1 Year of 100% Virtual Learning.
Still 95% attendance and 85% of students passing all classes. What stuck and what we changed.
I can’t believe we are approaching one full year of virtual learning. I remember the day clearly; it was March 13th, a rare rainy day in Los Angeles, and we had just decided to go virtual for one month. I recall looking into my colleagues’ eyes as we packed up the offices, closed the doors and said to each other, “Well, see you in a month.”
After the first week of going online last March, we were pretty pumped that we averaged 95.6% attendance. Since then, thanks to the dedicated work of all of our students, staff, teachers, parents and support team, across all of our Ednovate high schools, we have averaged 95% attendance, and even had 85% of all students pass all classes last semester.
We’ve learned a lot over the last 12 months, and I want to share some of the practices that stuck and key adjustments that we made.
Bright spots
Simplified Goals
From the beginning, we simplified. Typically, we track and hold staff and students accountable to six Annual College Readiness Indicators: Mastery, College Rigor, Self-regulation, PMC Hours, Critical Thinking, and Presence. However, we focused on just one goal for the first few weeks of remote learning - making sure students were showing up, students and staff were healthy, and 100% of our students had access to technology. That’s it. Period. We didn’t add any other goals until we met the attendance and connectivity benchmarks we wanted. All of our resources went to solving those problems first.
In August 2020, we added two more goals: 100% of students passing all classes and measuring student, parent, and staff connectedness via surveys. In October, as a way to ensure all students are succeeding in this virtual world, we intentionally shifted how we look at our data, from school-by-school reviews to looking specifically at identity and learner groups (race, gender, English learners, and special education) to see strengths and gaps. Currently, we are still measuring only attendance, passing all classes by identity group, and student, parent, and staff connectedness.
Like all of you, we want the absolute best for our students, and there are so many things that we want to do. But we have found that keeping it simple and driving toward clear, concise goals has produced the best results during remote learning, instead of trying to do everything and ending up doing nothing well.
Pulse Checks
We try to reach every student every day. This is no small feat and takes the effort of many staff across our schools and our network. We also work to stay connected with our staff through morning huddles, chat rooms (Google Chat has been a godsend for cross-school collaboration), and regular surveys. So much has gone unseen in this virtual world, but creating predictable communications and opportunities to weigh in has helped us stay connected, to the point that 91% of staff and 90% of our students feel connected to our network, schools, and each other.
Maintained Traditions
The Ednovate experience is less like high school, and more like family. We intentionally develop a culture in which every student and staff member has a sense of belonging, and our traditions are key here. We did everything we could to keep those traditions alive in the online world. We had video kick-off competitions, virtual Thanksgiving dinner with food and restaurant delivery cards provided, and we even pulled off a black-tie virtual More Like Family awards ceremony to signal that connections can persist, no one has to be alone, and we can still find ways to laugh and be with each other.
LESSONS LEARNED AND KEY ADJUSTMENTS
Async Schedule → Balanced Schedule
At the beginning we assumed people needed or wanted a lot of asynchronous time to learn. Students would receive assignments via email or something similar and then have a long period of time, with optional office hours, to complete it.
After reviewing our data and seeing completion and engagement rates, we shifted to a more balanced schedule, roughly about 50/50 in sync (live, remote instruction) and async time (independent work/learning). We emphasized completing work while in synch time in addition to having flexible deadlines for the async work. This adjustment was one of the keys to reaching 85% of students passing all classes. Check out this example schedule for 9th graders:
Last quarter I decided to teach a leadership class. And as someone who feels pretty good about teaching, I have to let you know that my first virtual class was a complete bomb! I spent hours making google docs and prepping my lesson. When 41 students arrived at 4:15pm, 90% of them had their videos turned off. I felt like I was asking questions into an abyss; students were answering in chats, and I couldn’t keep up. The worst part was when a notification popped up saying a student left the room (head buried in hands here).
Nevertheless, I had heard many of our great teachers were using Nearpod. And after a quick tutorial, it was like magic. I got my groove back! I could actually make the invisible thinking visible (thanks Ale at Esperanza!). What once felt like an abyss was now a classroom full of immediate and tangible engagement, dialogue, and sharing. This didn’t happen in the traditional sensory inputs that a normal class would allow, but they were happening in ways only digital can allow. And it was beautiful. I am yelling at the top of the mountain...Nearpod, nearpod, nearpod. No brainer.
Policy Changes for Students with IEPs
Because we were looking at our passing all classes rates by identity and learner types, we were able to see that our students with IEPs were not passing nearly at the rates of our other students. After two quarters of interventions, our team decided to make a policy change that made a world of a difference. We only graded one assignment (they still had to do the others) per week. This allowed us to see what students really knew and gave them a chance to succeed in a world where their traditional supports were not available to them.
And we saw a huge improvement, ending Quarter 2 with the narrowest gap we have ever seen at the end of the semester (85% vs. 81%) between all students and students with IEPs passing all classes. We can’t wait to get more 1:1 and small group support when that is allowed, but for now, this was a great supplement to all of the efforts of our teachers.
Enrichment and Social Time Across Schools
Finally, we had heard over and over again from our students that they wanted informal time to connect with each other. One student went on to even say, “I don’t even remember what it is like to walk up to someone and introduce myself.”
So in the fall we decided to offer enrichment programs with community based organizations, teacher- and admin-led courses and competitions, and just open, flexible time for people to meet each other. We are even experimenting with something called Spatial Chat, a virtual venue where students can walk up to each other and introduce themselves.
Reflections
We’re one year into 100% virtual learning, and I can’t believe we’ve been at it this long. While we are proud of our engagement and academic achievements, this is all still very heavy in many ways. Many of our family members have lost their jobs, moved, been displaced. We have lost many lives in our Ednovate family to COVID-19. We have provided Ednovate families with weekly food donations and nearly $60,000 in emergency grants. After talking to some of the surviving family members or parents who lost their jobs, I am inspired by their optimism and at the same time I am very aware that this pandemic is affecting different parts of our society in different ways.
My hope is that by sharing what is working in areas where COVID-19 is having a disproportionate impact, we can support our fellow educators, and thus our students during this time. Please, if you have any questions or ideas to share with us, we would love to continue to collaborate with you.
Oliver Sicat, CEO