Above: A student works beneath a mural at UCLA Community School in Los Angeles.
Written by Rebekah Kang & Jonathan Tam, both LAUSD teacher-powered educators. This post was initially published on teacherpowered.org.
On July 13, LAUSD announced students will be distance learning when school resumes next month.
Last month, a group of Los Angeles teacher-powered educators and leaders gathered for a virtual meeting to reflect on what they learned after schools abruptly closed their physical doors last spring and transitioned to distance learning. The gathering became a time for educators to not only reflect on the challenges that they faced, but to celebrate the resiliency of their school communities—and to recognize the innovative solutions that teachers and staff developed to meet the needs of students and families.
When Los Angeles Unified School District decided to move to distance learning, schools and local districts scrambled to reimagine schooling with very thin guidelines. Even with the best intentions and efforts by educators, the overwhelming consensus was that distance learning was ineffective and inconsistent, and some would even say a failure.
However, pockets of innovation sprouted during this time. Just as many small businesses adapted in creative ways, many schools also responded in ways that were adaptive and inventive—Los Angeles Teacher-Powered schools being strong examples of resilience and innovation relying on their collective leadership structures and cycles of reflection and improvement.
In Los Angeles, there are 18 identified Teacher-Powered Schools—all LAUSD pilot schools. These schools are district schools with formal autonomies to innovate around learning programs with regard to scheduling, curriculum, assessments, and more. Teachers at these schools are charged with working together to build and develop schools that are student and family centered. These schools use Teacher-Powered Practices to build a different kind of school, which has led to innovative learning programs and increased student outcomes in graduation and college-going rates.
Here are three Teacher-Powered practices that schools used to adapt and adopt during such challenging and chaotic times.
Schools developed new systems to effectively engage families and parents to support student learning. Teacher teams worked together to identify students who were disengaging with learning and to reach out to families.
As schools transitioned to distance learning, teachers and staff had to quickly make decisions that would impact learning for students. At Teacher-Powered schools, teachers and staff made decisions by keeping students and families at the center.
In these times of uncertainty, something that has been evident is the need for teachers to become learners again—learning about new online programs, revising procedures and schedules, using more technology—beyond our comfort zone as well as recognizing that our students are experiencing the same struggle as we are.
Using Teacher-Powered practices as schools plan for the Fall semester can truly help empower all stakeholders as we move forward in uncertain circumstances. In addition to an overview of what schools have done or are planning to do below, you’ll also find some questions to consider as you and your teacher team move toward the future.
Teacher Powered Practice | Examples of how schools adjusted to distance learning | Questions to consider |
---|---|---|
Meaningfully Involve Families and Communities | Teachers redefined their roles to include reaching out to parents and families on a daily basis. Teachers saw parents as partners for learning rather than as a support. | What is the best way to partner with parents considering families’ culture and home languages? What is known about our students’ parents and families? What supports and resources do our parents need right now? |
Keeping Students at the Center of Decision Making | Professional development focused on interdisciplinary curriculum and socioemotional learning. Teacher teams worked together to keep track of students who were not participating and reached out to parents and students. | How are our students experiencing learning now? How can we better support them? How can we strengthen and leverage our existing teacher teams to make decisions that reimagine teaching and learning? |
Take On a Learner Mindset | Schools kept adjusting their Zoom schedules to increase student participation. Schools frequently administered surveys to all stakeholders around technology, challenges, and learning. | In what areas might we need to support our teachers as learners? Can we establish a consistent rhythm for reflection and learning? What data sources should we use for improvement and professional learning? |
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