|
|
|
The views expressed on this page are
solely
those of the author and do not
necessarily represent the views of County
News Online
|
|
The 74 Million
Analysis:
5 Suggestions From Idaho Charter School Leaders as Their Rural Students
Switch to Online Learning… And 2 Thoughts for the Future
“Stay connected.”
That’s perhaps the No. 1 lesson from more than 30 school leaders who
are working to serve their Idaho families, children and communities
during the COVID-19 shutdown. These leaders represent a wide range of
public charter schools, from small remote or rural schools — such as
Island Park in eastern Idaho, with a student population of 15 — to some
of the state’s largest charter schools, like North Star, Compass and
Sage in the Boise area, which serve upwards of 1,000 students each.
Schools in Idaho were officially put on four weeks of closure March 23,
but many expect they will not physically reopen until after the summer.
As the charter sector, which educates 8 percent of public school
students in the state, engages its operational flexibilities to
innovate, educate, support and feed needy children even as their
buildings stay dark, the Boise-based nonprofit Bluum and the J.A. and
Kathryn Albertson Family Foundation convened a forum for school leaders
to share what they are doing to keep learning going while their
buildings are closed. Here are their key takeaways:
Stay connected
To your teachers. And to your students and families. It’s more than
just email; most of the leaders are prioritizing daily video or phone
calls to connect with their staff, both as a group and one-on-one. As
one rural leader put it, “Our biggest goal is to perpetuate our school
community and keep our school engaged. We have daily live contact time
online.”
Preliminary course offerings will reinforce learning that’s already
taken place, with an emphasis on human connection and adapting to
communicating with people in a way not everyone is accustomed to.
Some of the schools have even deepened their personal connections. For
one leader, a pause to have a discussion with teachers about what
working from home would look like gave deeper insight into the kinds of
support the team would need.
At Elevate Academy in Caldwell, where 88 percent of families qualify
for free or reduced-price school lunch, teachers are delivering meals
and hands-on curriculum, like cooking kits and small woodworking
projects, to their students’ homes. This deepens the connection between
family and school. It also widens the safety net for some of the
community’s most at-risk students who don’t have an adult at home to
help them during work hours.
Be proactive
“We started preparing for this well before a decision to close our
campus was made” — most of our school leaders started their briefing
with a version of this sentiment, as they detailed their planning and
preparation efforts to transition into a new kind of learning. Many of
the schools already had digital tools like Google Classroom, Seesaw and
Class Dojo built into their models in some way. Schools invested in
expanding those systems several weeks before the shutdown to support
education from afar and to help their teachers use these tools
remotely. Many are using tools like Zoom, Loom and Google Hangouts to
keep in touch with their faculties and students.
Learning doesn’t stop
Here is what two schools are doing to make the shift to the new normal of schooling.
One of Bluum’s 2020 Idaho New School Fellows, Marita Diffenbaugh, has
extensive experience coaching educators and suggested keeping distance
learning simple. Teachers trying to make an online class for the first
time usually “include more tasks than needed”; instead, try to focus on
student engagement, understanding the value of the lesson and how you
will provide student assessment and feedback.
Gem Innovation Schools has been operating Idaho’s highest-performing
online school for nearly a decade and operates three brick-and-mortar
locations as well. Some tips for transitioning to virtual learning:
Teachers should take care of themselves first; focus first on
connecting with students and preventing backsliding; reset expectations
as if it were the first day of the school year; and ease in with two or
three hours of direct instruction a day, then slowly ramp up
expectations and time on instruction.
Serve all students
Equitable access to resources for diverse groups of students is top of
mind. One of the first steps taken by every school we heard from was a
home survey to find out which families needed additional resources like
technology, food or internet connectivity. Every school has also been
able to provide every student with a device to access online learning.
But what good is a device without an internet connection? Gem Prep:
Meridian purchased 26 mobile hotspots and gave them to families who
didn’t have internet access at home. One school worked with a local
internet provider to build infrastructure to a community that houses
mainly farmworkers. A third school in rural Idaho partnered with the
University of Idaho Extension office to allow students whose geography
limits internet access to use computers there. Another charter school
in north Idaho has opened its computer lab for this purpose.
At Fruitland’s Treasure Valley Classical Academy, school leader Stephen
Lambert is using his school’s buses to deliver meals and to pick up and
drop off hard copies of learning materials. Several others are
providing to-go lunches, and teachers are pitching in to drop off meals
for those who have no way to pick them up.
To make sure that kids with special needs are not being left behind,
school leaders, teachers, parents and counselors are all collaborating
to provide learning options and accommodations. Telemedicine platforms
have played a large role in this accommodation.
Serve others
Alturas International Academy in Idaho Falls recently earned an award
for its global relief efforts, but last week its focus was closer to
home. Partnering with the local YMCA, Alturas Academy organized a local
food drive to help families in need.
A number of high schoolers from Compass Public Charter School are
babysitting for first responders and medical workers who don’t have
child care. And Compass is becoming a food distribution site for all
children in the community between the ages of 1 and 18.
Longer-term advice
Max Koltuv, former regional superintendent at Achievement First and
current adviser to Bluum grantees and other Idaho charter management
organizations, offered two longer-term pieces of advice. He said,
“Prepare for next year now and assume less money. Start hiring for next
year and think through your budget carefully.” Second, “develop your
improvement plans now so that you can retain your strongest talent
going into next year and beyond.”
Kristen McCarver is communications manager for the Boise-based
nonprofit Bluum and a lifelong Idaho native. Josh McCarty is CEO of
Good Points Communications.
|
|
|
|
