As we enter this new time of remote learning, we are learning from our educators and families what the experience has been like. We have begun to survey both families and teachers about their experiences. You can find links to the surveys and the summaries of our findings below.
Week 4 Family Survey Summary
We received nearly 400 responses in our most recent survey. Overall, just about half of families spoke with their Primary Person last week, which is a similar percentage to what we've seen in previous weeks. As we ready for the end of the school year, we asked families about their interest in summer school. We found that 37% of families are interested in attending, with another 34% indicating they were still uncertain at the time of the survey.
We also asked parents what was effective and less effective about the remote learning environment for both their children and themselves. Here were the most common responses:
What is Effective?
- Parent and student conversations with teachers and with their Primary Person was the most common response, with both students and parents finding the interactions very helpful.
- Students appreciated the virtual classes with their teachers, being able to get live support from them, and spending time with their classmates.
- Many parents said their children seemed more focused and engaged while working online
- Many students (and parents) appreciate the flexibility online classes allow them to work at times that are convenient for them.
- Many parents said they appreciated knowing what their children were working on more than they would if they were in a physical school.
What was Less Effective?
- While many parents found their students focused better at home, many alternatively felt their child was more distracted at home.
- Many parents felt like they did not receive enough communication and guidance from teachers and, as a result, felt confused about what was expected and how their child was doing.
- Parents of students with IEP's noted their frustration with the difficulty in adequately supporting their students in this remote environment.
- Some parents were confused by where to find their child's assignments and what still needed to be submitted in their attempts to help monitor their child's engagement.
- Many parents noted that they wanted to be able to help their children more, but the school did not provide bilingual support or translation or work/caregiver responsibilities for their other children made that support challenging.
Your feedback over these past four surveys have been critical to informing how we're thinking about learning for the fall. We know that there will be a place for remote learning in some capacity, and your wisdom has told us five key things:
1. Having daily live, in-person and recorded video instruction matters: You have told us how beneficial direct contact with teachers and peers has been for students’ education and engagement in the work and so we want to make sure this is happening each and every day. Some families/students noted that posted video lessons let them work at their own pace and on their own schedule and then live contact with a teacher for support is important.
2. Having daily contact with a Primary Person matters: You have shared with us that having strong support in the areas of technology, social-emotional health, and understanding of where to find important information has been invaluable, so we plan to keep this model to ensure each and every student and family gets individualized support.
3. Having a daily set schedule matters: You have been clear that routines that students and parents can easily understand and follow helps everyone prepare and know what to expect each day.
4. Having clear and consistent communication for families matters: You have said throughout that knowing where to find assignments, grades, and contact information for your child’s classes as well as regular contact from your Primary Person and your child’s teachers is key to being able to support the work and hold them to high expectations. Primary Persons may also be able to support technical questions since some students still struggle with assignment submission.
As always, we appreciate the time you've taken to give us this valuable feedback as we end this school year and prepare for the next one. Considering the unknowns of this pandemic as we prepare for summer school and another school year, this is a difficult time for all of us, but your feedback throughout this time has helped us understand where we can improve and provide a better school experience for students across the Empowerment Zone. For that, we say thank you.
We also asked parents what was effective and less effective about the remote learning environment for both their children and themselves. Here were the most common responses:
What is Effective?
- Parent and student conversations with teachers and with their Primary Person was the most common response, with both students and parents finding the interactions very helpful.
- Students appreciated the virtual classes with their teachers, being able to get live support from them, and spending time with their classmates.
- Many parents said their children seemed more focused and engaged while working online
- Many students (and parents) appreciate the flexibility online classes allow them to work at times that are convenient for them.
- Many parents said they appreciated knowing what their children were working on more than they would if they were in a physical school.
What was Less Effective?
- While many parents found their students focused better at home, many alternatively felt their child was more distracted at home.
- Many parents felt like they did not receive enough communication and guidance from teachers and, as a result, felt confused about what was expected and how their child was doing.
- Parents of students with IEP's noted their frustration with the difficulty in adequately supporting their students in this remote environment.
- Some parents were confused by where to find their child's assignments and what still needed to be submitted in their attempts to help monitor their child's engagement.
- Many parents noted that they wanted to be able to help their children more, but the school did not provide bilingual support or translation or work/caregiver responsibilities for their other children made that support challenging.
Your feedback over these past four surveys have been critical to informing how we're thinking about learning for the fall. We know that there will be a place for remote learning in some capacity, and your wisdom has told us five key things:
1. Having daily live, in-person and recorded video instruction matters: You have told us how beneficial direct contact with teachers and peers has been for students’ education and engagement in the work and so we want to make sure this is happening each and every day. Some families/students noted that posted video lessons let them work at their own pace and on their own schedule and then live contact with a teacher for support is important.
2. Having daily contact with a Primary Person matters: You have shared with us that having strong support in the areas of technology, social-emotional health, and understanding of where to find important information has been invaluable, so we plan to keep this model to ensure each and every student and family gets individualized support.
3. Having a daily set schedule matters: You have been clear that routines that students and parents can easily understand and follow helps everyone prepare and know what to expect each day.
4. Having clear and consistent communication for families matters: You have said throughout that knowing where to find assignments, grades, and contact information for your child’s classes as well as regular contact from your Primary Person and your child’s teachers is key to being able to support the work and hold them to high expectations. Primary Persons may also be able to support technical questions since some students still struggle with assignment submission.
As always, we appreciate the time you've taken to give us this valuable feedback as we end this school year and prepare for the next one. Considering the unknowns of this pandemic as we prepare for summer school and another school year, this is a difficult time for all of us, but your feedback throughout this time has helped us understand where we can improve and provide a better school experience for students across the Empowerment Zone. For that, we say thank you.
Week 4 Teacher Survey Summary
This week, teachers were asked to identify the most common difficulties that students were having with online learning. There were a number of common responses amongst the nearly 150 respondents, many mirroring the issues that were brought up by families. Here were the most common responses from their perspective:
Environment not conducive to learning - Teachers found students were often taking care of siblings for parents who worked and that it was hard to focus with everyone being home because of the distractions that came with that. With those disruptions, many teachers noted that students had trouble with time management and their students' schedules had shifted later, making it harder for teachers and students to connect since teachers were most available during more typical school hours.
Difficulty with the online environment - This came in two major forms. 1) Students had trouble understanding the online learning platforms in terms of finding and submitting assignments and 2) Students often had trouble understanding the assignments without direct support from teachers and so became more easily frustrated and were less likely to submit assignments.
Motivation - Related to the two reasons above, student motivation has dipped for a number of reasons: missing social connections, more direct support from teachers, and distraction to name just a few common ones.
Technology Issues - Teachers reported that many students had issues with stable internet connections, laptop issues, and some bugs with the online learning environments that interrupted their ability to complete and submit assignments.
As stated in the family summary above, we believe that changes coming this fall should alleviate a lot of the issues we saw at the end of this school year. Having more set schedules and more regular interactions with teachers and Primary Persons should help address many of these issues. That said, for students who will continue schoolwork from home, it will be important to brainstorm ways that could help students be able to focus more and stay motivated.
Environment not conducive to learning - Teachers found students were often taking care of siblings for parents who worked and that it was hard to focus with everyone being home because of the distractions that came with that. With those disruptions, many teachers noted that students had trouble with time management and their students' schedules had shifted later, making it harder for teachers and students to connect since teachers were most available during more typical school hours.
Difficulty with the online environment - This came in two major forms. 1) Students had trouble understanding the online learning platforms in terms of finding and submitting assignments and 2) Students often had trouble understanding the assignments without direct support from teachers and so became more easily frustrated and were less likely to submit assignments.
Motivation - Related to the two reasons above, student motivation has dipped for a number of reasons: missing social connections, more direct support from teachers, and distraction to name just a few common ones.
Technology Issues - Teachers reported that many students had issues with stable internet connections, laptop issues, and some bugs with the online learning environments that interrupted their ability to complete and submit assignments.
As stated in the family summary above, we believe that changes coming this fall should alleviate a lot of the issues we saw at the end of this school year. Having more set schedules and more regular interactions with teachers and Primary Persons should help address many of these issues. That said, for students who will continue schoolwork from home, it will be important to brainstorm ways that could help students be able to focus more and stay motivated.