So many people in education鈥攆rom teachers to 鈥攈ave called this moment, as schools emerge from the darkest shadow of the coronavirus pandemic, our chance for a 鈥渞eset in education.鈥�
It鈥檚 a sentiment that repeatedly comes up in my interviews with teachers. They wonder if the pandemic鈥檚 disruption of schools was a once-in-a-generation chance to transform the education system, which is riddled with inequities and pedagogical practices that date back decades.
Some educators also wonder if we鈥檙e on the verge of squandering such a chance. That may be; in the rush to get students back on track, we鈥檙e at risk for overlooking many of the lessons learned from the last couple years.
This story is part of a special project called Big Ideas in which EdWeek reporters ask hard questions about K-12 education鈥檚 biggest challenges and offer insights based on their extensive coverage and expertise.
鈥淚 hoped that we would take the time during the pandemic to reimagine and rethink how we do school for students,鈥� said Tamika Walker Kelly, the president of the North Carolina Association of Educators. 鈥淚 feel like the window for possibility is closing because once we start going back to the old systemic processes and practices that we have normalized at school, then it鈥檚 harder to change those things.鈥�
Kelly knows there鈥檚 a desire to return to normal. But she also knows that 鈥渘ormal鈥� wasn鈥檛 working for some kids, particularly students of color. And even before the coronavirus disrupted schools, teachers didn鈥檛 always have the tools they needed to create learning conditions for all students to thrive.
To be clear, when schools abruptly shut down at the start of the pandemic, teachers and students suffered. There were real challenges for making sure students were safe, fed, and learning. But Kelly said she also saw some positives during those initial school closures, like a renewed focus on relationships and an emphasis on student-centered learning. She wants those elements to stick around, although she鈥檚 worried they won鈥檛.
鈥淭here鈥檚 a huge emphasis on testing to get students caught up鈥攓uote, unquote鈥攖o where they鈥檙e supposed to be at this time,鈥� she said. Instead, 鈥渨e have to figure out how to maintain the things that work for students.鈥�
But, too often, teachers feel as if they aren鈥檛 consulted as districts plan new initiatives that they will be asked to put into practice: 鈥淭he teachers know what works,鈥� Kelly said. 鈥淲e need more people to not only listen to teachers, but we also need them to implement the things that teachers say.鈥�
The EdWeek Research Center asked a nationally representative sample of nearly 1,900 teachers, principals, and district leaders what the pandemic impact they would most like to see in their school or district a decade from now. The two most common answers were more attention given to student mental health (21 percent) and less focus on standardized testing (20 percent).
Smaller numbers of educators also named more attention to staff mental health, more wraparound services for student well-being, and the added flexibility of moving some meetings online.
Educators expect disruptions to have some silver linings
Unsurprisingly, 92 percent of educators said the overall impact of the pandemic on the state of K-12 education in their school or district has been negative. Just 3 percent said the pandemic had a positive impact, according to the same survey.
More than a million people in the United States have died from COVID-19, leaving more than 200,000 children grieving the loss of a parent or caregiver. Doctors have sounded the alarm for a youth mental health crisis exacerbated by the pandemic. 69传媒鈥攅specially those from disadvantaged backgrounds and those with disabilities鈥�have lost academic ground during the turmoil of the last two years. And teacher stress levels have risen as they have worked to meet students鈥� growing academic and social-emotional needs, despite persistent staff shortages.
Educators say these challenges could persist long after COVID-19 case counts dwindle鈥攚henever that may be. When asked for the survey what they expected the lasting negative impacts of the pandemic on education to be a decade from now, a majority of educators pointed to a decline in teacher retention, an increase in student behavioral challenges, a decline in educator mental health, and too much screen time for students.
And yet, educators still think there will be some lasting positive effects from the pandemic, too. A majority said they expected to continue to see added flexibility for moving some meetings online, more attention to student mental health, better integration of technology, and the ability to offer remote learning when necessary, such as during inclement weather.
Teachers may have more power than they realize to drive systemic change.
For example, Melinda Caudill, a kindergarten teacher at Liberty Elementary in Lexington, Ky., has continued offering families the choice to attend parent-teacher conferences virtually or in person. She said more families have been able to participate now that there鈥檚 a virtual option, something educators elsewhere have noticed as well. 69传媒 whose parents are more involved in their education higher grades and test scores, better attendance, and better classroom behavior, research shows.
鈥淚 have a lot of parents who are single moms, working the night shift, and they would attend from their car while on a break,鈥� Caudill said. 鈥淥r they had little kids in the background. Those are parents I might not be able to reach [otherwise].鈥�
It鈥檚 also been more convenient for her鈥攁 stress-reliever at a time when teachers have more on their plates than ever. 鈥淚 can do it from home if it鈥檚 a later conference,鈥� Caudill said. 鈥淚 wouldn鈥檛 be stuck at school.鈥�
Transformational change isn鈥檛 easy
Of course, making lasting change on a systemwide level is hard enough when conditions are good鈥攁nd for a lot of the past two years, school and district leaders were in crisis mode, making real transformation even more difficult.
Joy Patton, a teacher-leader in Tennessee, remembers asking her principal in January 2021, 鈥淲here do you want to land after the pandemic? What instructional changes are you really hoping to make that we can start working on now?鈥�
鈥淭he principal looked at me and said, 鈥楾hat鈥檚 a really good question. I鈥檒l have to think about that,鈥欌�� Patton recalled, adding that she walked away with the impression that he had no idea what transformation he wanted to see.
The principal was in survival mode, she noted. He was dealing with quarantine logistics, contact tracing, staffing shortages, and parent complaints: 鈥淵ou don鈥檛 have time to come up from the fray to really think about where do we really need to go?鈥�
But Patton also wonders if the lack of innovative thinking is part of a systemic challenge. School leaders are so focused on operational logistics and test scores, they can miss the big picture of how schools can move forward instead of just maintaining the status quo, she said. And district leaders can be reluctant to scale innovative work that鈥檚 happening in classrooms, Patton said, citing project-based learning and standards-based grading as examples.
After all, most administrators aren鈥檛 trained for transformative change, wrote Renee Owen, an assistant professor of education leadership at Southern Oregon University, in an Education Week Opinion essay earlier this year.
鈥淚n schools, there is a constant striving for improvement, but improvement鈥攇etting better at what we already do within the systems we already have鈥攚ill never fundamentally change who we are or how we think,鈥� Owen wrote. 鈥淲e will continue to get the same results unless we are able to see education in a completely new way.鈥�
鈥楴ecessity is the father of transformation鈥�
Christopher Dede, a senior research fellow at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, has studied educational transformation for decades. At the start of the pandemic, he wrote in a blog post from a 鈥渙ne-size-fits-all鈥� model of lecture-style instruction. Instead, schools could create鈥攁nd, he hoped, sustain鈥攁 鈥溾�榥ew normal鈥� of universal, blended, personalized, lifelong learning.鈥�
He saw pockets of that innovation happening in individual classrooms and even some schools during the early stages of the pandemic.
鈥淏ut the rush of people who try to go back to the old model, and who say that online education is defective, 鈥� is very disturbing,鈥� he said in an interview. 鈥淎s is typical with education, the rest of society has picked up on the benefits of hybrid [models]. But education just has dismissed it.鈥�
Here鈥檚 the good news: Teachers may have more power than they realize to drive systemic change鈥攅specially at a time when school leaders are desperate to hire and keep good teachers. Teachers can 鈥渧ote with their feet鈥� and leave a school district that refuses to innovate, Dede said: 鈥淚f many talented teachers start to do that, that will put pressure on the system 鈥� so they can try to hang on to people who don鈥檛 want to be mired down in the old model.鈥�
As Dede has written, 鈥淣ecessity is the father of transformation"鈥攁nd educators say something needs to be done. 69传媒 are disengaged, teachers have one foot out the door, and the inequities exacerbated by the pandemic are becoming hard to ignore.
鈥淏ecause innovation is an out-working of problem-solving, we just might be at a place where the problems are so bad that we realize we must innovate in order to survive,鈥� said Patton, the Tennessee teacher. 鈥淎t this point, the problems are so big and so undeniable that we just might be willing to try something new.鈥�
