K12LEADERS

Category: State of Education

Updates regarding educational policy at the local, state, or federal level

Podcast Share – UEN Homeroom UCET23 Reflection

I attended my first UCET in 2018. I had just come back from SXSWEDU week and I was on fire for more ideas and community. At the suggestion of my good friend, Quin Henderson, I headed to the University of Utah and joined the conference. I was excited to talk to a lot of the speakers as part of our podcast project at the time, Edtrex Rewind, and to just take in the conference. It was the first time that I had attended a state-level education conference and I was tickled by how much fun I had throughout the event. Over the next few years, I presented at UCET and engaged with the larger community through #UTedchat on Wednesday nights.

In 2020, I applied to be on the board. I didn’t think I would make it. There had to be more qualified educators and community members that were available to help out with the conference, but to my deep surprise, while in a meeting to figure out the best way to approach the start of the COVID-19 Pandemic, I found out that I was on the board. Now, just a few years later, I was lucky enough to be elected president and to run the conference. This year’s conference was the culmination of a lot of goals for myself and for the board. We wanted to have a larger community represented at the conference. We wanted national figures at the conference to interact with Utah educators. With the inclusion of ULEAD, the Utah Teacher Fellows, the Friends of the Salt Lake City Public Library, the STEM Action Center, Show Up for Teachers, USBE, and UEN we brought a larger swath of Utah organizations to share their work with the conference, but we also were able to bring in national figures and organizations including Eric Curts, Sundance, Dan Ryder, Micah Shippee, Dee Lanier, Darren Hudgins, The Modern Classrooms Project, and more to the conference. In conjunction with that, we were able to move forward with moving to a larger venue for the 2024 conference and to make the president a two-year position, which means I get another shot next year.

Dani and I were able to sit down with some great field recordings from the conference and discuss the conference and UCET’s impact on both of us, Dani as a past president and me as the current president. We hit a lot of the great moments from the conference, both in 2023 and from prior years. Listen in to be introduced to the best education conference in Utah and prime yourself for 2024! Listen on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

https://uen-homeroom.simplecast.com/episodes/post-ucet-teacher-review-UctQ3gAc

April 12, 2023
Forward to Different Part 3 Repairing the Educator Pipeline
Editor’s Note: This the second in a series of blog posts reimagining how schools should move going forward. Taking to account the current state of K-12 schools, the increase in teachers and leaders leaving the field and the tools we have available to us. Check out the overview post here.

During a recent panel at CoSN22, leaders from various positions and locations in education convened to discuss the current state of K12. This forward-thinking group handled most of the issues around how to handle the political unrest, communication and social media with ease. But when I asked them how do we stop the massive exodus of people from the profession, there was some noticeable hesitation on their response.

This is a multi-faceted problem with no easy solution. A recent survey by K12Leaders.com found that the top reason why teachers are leaving the profession is LACK OF RESPECT and SUPPORT. They no longer feel like they can be autonomous and creative when it comes to teaching and learning. In short, as one panelist mentioned,

“The joy is getting sucked out of education”

– K12 Administrator

Lack of Support

Issues like teacher pay and lack of flexibility also weighed heavily on the survey, but most teachers shared stories of either administration not supporting them or “parents gone wild.” Overbearing and entitled parents displace blame from their child to the teacher or school. Teachers feel hand-cuffed and have started to throw their hands up when it comes to classroom discipline. When they do discipline a student, they fear repercussion from social media or blame and shame from the parent.

Without support from leadership, teachers feel forced to teach conservatively and let discipline issues slide. This leads to greater distractions in the classroom which means less learning taking place. The hassle of dealing with “snowplow” parents means they will do their best not to rock the boat.

When I interviewed some middle school teachers recently, they admitted to making sure tests and quizzes were easy enough for kids to get an A or B just so the parents wouldn’t be breathing down their neck. As you might imagine, this could create a domino effect where students aren’t faced with any rigorous challenges during their time in K12, thus not preparing them for the grit and resilience needed for the future.

Possible solution: Administrators are already feeling the pressure from parent groups (see next point) on a variety of issues. They must set up clear guidelines and expectations for student behavior and then be prepared to field any parent concerns or complaints. In addition, leaders need to create learning opportunities for their staff and create an environment where thoughtful risk and failure is embraced.

School leaders can also help bear some of the burden by giving teachers the gift of time and subbing for their class, even if it’s just a couple of hours. I mentioned this to a staff at a recent keynote in New York and received a loud applause. I know this is a lot to put on administrators, but as instructional leaders, it’s important to still be a teachers and learner in your school. All of this will require a level of bravery but the respect and feeling of support gained by your staff will make it worth it.

The political playbook

Recently, I learned that a dear friend and progressive superintendent resigned his position. When I asked a colleague about the reason he said, “The school board finally got their way.” Stories abound of leaders leaving due to school board outbursts and political pressure. Heck, in my old district, they even flew a banner over the stadium trying to get my former boss fired.

This disruptive and destructive talk from loud parent groups are all coming from the same playbook. Before it was the current outrage of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) it was Critical Race Theory (CRT). And before that it was banning books with any LGBQT messaging. And before that it was mask mandates. The truth is, it’s always something with theses parents groups.

In this graphic below, you can even see how they are creating multiple Facebook groups with the sole purpose of attacking libraries and challenging books. The words they use are the same as are their methods of attack (board meetings and open records requests).

An example of Facebook groups formed to challenge books

As you can see, with the virtual pulpit of social media, the voices of discontent have become a steady roar. These small, vocal groups are running for school boards and overturning progressive policies with their not-so-hidden agenda. In Texas, with the support of the governor, a librarian was fired for not removing certain books on the shelf.

What does all this noise do? It distracts from the real issues in education (like teacher pay, student support) and is causing school leaders to burn out and find other careers. Curriculum is deadlocked and any type of teaching with freedom of thought is demonized as potential brain-washing.

Possible solution: This issue is probably the most complex as we don’t have a way of blocking parent voices on social media or during school board meeting proceedings. The truth is, the best way to handle some of the dog whistle issues is to not breathe life into them. We need to spend time telling and sharing the story of K12 education to the masses in order to drown out the noise. Parents that are seeing this disruptive and childish behavior can support schools by running for elected positions that support school progression, not halt it. Refocus the discussion on staff salary and support rather than what book we need to burn next.

A rapidly drying pipeline from higher ed

One of the most disturbing trends in education is the rapid decline of people studying to become teachers. One higher ed employee shared with me that their teacher prep programs are operating at 10% capacity. That means not only do we have the mass exodus of experienced teachers, but now we have no one fresh coming in to take their place. Teaching is seen as a dead-end position with a lot of stress for very little salary. As the pipeline begins to dry up, schools will have to double up on class size with the remaining teachers, due to lack of warm bodies to support the students.

I recently interviewed a couple of professors on the Learning Unleashed podcast about this very topic. They too were concerned with the pipeline and had some ideas around possibly marketing the position better, but ultimately, nothing that hadn’t been tried before. This is much bigger than a marketing and PR issue. Generation Z sees the vitriol out there and the negativity and feel the value of shaping young minds isn’t worth the hassle.

Possible Solution #1: K12 needs to invest some energy and money into this pipeline. When I was a student teacher it was one of the hardest years of my life. I was paying for school as well as teaching all day and taking 18 hours worth of classes. An enterprising school district could see the lack of incoming talent and incentivize more to enter the field by PAYING for their final year or two of college as they begin student-teaching. This would serve a couple of purposes:
1. It would encourage students to major in teaching since it would pay for part of their college if not all of it, thus reducing their debt.
2. Districts could grant those dedicated to the program entry into their schools and essentially guarantee them a job.
Potential risks here would be a student-teacher electing not to teach after they graduate, so some sort of work for loan forgiveness would have to be offered. Also, someone in the program may realize they are not cut out for teaching but be forced to complete a year as a way to get their loan forgiven.

Possible solution #2: Go the alternative education route. Encourage and incentivize adults already out of college (or high school) to go through a crash course in teaching and emergency certification. Removing certification requirements and even college degrees would open up a wider field. With proper training and support, some diamonds in the rough could be discovered that might not have originally considered teaching as a viable option as a profession.

Who will be left to lead us?

The trickle down effect of a teacher shortage is a leadership shortage. I recently spoke with Doug Roberts of the Institute for Educational Innovation (IEI) about this very topic. His organization is a think tank for superintendents and district leadership. He said that normally, a high profile superintendent position would garner over 100 applicants. They are now seeing single digit applicants and in some cases, no one interested in the role.

Leading a school or district used to carry with it prestige and respect. Now, it’s seen as a target by the information-mongers out there seeking to control school boards with their short-sighted intent. Dealing with a contentious school board is akin to managing a tyrant, only in this case it is a tyrannical minority. A small group of individuals who control the actions of the many and ultimately the hiring and firing of a superintendent and other leadership. In many cases they are the extended arm of a small group of disgruntled and vocal parents seeking to control every aspect of their child’s learning experience.

For example, in my former district, there is a group of parents trying to ban YouTube and other apps off all student devices. Putting development technology usage arguments aside, they are trying to dictate their beliefs and values on the entire district, putting administrators in a awkward position. Not only that, but they are passing the blame of their own child’s behavior on the school and IT department. What should be a shared conversation has become contentious and part of the blame game. My analogy for this is it would be akin to calling up a store and blaming the store manager for their child stealing something.

Principals and campus leaders are also starting to look else where for work. In many ways they are the first line of defense on parent attacks. They are trying to support their teachers but also getting brow-beat over “pass the buck” parents who’s expectations of schools have become completely out of whack. They are bringing unreasonable expectations and demands to personalize every aspect of their child’s education to a school that is overworked, underpaid, and understaffed.

Possible solution: Creating opportunities for current teachers to step into leadership roles has always been a challenge in schools. The options are essentially assistant principal, principal, or some sort of centralized position (in larger districts). Creating teacher leadership teams and opportunities for teacher growth are key to keeping potential and current leaders in house.

Creating a leadership cadre that gives teachers an opportunity their chance to lead and own different initiatives on campus can be empowering. Giving teachers opportunities to test the waters as a leader and creating support positions like instructional coaches can keep the leadership pipeline flowing.

Summary

The broken pipeline is a multi-faceted problem that will take industry experts, higher education, legislators, and K12 leaders to solve. Motivating potential teachers to join the profession and then keeping them here is key. This problem will take all stake-holders and unique thinking to fix the pipe. I don’t claim to have any of the answers but I did decide to reach out to my PLN on Twitter to ask how we attract and retain teachers. Here’s a few responses:

Another nod that micromanaging might not be the best thing.

Collaborative decision making and culture for the win!

Paid internships gaining some steam. And now, the most simple and direct response…

It’ll take all of these and more to help fix the pipeline in the next few years. We have to stop sticking our heads in the sand and hoping it’ll all get better. The future is different, we are never going back to normal.
May 2, 2022
Forward to Different – Part 2 – Reimagining the School Day
Editor’s Note: This the second in a series of blog posts reimagining how schools should move going forward. Taking to account the current state of K-12 schools, the increase in teachers and leaders leaving the field and the tools we have available to us. Check out the overview post here.

This “Forward to Different” series is meant to provoke different ideas of what school is and could become. As we head towards a possible teacher shortage, most schools are not considering the impact of what this will mean to their daily schedule. The school schedule is sacred ground in most educational institutions, not meant to be distrusted. As I covered in the previous post about the school calendar, changing this is akin to going on a drastic diet.

It will be disruptive and uncomfortable.

For this particular post, we’ll explore a variety of scenarios. These models use some of the skills gained during the pandemic as well as some far-out-there ideas for restructuring a teacher’s duties. With all of these proposed changes in daily schedule I’m assuming the following things:
1. Students have access to some sort of device.
2. We will not have extra funds in education to create more positions or to give significant raises.
Here are what these different schedules DO NOT take into account:
1. The wants and needs of the parents
2. The status quo and comfort of educators current schedule norms
3. Class size
4. State legislature imposed seat time requirements
This goes beyond removing special area classrooms like art and music in an elementary school. This problem can’t be solved by taking away a planning period in secondary. If you are used to operating a school with 100 teachers and now you have 70, how will you adjust? Does this seem drastic? That you would lose and not be able to maintain 30% of your current staff?

Projections from several news outlet show that over 50% of teachers could be leaving the profession after this year. So is it that crazy to think that 30% won’t get filled? My hope is that many of the scenarios below will not have to happen. However, schools need to start working on contingency plans before “hiring season” hits this summer.

Scenario 1: Online School

This seems like the both the most and least likely scenario to happen in the “new different”. If we don’t have the personnel to manage in-person learning like the past, we’ll need that learning to move online. The pandemic test-run of online learning was lukewarm at best. However, with the right training, mindset, and leadership, an online school could really thrive for some students.

Virtual schools have been around for over a decade. Prior to the pandemic, these schools were seen as one-off charter schools or speciality academies. Reserved for those with home-bound students or perhaps students that have transient families in the military or government. The reality is, some students excelled during remote learning. So why not consider that approach going forward? Here’s some of the pros and cons to this approach.

Benefits of online school:

1. Less faculty required – With a shortage of faculty, classes could be merged and additional students added without increasing seating capacity. Teaching 25 students or teaching 40 online makes no difference when it comes to space. It does however make a huge difference when it comes to connecting and interacting with students. Teachers with larger classes will need to adjust to allow time for asynchronous learning as well as direct teacher and small group instruction.

2. No physical building to maintain – The operational costs of buildings do have an impact on budget, but for most school districts, these costs represent around 15% of expenses. Salaries of personnel tend to be the biggest budget line-item and many facilities are built out of capitol bond funds. However, if school is online, that money could be saved and spent on better online services, training, devices and IT support.

3. Flexibility of schedule – With all students online, there isn’t necessarily a reason to have them attend school synchronously from 8-4 each day. Some classes may meet at certain times or there might be some virtual office hours for the teacher. Students can attend classes when needed and complete projects over time.

4. All voices heard – Unlike traditional in-person school, learning online opens up opportunities for lesser heard students to share their voice and perspective. This could also be done in a blended in-person environment with a tool like Bulb or FlipGrid, instead of teachers reverting back to the “raise your hand if you know” technique of a lecture.

Challenges of online school

1. Connectivity equity – Not every household has a device for every child. Also, they might not have high speed internet bandwidth to manage all the bandwidth required for online learning.

2. Device support – When students have school-issued devices at school, they also get the support that goes along with those devices. With remote learning, schools need to have mobile IT support or a way for parents and kids to get help when needed.

3. Parent demands – As many parents experienced during the pandemic, learning at home is a lot different than doing homework. Students need a structured schedule and expectations for behavior. In this model, the role of learning support falls on the parents more than the instructor.

Scenario 2: Hybrid School

Educators may shudder at the term ‘hybrid’ after the fiasco that was early-Covid teaching. Schools were forced into educational triage to serve students that were in person and online. The result was something called “concurrent” or “hybrid” teaching where you teach both groups synchronously at the same time. This was not an effective way to manage learning as usually one group (the remote students) were left out of certain experiences.

The hybrid schedule as I see it doesn’t involve synchronously teaching of students in both environments. Instead the hybrid part exists between synchronous in-person and asynchronous online learning. This schedule means that students aren’t necessarily at school every day in person, but for those that need a physical location, it could still exist as an option.

The way it would work is groups of students, let’s call them group “A” and group “B”, are taught by the same teacher. This means a teacher could teach 40 students in total but only manage 20 at any specific time. The hybrid model could split into entire days or half-day concepts like those explained below:

Half-Day Hybrid – Group A attends in-person school from 8:00-11:30am and Group B attends from 12:30-4:00pm. When Group A is finished, they have two options. They can go home, have lunch, and begin their online work or they can stay at school and report to a large space/learning lab to complete their online assignments. The same would happen with Group B but only in reverse.

Alternating Day Hybrid – In this scenario, Group A attends in-person school one day and spends the next day completing asynchronous online projects while group B attends in-person. Then the groups switch places. Friday could either be a fully online day or a split half-day.

Alternating Weekly Hybrid – Taking the Group A and B approach a little farther, in this scenario the groups are in-person or online depending on the week. Group A is in-person and while Group B is online for the entire week, then they switch. An advantage of the “week-on-week-off” schedule means that students could in theory learn from anywhere on their week off.

All of these scenarios present some benefits and some challenges.

Benefits of a Hybrid School

1. Less staff needed – If we truly are facing a teaching shortage, this would be a way of getting double the students per teacher without increasing the space needed for more students.

2. Consistency of experience – Students in both groups would receive similar instruction from their single teacher, thus ensuring consistency of the learning experience.

3. In-person still an option – Parents that can’t have kids at home or in a neighborhood pod, can still elect to send their kids to school on their off-days. Those students would be placed in a large room with someone to monitor them and give them breaks as needed.

Challenges of a Hybrid School

1. Teacher load – In this scenario, a teacher is planning lessons for in-person students and asynchronous online students. A 4-day week option with a day for planning would probably need to happen in order to provide the time for planning. A single grade-level teacher could plan the asynchronous portion for all teachers, but teachers would still need to monitor, grade, and assess those in their sections.

2. Schedule confusion – Parents will have to keep track of which days their kids are at school and which days they are at home. Having an option for online students to still attend school in-person would help eliminate this but….

3. Staffing to monitor online students – Hiring someone (college students? parent volunteers) to help with the monitoring of the online students that choose to be in-person would be an issue. With staffing already being in short supply, this would be a hard one to overcome should most parents elect to send their students every day.

Scenario 3: 4-day School Week

With staffing being an issue and the instability of online options causing problems, schools may be forced to change the school week. Just last week, Jasper ISD school board here in Texas approved a 4-day school week for next school year. Students would attend school for 4 days and the teachers would have a day a week to plan, prep, and collaborate.

The 4-day school week is not a new idea. Following the Great Recession, many schools began to adopt this as a way to save money. According to EdWeek, over 1600 schools currently have some form of a 4-day school week.

Benefits of a 4-day week

1. Teacher planning – Having a day off to plan and for professional learning would be a great benefit for teachers. Currently most of this takes place during an off-period, after school, or during the summer.

2. Reduction operational costs – With no students in the building, facilities costs would be reduced. If teachers met off-site or remotely from their homes, this would mean saving a day of HVAC every week.

3. More time for extracurricular pursuits – With a day off, students can spend that time catching up on work, participating in sports or fine arts activities, or working with community groups.

Challenges of a 4-day week

1. Lost instructional time – Losing one day a week for a school year means a total of 36 days lost in a traditional school calendar. All of that lost academic time could be made up with online extensions or more home work for the off day, but the results would vary based on household support.

2. Longer school day – To make up for the lost day, some schools could elect to extend the other 4 days. In a state like Texas that requires 76,500 instructional minutes, that likely means adding more minutes to the school day or…

3. Longer school year – Less days a week could mean more weeks of school. To make up for lost days it could mean adding as much as 7 extra weeks to the school year to make things even out.

Scenario 4: The “4/5” School Week

By far, one of the most inventive ideas I’ve heard recently is the idea of a 4-day work week for teachers and a 5-day learning week for students. This would address the challenges of the 4-day school week and instructional time lost, but would take some major outside-the-box thinking. In this scenario, students would have rotating teachers on various days for core academic areas 4 days a week. On the 5th day, students would participate in enrichment activities, extensions, tutorials, and more. Special areas and fine arts would fall on the 5th day as well which would rotate depending on the grade level.

A team of teachers would work together to coordinate who is teaching which topics/subjects. Here’s the kicker, their day off is TRULY a day off. No planning or PLC time, but a day off to actually go and get stuff done. They can run errands, plan, learn, and prep for the coming week.

犀利士
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” alt=”Color-Coded chart to demonstrate 4/5 school options for teachers and students.” width=”703″ height=”392″ />

Benefits of a 4/5 school week

1. Less teacher fatigue – Burn out is a real issue in the profession. The #2 reason why teachers are leaving the profession according to this K12Leaders study is lack of flexibility with their own schedule. Unlike most of the work world, getting a day off takes some major hoop jumping. Having a true off day every week would alleviate that rigidity.

2. More mixed-age grouping – The factory model of churning students out into grade level sections based on age is almost as old as the school calendar. However, the early school house model had students of all ages in the same class. With this 4/5 model, there would likely be a need to mix students across grade levels. Removing age limits means that students are labeled based on ability of various subjects rather than just the date of their birth. (hint: future post coming in this series about this very subject!)

3. Increased in individualized learning – Students in this model would each have their own path when it comes to achieving learning goals. Teaching and learning would become more project-based in a rotational model. With different teachers each day, students would own more of their learning path.

4. No lost in-person academic time – With students attending school each day of the week, there are none of the seat time challenges that come with a 4-day learning week mentioned in Scenario 3.

Challenges to the 4/5 model

1. Lots of cheese moved – Out of all these rotating teachers and expanded 1-day enrichment periods mean looking at the school schedule in a completely different light. Special area teachers would also need a day off which could cause some issues with the enrichment day. In a system that is already hard to change, this would cause a lot of staff to wonder who moved their cheese.

2. Larger class size – Taking 100 students and splitting them amongst 5 teachers isn’t a problem. Each teacher gets 20 kids. However, in this model, we are splitting them between 4 teachers as one is off every day. So that means an additional 4-5 students in each class.

3. Lack of common planning times – In a team of 5 teachers, one is off every day of the week in this scenario. In order to coordinate this unique schedule, one teacher would have to come in on their off-day for planning purposes. That could be rotating between teacher off-days but would be a logistical challenge still.

In summary

All of the above scenarios may seem like a stretch. The reality is we are not only facing a teacher shortage, we are also facing a substitute teacher shortage. Any scenario a school puts in place needs to address that as well. Knowing that we likely won’t have an influx of money raising teacher salaries means we have to think differently about the demands on a teacher. Alleviating some of their stress by changing the weekly school schedule could be the first step in increasing teacher retention.

What are your thoughts? Share your ideas and comments below as we try to figure out ways to go Forward to Different, because we sure aren’t going back to normal.
April 3, 2022
Forward to Different – Part 1 – Rethinking the School Calendar

Editor’s Note: This the first in a series of blog posts reimagining how schools should move going forward. Taking to account the current state of K-12 schools, the increase in teachers and leaders leaving the field, and the tools we have available to us. Check out the overview post here.

There is a long-standing belief that the school calendar was built around the agrarian calendar. Summers are off for kids in farming when in actuality, they would be most needed in the spring (for planting) and in the fall (for harvesting). Like many urban legends, this myth has become somewhat of a talking point narrative as to why a majority of U.S. schools have summer off.

The truth is, our current “traditional” school calendar was set up as a compromise between rural and urban areas. Prior to the invention of air conditioning, keeping kids cooped up in sweltering buildings didn’t make much sense. So, it was agreed at the end of the 19th century that students take time off in the hot months of summer. The belief was that this would allow for kids to do other enriching activities (thus summer camps were born) and teachers could do some professional development.

With this traditional calendar come some other side-effects that are still deep rooted in education today. One side effect is a deadline, based on birth date, to determine which kids are locked into certain grade levels. These grade levels then build basic assessments of knowledge and skills based on an average. Assessments take a pre-determined marker as the average and then say that the average student should be above that preset line.

Entire economies are built around summers off with travel and family vacation. Mom and dad could plan to take a couple of weeks off from work to travel to see Marty Moose. Sure, many students experience the “summer slide”, but this has been the way of doing business in schools for over a century. But it doesn’t have to be. Below are all the different ways we could do school if we move forward to different.

Traditional School Calendar (180 days)

Let’s start with the one we know. 180 days of instruction. 12 weeks off in the summer. Students distributed based on age into grade levels and the year is split up into semesters, quarters, or trimesters. This has been the tried and true model since the late 1880’s. Some of the pros of the traditional calendar include a concentrated time frame for professional development. Another is the financial savings of not operating air conditioning of a school building during the hottest months. And of course, teachers do need time off to recharge their batteries, especially after these past couple of years.

The downside of the traditional calendar can be seen in schools today. At-risk students tend to suffer a bigger “slide” during the summer. Those that need the most academic support often don’t have access to it. Those with a higher socio-economic status can provide tutoring and/or enrichment camps. The gap between the haves and have-nots continues to widen in this model.

Professional development is also a challenge. Teachers are often bribed with extra pay (much deserved) or days off (also much deserved) to attend training in the summer. With those days held so sacred, much of the required training (like blood-born pathogens) occupies a teacher’s calendar. When actual professional learning takes place, it can’t be implemented right away because of the long break.

Year-Round Calendars

In this model, the days are split into either 60/20 (days on/off) or 45/15. Some models still have 180 days, but most countries add in a few more days as the United States has one of the shortest academic calendars in the world.

In this model, there isn’t a long summer break but instead several breaks spread out through the year. Students are still grouped based on age in the traditional Year-Round model and the year is usually split into quarters or trimesters in an 11-month system.

Image Credit: https://www.screenflex.com/reasons-why-year-round-school-is-a-good-idea/

Just a quick visual check of the models above shows the differences when you spread the academic time throughout the year. Cons of this model generally come from those that don’t want to lose their summer or from schools trying to save money in the summer by closing down buildings and saving on electricity. Sports camps (especially football) also feel the squeeze when summer isn’t 60+ days long. Parents would need child care options, but that is also an issue in the summer. If all schools had a similar schedule, pop-up camps and other enrichment type businesses could emerge for those parents that need a place to physically house their children during the work day.

The are many pros to this model, including a smaller summer gap for students to fall behind. With more frequent gaps, teachers and students get time to recharge their batteries and reduce stress levels. Professional learning can be ongoing and throughout the year. Vacations now have more options for travel, including “off-peak” times that don’t include summer.

Students struggling academically don’t have to wait an entire year before summer school arrives to help them recover. There can be opportunities provided by teaching staff during breaks (for an additional stipend) to help support those students that need it. Teachers can assess their students’ needs and spend quality time adjusting lessons as needed, rather than doing it during lengthy after school or weekend times.

More breaks throughout the year could also help teachers when it comes to the daily errands of life. Getting oil changes, doctors appointments, tire replacements, vet visits, etc. get kicked to the summer or take days off in the traditional model. School might lose some savings from having their buildings operating during more summer months, but they also have more breaks to update and fix parts of the school.

This model would be the first step into a different direction. Some private schools, charters and even a few public institutions are using this model now in the U.S. It would take federal and state guidance to make this model the norm and breaking us out of the 1800’s. That said, if we switch to year round calendars, other options, like those below, become more possible.

Multi-track year-round systems.

There will likely always be a marker to denote where a student is on the academic spectrum. But that marker should be based on their learning growth, not their age. The traditional school calendar keeps the age-based grade level system locked in place. It takes a lot to advance a student or retain a student an entire year, often affecting the student socially and emotionally in the process.

In a year round scenario, students could jump up to a different level in between breaks rather than wait for the summer break. Would this be disruptive to some classroom environments with already established norms? Yes. But if enough students earned the move up, a new section could be formed and another dissolved to balance costs.

Staggering and mixing students based on ability can increase diversity and differentiation of learning. In a true multi-track model, certain cohorts of students would be off while other students remain “on”. This means you could have more students enrolled in a school than the traditional capacity as well.

The challenges of this model, besides logistics and traditionalism, are that they school year is constantly resetting every break. All the other traditional benefits of the current calendar are also affected like state-testing, athletics, graduation events, parent conferences, etc. Teachers and support staff would have to be adept and flexible when it comes to instruction, making a traditional “lecture-based” model more difficult. Grading systems would need to pivot to a more standards-based approach as well since learning is rated based on mastery of a topic rather than getting a good grade on a homework assignment or quiz.

This type of model certainly moves a lot of cheese, but it also could be the most beneficial to student learning and true personalization. A project-based school would have much better success attempting a model like this than a traditional school system. Now, if we really wanted to move to something different, this last model could be it.

Year-Round Hybrid Multi-Level

Educators shudder at the word “hybrid” these days as they harken back to the beginning of the pandemic when they had to teach kids online and in-person simultaneously. That is not the version of hybrid I’m referring to here.

In a year-round hybrid model, school would exist in two simultaneous models. Students would follow a multi-track year round in-person schedule supplemented at times with an online experience. Teachers wouldn’t be teaching these online components in real-time. The classes would be project or challenge-based and students would be able to determine their own pathway during off-time.

Vacations could still happen. Students can log in as often as they want or until they mastered their objective. This new version of homework would be less about practice and more about deeper understanding. Worksheets replaced with world-building and connecting.

Students could attend classes outside of their geographic area (hint – future blog post coming on this). During their in-person “off time” they could learn another language, master math objectives, or design an app for their future business. This calendar looks the most messy of all as the online component would happen during various quarters or trimesters potentially. Here’s a look at what that might entail for a student.

In the above model, a student attends year round in-person school, potentially jumping up levels in various subject areas between breaks. Meanwhile, they are working on additional online learning either in an area they are passionate about or in an area where they need extra support.

As with in-person school, there would need to be some built in breaks for online learning. These “Off line” times could coincide with in-person breaks so that students could achieve true “down time”. An online advisor/mentor would help them through this part of their school day and help them connect with the right resources and instructors as needed.

Time is a limited resource

No matter what calendar or ideology a school chooses, balancing academic time and down time is a challenge. There is no, one-size-fits-all scenario in education, but creating calendars and possibly online components that allow for flexibility is a step towards true personalized learning. There are many permutations of the methods I’ve suggested above that exist, but for reasons of traditionalism, they never take hold and achieve wide-spread adoption. It’s going to take leadership at the state or federal level to truly make that happen.

Please share your own thoughts in the comments below. What am I missing? What more could we do as we head Forward to Different?

March 23, 2022
Real-time Data about the Real Quit in K12: Winter 2022
One of the problems with data, and K12’s reliance on it, is that data ages. And ages quickly. But public education, especially, in its quest for accountability has established itself around officially reported data that states require from school districts periodically through the year. The complexities of collecting, auditing, reporting, and responding to district-reported data are significant, but perhaps not as significant as the consequences of the delayed reporting cycles that have been established over the years.

K12 education in the US is in the valley of those reports right now, and our ability to respond collectively to the stresses our students, teachers, and schools are under is hampered by the fact that many important attendance, discipline, and staffing reports won’t be due until after school is out in June.  This has led to a significant gap in our understanding of how our schools are actually doing in 2021-22 and how we might be able to respond to potentially critical and time-sensitive issues in the school building.

K12Leaders touched on the significance of these gaps in a recent article (The Big Quit and the Problem with Big (and Old) Data in Education) which cites the radical differences between a Forbes and The 74 articles which paint both dire and simplistic pictures of where we are in regards to how our teachers are actually doing, and whether teaching, as a profession, is in crisis.

This has been a largely anecdotal conversation, at least as perceived by some… the “data simply isn’t in.” Though The 74 article does highlight the problem with data… it gets old fast.  The data cited in that article, some from 2015, and some from as recent as 2019-2020, is profoundly out-of-date for our purposes of understanding what’s happening <right now> in our classrooms and school buildings.

Data collected from January 23^rd through February 6^th 2022 by K12Leaders describes the more immediate situation. Based on over 375 responses from across the country, here is the picture we see.

Who responded?

K12Leaders collected 364 responses between January 23^rd and February 6^th 2022.  87% of responses were from K12 staff, teachers, or administrators. Respondents spanned 38 US states.

Respondents were experienced, with 95% reporting more than 3 years of experience in K12. Another question and response were somewhat redundant but supported these numbers… 75% of respondents are more than 10 years from retirement.

How seriously should we take recent stories of teacher dissatisfaction?

Over 67% of respondents report that they are “moderately” or “highly” dissatisfied in their current role.

How should we read the 67% degree of dissatisfaction?  88% of respondents report that they would give less than 1 month notice if they found another job.

Some good news is that over 60% of respondents indicate they would consider staying in education in a different role or district.

While 4 weeks notice may seem more than reasonable outside of education, educators are in the habit of announcing career moves well ahead of time. Retirements are deliberate and well-planned, and both teachers and administrators generally announce intentions to move-on in the spring before summer break. That over 10% of respondents say that they would “leave immediately” is unheard of.

The 4 most critical concerns…

We collected responses on 10 main concerns: Respect, compensation, benefits, flexibility, growth opportunities, community support, remote learning, pending retirements, personal concerns, and 4 sub questions about levels of response to Covid-19.

We have tallied all responses citing concerns of “moderate and above,” and labeled that percentage as a “risk factor.” Any “risk” over 60% is considered significant.

At the top of the list of concerns, is “Level of Respect” with over 77% of respondents stating that this was a moderate concern or higher.

Every year there is more expected of teachers and less respect for their expertise or opinion. The amount of data expected from teachers as proof they are doing their job is staggering and cannot be accomplished. Teachers are the only professionals expected to work for free, constantly pursue higher education for little monetary gain, and pay for materials out of their own pocket. All of these things used to be difficult to accept, but these, coupled with the attitude of most of society since Covid, that teachers are somehow the enemy, has made it an impossible occupation to want to be a part of.

Compensation was also at the top of the list of concerns, with over 74% or responses citing pay as a moderate or greater concern.

In a telephone follow-up with one educator, we uncovered some interesting details. It’s no surprise that teaching has a reputation as an underpaid profession, but what was surprising to this respondent was that many of the corporate jobs they’ve interviewed for pay significantly less than what they are currently making. With just over 15 years of experience, the customer support jobs they are interviewing for are paying between 30-50% less than they are currently making as a teacher.

With almost 70% of respondents citing “schedule and flexibility” as a risk, additional questions come up. When, for instance, did educators start thinking about this question? Was this on educators’ minds before the pandemic?

Because of the lack of substitutes, required trainings that used to be a day with a sub to meet and train are now on-line trainings we must do on our own time and even though we are compensated for the time, it is hours and hours we have to do these on-line trainings outside of the work day.

65% of respondents cite a lack of professional growth opportunities, despite the frequent comments about the ongoing professional development demands put on them, as cited above.

I don’t feel valued in our culture in a general way…. I will always be asked to do more and more and more with less and less. I don’t feel like I have room to advance and I definitely can’t afford to stay in a classroom long term. It gets worse each year. At this rate I will never be able to retire.

The number of detailed comments citing student behavior as a major concern makes this 62% seem like it under-represents the stress that extreme student behavior puts on educators.

The lack of support from administration regarding extreme student behaviors wears me thin. I am tired of being accused of not doing my job correctly when a student curses at me or throws things at me when all I did was ask the students to get a pencil, get to work, stop bothering someone, etc. I had a student cause a lockdown in my pod while he ranted and raved for 30 minutes, and the student wasn’t expelled…. I’m exhausted being expected to offer mental health services to students who need a trained professional’s help…. Above all, I am sick that I am not able to do what I love and what I trained to do- teach.

Another educator shares the following:

When I first started teaching 30 years ago, I had autonomy, support, and respect – and my students achieved. Now I have no autonomy, little support, and a complete lack of respect – coupled with the worst behavior, apathy and lack of work ethic in my students no matter how hard I try to make fun, rigorous, or meaningful lessons. I have 7 years to retirement and I’m not sure I’m going to make it…

Based on many comments, we see “parent/community attitudes” overlapping with the question about the”Level of Respect” educators are feeling. Certainly, anecdotally, we are hearing many concerns about parents and communities aggressively engaging with teachers and administrators in ways we’ve never expected. Just over 61% of respondents cited Parent and Community Attitudes as a moderate or greater factor in their stress.

I have been teaching for 13 years and have a master’s degree in my field. I have never felt the hostility and disrespect that I have felt since the pandemic started. I would love to stay in education but move to an edtech position where I can still develop and plan engaging lessons, but be out of the physical classroom.

Tired of being the fall guy. Communities and local governments blame schools for trying to keep everyone safe. Common sense safety precautions are ignored in order to keep the doors open. Having everyone catch Covid is not the best way forward.

Other factors…

There were additional factors as well, but their risk decreases fairly rapidly.
- Benefits- 57% cite as “moderate or greater.
- Personal concerns- 44%
- Concerns about remote learning- 22%
- Planned retirement- 21%
And speaking of Covid…

We posed 3 questions regarding concerns around the response to Covid-19 in three different scenarios. Local communities’ response, a school’s or district’s response, and the response to covid from the state.

While we were accounting for the possibility of some significant variance, we see that all responses rank Covid-19 as a moderate concern.

From comments, it’s apparent that Covid is seen as an aggravating factor that is contributing to educator’s stress, but is not universally seen as the driver for educators’ dissatisfaction.

Observations

We received a very high percentage of responses from K12 Teachers (75%) but only 6.5% of responses were from school or district administrators.

Reviewing free-form comments (some of which are quoted above) we recognize increasing frustration with the number of requirements put on teachers to meet state-level requirements. However, we also see significant and peaked frustration with direct supervision and the culture within schools and districts. Many responses call out their principals and superintendents directly for poor communication, micro-management, lack of support, and lack of respect.

Considering the highest risk factors captured by this survey, there are certainly a number of concerns that are outside administrators’ direct control. Pay-scales are policy and community driven. District leaders may be able to advocate for higher compensation, but to a larger degree their hands are tied.

Other factors, however, are directly within leadership’s control. School culture, respect, and student behavior all present opportunities for leadership. With more respondents from the administrator level, we hope we could provide better insight into these areas. As it stands, more research would be worthwhile to help districts prioritize their interventions to address what is clearly a crisis in the making.
February 7, 2022
The Big Quit and the Problem with Big (and Old) Data in Education
Human resources, I’ve come to learn over my career, is as much about risk management as any OSHA policy, equipment maintenance, or investment strategy. A company may choose not to perform maintenance on its conveyor belt to save cash for a year or two, but the risk of that critical component failing and causing major disruption increases every year they put that off.

Human resources is similar, even in K12. They just manage risks that hit us more personally. What do we need to pay staff to ensure they come to work? What contracts should we negotiate to ensure we can deliver services? What benefits? How do we keep our staff safe? All these things, while in a workforce’s best interest, also ensure the sustainability of a business. Or school.

The unfortunate reality is that while the bearings on a conveyor belt have a well-documented life span, a teacher’s career does not. Humans are also more flexible resources than bearings, and often get stretched beyond recommended safety guidelines. That’s my personal observation.

But there have been a couple of articles in the last weeks with wildly different perspectives on “The Big Quit” in education. The first is Mark Perna’s article in Forbes which describes a looming crisis, largely due to teacher burnout. And another more recently by Chad Aldeman in The 74, that claims there is no Big Quit in education, and that any “Discrete labor challenges should demand targeted compensation solutions.”

Aldeman’s article cites some robust data from the Colorado Department of Education and The Calder Center, but it’s also a prime example of the problem with data in education. The Calder Center article is from 2015, relying on data collected even before then, and the CDE study is speaking about retention rates at the beginning of the pandemic. That lag in data is typical, and in many cases unavoidable. And those making any policy decisions are in the tough spot of relying on data that doesn’t necessarily reflect their current or pending risk profile.

Examples of that include the accounts of student behavior from school and district leaders during the fall of 2021. (See our earlier article, The Kids are not Alright…). But student disciplinary referrals are only reported to the state periodically, and generally at the end of a semester… so how can any board of education respond in real-time to bearings (meaning teachers) burning out on their conveyor belts (meaning schools)? It’s not by looking at outdated data.

K12Leaders is publishing a real-time survey to gauge the current state of the K12 workforce, and the unique stressors on it this year. Please consider sharing with your educators and staff. We will share that data freely, as well as in upcoming articles on resignations, retention, and recruitment in K12 education.

Sources:
January 22, 2022
Social And Emotional Learning Resistance Confronts K-12

Social emotional learning (SEL) has come under fire in some U.S. districts when, ironically, it appears to be needed most

Christine Ravesi-Weinstein, an assistant principal in Massachusetts, is worried about her students.

“2022 was without a doubt the most trying return to school we’ve ever experienced,” she said at a recent K12Leaders online event. “The amount of discipline issues we’re dealing with that were intense, large discipline issues – vandalism, violence, threats – was not something that I was at all prepared for. The number of students in dire need of counseling is off the charts.”

Yet some groups in the U.S. have started targeting social and emotional learning and mental health education.

In Carmel, Indiana, activists demand this past fall that a district fire its mental health coordinator from what they said was a “dangerous, worthless” job.

Some parents are telling school board meetings that emotion-related lessons should be taught at home. Some call even talking of mental health at school brainwashing, indoctrinating students in unwanted progressive ideas about race, gender and sexuality.

One parent at a school meeting this past September in Southlake, Texas even called the district’s lessons on suicide prevention “advertisements for suicide.”

SEL experts have responses.

Good programs tarred by bad ones?

Driving some of this mistrust is mixed quality in the breadth of what are now called SEL-related services or resources. As with any burgeoning trend, a wide selection of related assets at varying levels of effectiveness have recently come available. Not all these resources are grounded in science, sometimes giving well-meaning initiatives aimed at students’ current mental challenges a bad name.

“Mental health education is vital. But it’s very important that schools adopt evidence-based approaches and aren’t just bringing in any program or lesson plan they find on the Internet. You want an organization with a track record working with mental health in schools, with programming that’s science-based to show it does no harm and actually improves kids’ mental health and emotional literacy,” said Dr. Molly Lawlor, Director of Curriculum and Research at the Goldie Hawn Foundation’s MindUP social and emotional learning program in a recent online event answering hard SEL-related issues.

“SEL does well when when it’s a reputable program,” agreed Dido Balla, Director of Educational Innovation and Partnerships at MindUP. “At MindUP, we start with the brain. We aren’t teaching opinions or any new agenda. We show: ‘if you have a brain, this is how it functions.’ Or in other words: no matter what you believe, biologically, anxiety can still affect you. Here’s what to expect, and here’s how to manage it.”

Children clearly need help today

Some critics of SEL harken to a time when schools in America only felt they needed to teach core subjects, plus the Ten Commandments and the Golden Rule. But children today face greater challenges than previous generations, like school shootings and social media. And the modern impact on mental health is measurably growing. Factor in the burden of COVID-19, and the more than a million children around the world even as of the summer of 2020 who’d lost a parent to the virus, and experts say we’re facing an unprecedented mental health crisis among kids.

“Pre-pandemic, we already had 5.2 million children aged 3 to 17 affected by anxiety disorder. And after working with thousands of educators throughout the pandemic, I can tell you those numbers are not going down. They’re going up,” said Balla. “One in five students in a classroom is going to be experiencing a mental health issue over the course of their education.”

Educators see today’s challenges up close and feel obliged to assist. Experts say the need has never been greater for strategies, grounded in research that wasn’t available to previous generations, instead of leaving young people to cope with modern stresses themselves.

“If you don’t talk about it, kids are going to look for information. Especially high schoolers. They’ll go to each other and often they don’t have accurate information about mental health. Not everything they see online or on TV or in movies is good advice. Some kids then adopt habits that aren’t healthy,” said MindUP’s Lawlor.

“A program that promotes resiliency, improves kindness, improves emotional control, improves perspectives? I’m struggling to see how parents could object to it. I would invite critics to have conversations with people who actually understand what good SEL is, and see how it connects to the goals that you have for your own children. You might be surprised how much alignment there is with what good SEL is teaching,” said Balla.

Silver lining: conflict management practice

The uproar itself in some quarters around SEL has benefit. Listening to others, having empathy for others, listening to different perspectives and managing conflict are all emotional skills to learn and exercise.

“Social and emotional learning helps us appreciate differences. Here we have a great example of a difference of opinion: a group that doesn’t believe that social emotional learning is valuable. Well, we need to listen to that and hear what they’re saying. Even if we may not agree. That’s a skill everyone should have,” said Lawlor.

Are kids showing up ready to learn?

Lawlor and Balla spoke at an online event answering hard SEL-related questions submitted in advance by school district leaders in the U.S. and Canada. The event was sponsored by Edsby, vendor of a popular online K-12 learning platform worldwide that recently introduced a system to enable students to share how they’re feeling and then present research-based, age-appropriate strategies and resources to students, including materials from MindUP, to help students regulate their emotions. Finally, Edsby also incorporates mechanisms for educators to take action to help their students succeed. (Disclosure: Edsby is a sponsor of K12Leaders.)

Other approaches, such as a new add-on to Teams from Microsoft, and standalone systems such as Skodel and School Day, address the issue in more lightweight fashions.

There are unprecedented challenges facing K-12 students today. Educators, especially trying to teach remotely, need to know how ready their students are showing up to learn. K-12 leadership should defend investment in emotional awareness and infrastructure in the face of criticism, especially when approaches and content are irrefutably grounded in science.

Ravesi-Weinstein, the assistant principal in Mass., shared another story in her K12Leaders online event, a story from home when she was having a tough night emotionally. Her 8-year-old son came up and said, “Mommy, put your hand up like this. We’re gonna breathe.” Her son put out one hand up with his fingers spread apart. Then, tracing his 日本藤素 fingers with the other hand, he had Ravesi-Weinstein take a deep breath at the tips of each finger and breathe out in between.

“Feel better, Mommy?” he asked.

“Where did you learn that?” she replied.

“School,” he said.

About the K12Leaders Editorial Board

January 18, 2022
Can Graduating Early Solve the Problem of Teacher Shortages?

Nationwide, it is called The Great Resignation. Sadly, our education community is not immune. Whether lured away by early retirement, opting for a career change, or as a result of waving the white flag, we are losing valuable employees and the K12 industry is struggling to fill empty positions left open by these professionals in all areas. Social media, news reports, employment sites and emails are a daily reality check of how many qualified individuals are needed in education right now. Everywhere, people are looking for creative solutions to fill the void to provide for our students and their futures.

I was listening to the local TV news while making dinner this week and had to rewind to be sure I was hearing correctly.

“The district raised its daily rate of pay for substitute teachers from $95 to $135 on Monday to hopefully attract more substitutes. We are still struggling to recruit new substitutes despite that increase and we are using all available staff, including paraprofessionals and district administrators, to cover classrooms,” a Brockton Public Schools spokesperson said in a statement.

https://whdh.com/news/mass-school-districts-scrambling-to-find-substitute-teachers-as-covid-19-causes-crippling-staff-shortages-3/

The story talks about the challenges of personnel shortages during the pandemic and the call for higher education institutions to graduate education majors a semester early to fill those gaps.

I work in K12 education and I am living life affected by those gaps. Our staff members at all levels are feeling the stress more than they did last year when we were in a hybrid environment. I’ve seen district leaders and administrators substitute teaching in classrooms and performing bus, recess and lunch duty. I know how shortages are playing out in the school house. In my online groups, I read post after post after post of weary professionals trying their best to provide for their students while preserving their health and sanity. I’m not convinced we are preserving either.

Our current environment is NO place to invite preservice teachers to come aboard. The final semester of most preparatory programs is where the culmination of acquired academics meets actual practice. The end of professional programs is where preservice teachers work alongside master educators under the supervision of their university professors. During our final semester is where we all struggle while being supported, learn from our failure, strengthen our wings and grow our network as a way to prepare for our burgeoning career.

And let’s face it: even before the pandemic, teacher retention rates weren’t something to celebrate. A quick Google search will inundate you with examples of disappointing data points. For example:

https://www.nassp.org/publication/principal-leadership/volume-20/principal-leadership-january-2020/making-teachers-stick-january-2020/

In her article “Why Do Teachers Quit?” Liz Riggs revealed that for those who are enrolled in teacher education programs, 40 percent of those potential educators never even enter the profession, citing a “lack of respect” and describing teaching as a “very disempowered line of work.”

In our book Modern Mentor, Matthew X. Joseph and I talk about the importance of a robust mentoring program to overcome these statistics. A reality we cannot ignore is that thousands of students are investing hope, time, work and money to enter the education profession, only to leave their dreams behind before they are even actualized.

Do we forgo residency to get surgeons into the operating room? Can we eliminate flight hour requirements for pilots to seat them in the cockpit? Should we cross bridges designed by engineers with incomplete training?

No. We are ALL professionals. We don’t. We can’t. We shouldn’t.

No matter how much we need them, we cannot tempt fate by encouraging preservice educators to leave their preparatory programs before they are prepared.

None of us can afford that.

We are back to the same challenge, though, aren’t we? Districts everywhere are experiencing a shortage of qualified professionals. Where can they be found, and how can we bring them into our schools? How do we support them so they stay? Our K12Leaders team is having this conversation on a regular basis. As our community grows, so does our capacity to problem-solve. We invite you to join the platform and join the conversation.

Share your thoughts here in our K12Leaders HR Group: https://k12leaders.com/group/k12hr/

January 8, 2022
New changes coming and needed… What will happen to “Whole Class Instruction?”

I shared this the other day in response to a question on K12Leaders.com- “What should we leave behind as we look forward to school next fall?”

My response was Whole class instruction…The idea that one size fits all has been disappearing for decades as the one red school house becomes a relic of the past destined to be clipart or postcard photos taken while driving through the countryside.

In its place has been a slow adoption to differentiation and individualized learning. With an enormous push to adopt 1:1 devices and free wifi for all, teachers ability to use technology for meaningful differentiation and student-paced curriculum will become increasingly more common. Further more, this will impact scheduling and assessments as those that “move ahead,” will have a need to demonstrate their understanding.

In the corporate world, employees ben樂威壯
efit from being strategic with their time management and project/task completion. Schools will pivot to this quickly, or lose their students to online/private instruction. I am sure this change will be faster than most Tinkerings we assume will occur in public education because the dynamics are evolving too quickly as evident by the corporate world remote shifts and access to remote learning.

May 11, 2021
Addressing the growing covid-learning-gap
While schools undoubtedly need some degree of accountability in order to assess effectiveness and identify areas for continual improvement, one of the major lessons from this past year of intermittent instruction was that effective education involves the entire learning community. Parents, libraries, and even municipalities all play significant roles in supporting kids’ learning.

Unnecessary challenges arise when supplemental resources aren’t easily available for children and families that need them. Those challenges can be magnified in rural, low-income communities, and communities of color where under developed infrastructure may limit access.

The Campaign for Grade-level Reading’s Learning Loss Recovery Challenge encourages communities to:
- SLOW AND STOP LEARNING LOSS by investing in “fast track” assurances of student access to the internet, tutorial support and out-of-school learning opportunities as well as parent access to the information, supports and tools they need to succeed in their enhanced roles.
- JUMPSTART THE RECOVERY PLANNING PROCESS by convening key decision makers and community stakeholders to develop a Learning Loss Recovery Compact that declares learning loss recovery an urgent priority; acknowledges the disproportionate impact on children of economically challenged families and children of color; and commits to a stakeholder-driven planning process that will include parents as essential partners in learning loss prevention and learning loss recovery.
- LAUNCH AND LEAD LEARNING HAPPENS EVERYWHERE with local initiatives to transform formal and informal places and spaces into learning-rich opportunities and inspire a community-wide shared commitment to children learning.
April 2, 2021