage through the completion of the 2019-20 school year and consider operating next year. We hope that sharing our thoughts will be of some use to those of you facing this unprecedented challenge. So, here goes!
First, think about starting by considering the social emotional health of everyone. What are students, staff, and families able to take on now? What do they need? How can they engage?
Next, consider how to place equity at the center of your work. You know that your families and students do not all have the same access and opportunity. There are no easy answers to this challenge, but keeping access and equity at the forefront of your thinking and actions is imperative now.
Remember, relationships with students and your larger school community remain critically important. With the unprecedented constraints put upon schools, it is challenging to address these needs. Even so, just keeping them in mind as important parts of your work will be important.
As best you can, check in with students, staff, and families to learn what they need and are feeling. Doing this might help inform how you move forward through this school year and next. Surveys are great, but so are longer empathy focused conversations.
Next, realize that it is challenging to do everything you were doing before the pandemic. Give yourself permission to consider what you can stop doing, change, or restructure. We know you might not want to hear that, but it might be required to make school manageable now and in an uncertain future.
Prepare to engage your students, families, and staff in multiple ways. It is difficult to foresee the future now more than ever, so be ready to have to quickly adapt to things like:
smaller class sizes because of social distancing,
a greater focus on health and hygiene,
staggering school schedules and calendars to utilize more of each day and year,
using remote learning and teaching more intentionally in school,
altering attendance so that seat time is not the only way to “show up” for school,
no large gatherings allowed for athletics, community events, etc., and
needing multiple pathways for families and staff to engage in school based on what people can do in their new realities.
If you are not sure what to do, think about doing the following right now!
Assign a case manager/advisor to each student to personalize the learning experience based on what is possible in his or her personal circumstances.
Create a simple learner profile for each student that includes the following basic information:
Scale of 1-10: How much pain/stress are you dealing with?
Scale of 1-10: How much access do you have to technology and wifi?
Scale of 1-10: How much support do you have at home?
Create a personalized learning plan for each student where the advisor and student determine the power standards the student needs to focus on learning and set goals around learning those core pieces of content.
Hold weekly data meetings to review any information you have on student learning, attendance, etc. Use this information to discuss student progress and to place every student in a response to intervention like category based on what they need and who needs the most to least support.
Have advisors hold at least weekly check in meetings with students based on developmental needs and level of engagement. Those needing more support may need more time from advisors.
Other recommendations we are hopeful you might consider include the following:
Think about using this moment in time to “flip” learning more. By this, we mean think about how lessons or learning experiences can be done out of the presence of a teacher and what activities are best done in the precious time teachers and students have together.
Incorporate some important 21st century knowledge and skills in learning at this time. Things like wellness and self care, digital literacy, entrepreneurship, leading in uncertain times, etc.
Look for chances to create authentic and student-led learning opportunities. Make sure these experiences are aligned to academic and non-academic standards, relevant, feasible (ie: if still on quarantine what is available to learners at home?), and fun! This is also a time when you could offer opportunities for learners to demonstrate mastery versus being able to measure their level of compliance in completing tasks.
Lastly, think about how you can build teacher capacity to teach in new ways that are being asked of them now and potentially into next year and beyond. In particular, think about how you can make professional development more personalized to the need of individual teachers, more accessible online, and embedded in the real time practice of teaching.
Please be patient with yourselves as you do this heroic work. Expect that some things will go well and that others won’t. Consider using design thinking to prototype ideas before rolling them out in bigger ways. Also, make sure you celebrate the wins!
Finally, reach out for help. There are lots of people who want to help. You are not in this alone!