School in the U.S. will never be the same, and that’s okay
By: Nick Gregory
Tags: Policy, Covid 19, Society, Education, Teaching

Instant response temperature checks, a PPE budget, and alternating daily schedules are just a few of the issues facing schools today. It is dizzying to try and keep up with all the different K-12 education plans in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In this real-life game of Frogger, school officials have to be remarkably agile to earn public confidence. Leaders all over the nation, including those I work alongside, are making critical decisions with tight deadlines. Most Return to Learn plans include a menu of options for families, a dozen what-if scenarios laid out with flow charts, and lengthy Q & A sections.

And despite everyone’s best efforts and the creative plans my colleagues have been putting forward since March, the isolation has been an enduring struggle for me — professionally and personally.

I’m not alone.

Teachers feel the news about schools in the gut, where headlines and political narratives clash with personal concerns about job responsibilities, paychecks, and health.

When you consider that more than a third of teachers are at-risk due to age or medical conditions and about two-thirds of teachers have at-risk family members or loved ones, the magnitude of the stress comes sharply into focus.*

Mapping out school re-opening plans reminds me of the arcade game, Frogger. The frog on the bottom of the screen, controlled by a joystick, dodges moving obstacles to find a lilypad safely. (Frogger explained here.) Photo: Creative Commons

Meanwhile, elected officials can’t agree on public health measures to mitigate the spread of the virus or how to assess risks for schools. Some state governments, like Michigan, have provided more than sixty pages of guidance to schools, while other states mandate only a few safety measures.

As we have seen in Florida and Texas, some re-opening plans are ill-conceived and poorly communicated. With so many disjointed strategies and limited national guidance, teachers are losing patience, and families are rightfully confused.

Discomfort is not the enemy

We didn’t ask for the storm, but perhaps we can build something better in its wake. It’s natural to crave comfort right now, and a monumental shift in how we educate children competes with our desire to return to normal.

The resourcefulness of my colleagues is admirable, and at the same time, we have to admit that we are losing our footing as a profession. Our education system was facing troubling academic gaps and financial deficiencies pre-COVID, and the insecurity has only grown. Actual progress in education requires solutions that transcend today’s desperate circumstances. That truth is especially distressing right now.

Unraveling seems to be a theme in the U.S. currently, and the void of school as we’ve always known it affords us a tremendous opportunity to re-imagine the way we do things. Now seems the perfect time to modernize our education system, stamp out poor practices, tackle inequity, and deal with stagnation. Education, more than any other American institution, can help our nation heal if we seize the moment.

First of all, we have the talent and creativity among our professional ranks to see our way through another massive undertaking. Thanks to COVID, we also have the experience to transform practices quickly.

Serving as a building administrator is a responsibility I love. The pace, interaction with students and families, and learning from accomplished colleagues keeps me sharp. My role will be much different for the foreseeable future, and that reinforces my longing for more innovative approaches to how we educate children. Meeting the needs of students and a highly-skilled teaching workforce requires a new mindset about how schools should operate. While so many educators — including me — have struggled to figure out where we will fit in this new landscape, the possibilities are exciting.

Educators should invest their street cred to make big ideas a reality

It’s undeniable that fundamental changes in how we teach students in the twenty-first century are long overdue. Leaders in my school district and beyond have dedicated their careers to solving problems plaguing our schools. It is not their fault that too many schools aren’t equipped to meet the evolving needs of their communities, let alone educate hundreds of students during a quarantine. Schools are contending with public health and safety concerns in ways no one could have imagined.

Photo by Edwin Hooper on Unsplash

Thousands of educators have given the world a glimpse of our capacity when we are called upon. Imagine what we can do with more time and planning?

Before COVID, no educator in their right mind would have attempted to drastically change so much with minimal preparation. The risks were forced on us, and educators have been steadfast, weathering the storm under strenuous conditions.

Schools have been the bedrock for communities during this national crisis. Overnight, schools tailored instructional delivery, distributed meals, and provided mental health resources to families. As a result, people are reconnecting with the value of our education system and their appreciation of school employees.

Until this pandemic hit, efficiently installing and scaling new models for educating students was measured in years, not days. That fact alone gives educators street cred.

Summon the will to fight for the promise of American education

Calling for an education revolution in a nation divided by politics and rampant with misinformation is a tall order. In the past, our country has demonstrated a lack of will to address the root causes of the problems facing public education.

That tide is changing.

The case educators can make for transformative change is connected to the social and political upheaval in the nation right now. Revitalizing our education system is a central tenet of improving society, and educators are positioned to elevate the conversation.

The goodwill schools are amassing during this national crisis can fuel lasting change. Right now, more than ever, educators can grow our political capital and persuade the public to support new K-12 initiatives.

But there’s no way to sugarcoat the toll of this pandemic on all of us. The uncertainty is draining. Our shortcomings as a profession are magnified under the scrutiny of building closures. The pressure can feel overwhelming, and the rapid pace of change is stressful. Big ideas are tied to critical investment in education, and that prospect may feel like a longshot.

We have a unique opportunity to take a disruption that has been forced upon us and use it as a catalyst to advocate for an overhaul. With all of the unease in the world, we can demonstrate our resolve by thinking bigger than this moment.

Five big ideas to improve American Education and advance progress

Make virtual and remote education part of our regular face to face instructional practice on the other side of this pandemic. We must invest in technology and infrastructure and tune-up our pedagogy to mesh with the needs of all students. More than the specific strategies we employ, we need to change our collective mindset about what education looks and feels like moving forward. Everything, from how we schedule the school day to the skills we embed into the school experience, is on the table. Systemic racism and inequity demand our attention and action. For some observers, it has taken a pandemic, the Black Lives Matter movement, and polarizing politics to begin a national conversation about equity and social-emotional well-being in our schools. Our best educators have been raising these issues for a long time. Schools should continue adding to the national momentum and make personal and professional growth in this area a top priority. We are poised to continue (or start) difficult conversations in our schools about racism. We must always be mindful that inaction is the enemy. To restore the promise of education for every child in the U.S., we must attract and recruit more of our best minds to the teaching profession. Our teachers and school leaders should, at a minimum, reflect the diversity of the communities we serve. We need to invest in educating people about our profession, develop sustainable programs to recruit a diverse education workforce, and help the public understand how meeting this need strengthens our country. Financial investment in teachers, research-based training, and academic curriculum honoring diversity and truth go hand in hand with attracting the best candidates. Teachers are the best ambassadors for our profession. The research is irrefutable — Teens are not ready to learn early in the morning. Changing school start times for secondary students is a complex topic, and school leaders cannot wage this battle alone. A national campaign to educate people about the benefits of starting middle and high school later will help build support. Required early start times for all secondary students (some as early as 7:05 a.m.) are misguided, and the long-term negative impact on health and learning is avoidable. If we can strategize our way through a pandemic (albeit, not always smoothly), we can surely figure out alternatives for starting school later in the morning for adolescents. Speaking of research, we need to universally adopt a better system to assess student learning. Addressing assessment and how we use data to inform instruction keeps our focus on learning. Passionate exchanges about grading practices and effective ways to use data will lead to better outcomes. School cultures that encourage new ideas unleash the power of the professionals within their ranks. We should start by inviting a national conversation about grading practices and equity.

This pandemic will be with us for a while. Instead of merely adding new responsibilities to lagging educational practices, let’s hit the reset. Generations of students will benefit if we tackle our immediate challenges with bigger goals in mind.