Project lead: Tammie Knights
Ensuring that students participating in remote learning because of the COVID-19 pandemic receive the same rigorous academic instruction and social-emotional support as students attending school in person is important. Moving school systems to a remote learning environment is not just a technical problem. It is a pedagogical and instructional challenge. Teaching online requires specialized skill sets, including understanding of how to conduct classes in a virtual environment, how to best share content, how to monitor student progress, and more. Teachers in this situation are most likely starting from the basics, learning the tools as well as how to manage and teach in an online classroom.
Recognizing this challenge, the Region 1 and Region 9 Comprehensive Centers (R1CC and R9CC) are collaborating with state education agencies in Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Vermont on a community of practice that supports districts in assessing the quality of remote or hybrid teaching models. In 2020–21, R1CC and R9CC staff are facilitating cross-regional community of practice meetings that include state, district, and school leader stakeholders. During the meetings, facilitators support participants as they review a predeveloped list of measures, assess their applicability in a remote/hybrid environment, and identify new or revise existing measures. The project is prioritizing three constructs: student engagement, parent engagement, and teacher working conditions. R1CC and R9CC staff will collaboratively develop a framework for district leaders to use to assess the quality of remote/hybrid learning incorporating the measures discussed in the meetings.