Giving Compass' Take:

•  Annette Anderson, assistant professor at the Johns Hopkins University School of Education and deputy director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Safe and Healthy Schools, shares how schools and families need to adapt creatively for re-opening this fall. 

• How can donors support safe and healthy school re-openings? 

• Learn about necessary guidelines for at-risk educators planning to return to schools. 

Beneath all is an impossibly high-stakes debate, pitting the risks to public health against the importance of sustaining academic and social growth of students.

While some US schools plan to move forward with in-person classes or hybrid models, many in recent weeks have opted for all-virtual instruction this fall.

Parents, meanwhile, are coming up with their own solutions, exploring options like home schooling, virtual tutoring, and “pandemic pods,” where small groups of students might gather more safely.

Here, Annette Anderson, assistant professor at the Johns Hopkins University School of Education and deputy director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Safe and Healthy Schools, as well as a former teacher and principal, shares her thoughts on how schools and families can “adapt creatively” to the current challenges:

We’ve seen a lot of schools trending toward all-virtual learning, after previously exploring other models. What do you think of that?

I think this is the right decision for many schools because they’re trying to act in the best interest of the health of their students, teachers, and staff. It also gives them more time to plan what a robust virtual learning environment looks like. When schools closed in March, they had to do it suddenly and without any precedent. There was a huge learning curve.

Going into fall, I don’t think there’s a school district administrator in the country who would say, “We’re going to do things exactly the same way we did in spring.” People want to improve because they want to make sure our students have a rigorous learning experience.

In places with confirmed decisions to go all-virtual, it’s allowed more time to get resources in place to make this happen effectively. Teachers can think seriously about how they’ll plan instruction, and school leaders can think about how they’ll reach subgroups that need more attention, such as special needs or gifted-and-talented children.

Read the full article about how school districts will adapt this fall  at Futurity.