Dear Friends,

Educators have been working hard to serve students as we continue to navigate an exceptional school year. Teachers and leaders continue to put in place new tools and systems to address health and safety challenges (especially as many students, including my own elementary-aged children re-enter school buildings), improve remote and hybrid instruction, and dig in deeply to understand individual and collective needs. 

A key challenge through all of this is holding an unwavering, dual focus on addressing that which is urgent as well as that which is important in the longer term. We must make decisions about how to stabilize and recover in this moment that advance our systems, individually and collectively, towards equitable, resilient student learning that is more personalized, focused on mastery, and holistically developing.

At The Learning Accelerator, we’re focused on supporting leaders and teachers as they do this, addressing recovery and tackling meaningful advancement towards approaches that truly understand and meet the unique needs of every learner. In many cases, we’re learning this work can leverage new strengths built and lessons learned over the last year. In this update, check out some recent resources our team has created with others to help do this. As always, thank you for your partnership in this work.

Beth Rabbitt, CEO

Educators across the country are grappling with the complexities of hybrid learning as schools shift between remote and in-person instruction. In particular, teachers are focused on how to keep students engaged during hybrid instruction, how to successfully work with in-person and remote students at the same time, and (just released!) how best to assess those students in either context. TLA has captured best practices based on research and real-world experience from a variety of schools in this Problem of Practice series.

TLA is excited to share a newly redesigned website for the Parabola Project, which shares evidence-informed tools to help school leaders reopen schools during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Parabola Project draws on expertise from both the education and health communities with the goal of minimizing health risks to students, staff, and teachers while maximizing learning and wellness for all students. The website is organized to make it easier for educators, school leaders, district leaders, and other stakeholders to find the resources they need with dedicated sections covering Health & Safety as well as Teaching & Learning. These resources were developed and curated through a partnership between Ariadne Labs and TLA.

After launching in 2019, the Remote DEI Collective, a community of practice focused on advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in remote education organizations, the community has grown to 12 education organizations and is taking the work further. 

We will be releasing in May the results of a research-based review of specific steps (whether small hops, bigger skips, or transformational leaps) districts took during the COVID-19 pandemic to accelerate their shifts to personalized, student-centered learning. These real-world examples will include videos and usable artifacts and will be valuable for summer planning.

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