They’re (mostly) singing our tune

Sometimes what is being said is less important than who is saying it.

A recent report from the Center on Reinventing Public Education (CRPE) falls into this category. Why? Because while CRPE has in the past been somewhat negative towards online learning, a report it issued in January is fairly positive. In fact, it sounds very much like what Digital Learning Collaborative members have been saying. This latest study suggests that perhaps the pandemic has changed some minds at CRPE. (To be clear, I don’t mean that as a negative comment. When facts change, as they have in the past two years, a change of opinion is often appropriate.)

Virtual Learning, Now and Beyond opens with these paragraphs:
 
“Parents, students, and educators share in a resounding agreement that nobody wants to go back to business-as-usual. The evidence on student well-being and what we are hearing from the most innovative leaders is that now is the time to choose courage over comfort. Unfortunately, our schools are more likely to default to “pre-pandemic normal” that is hardwired into our systems and reinforces inequities.
 
Some versions of digital learning failed families and students during emergency school closures. For example, simulcast or concurrent learning, in which teachers broadcast lessons to students at home over live video feeds, overwhelmed teachers and left the students viewing instruction online disengaged. But that does not mean remote learning is worse than in-person learning in all cases. Some students found a safe harbor from bullying or discrimination in at-home learning, and some families and communities developed ways to provide in-person to students learning remotely, for example, by creating learning pods operated in living rooms, museums, community centers and other locations.”
 
The report then goes on to list four key steps:

• Step 1 | Permanently close the digital divide

• Step 2 | Guarantee high-quality virtual learning

• Step 3 | Design ways for learning to take place everywhere

• Step 4 | Empower educators as instructional leaders in virtual pedagogy

Within each step, the report provides some ideas and suggestions. Still, statements like “guarantee high-quality virtual learning” and “design ways of learning to take place anywhere” raise two questions:
 
1. Are readers aware that good examples of high-quality virtual learning and anytime/anywhere learning exist?
2. If it was easy to “guarantee” these elements, and reach scale with such examples, why has that not yet happened?
 
But maybe it’s better to look on the bright side. On the one hand I don’t think this study adds all that much for people who are interested and invested in K-12 digital learning. On the other hand, we need more influential people and organizations on board, CRPE is influential, and I would love to see the final sentences of the report shouted from the rooftops:
 
“Schools, districts, and policymakers should accept that online learning is here to stay. Now is the time to make the most of it.”
 
(A notable but largely unexplained element of this study is that it references a roundtable discussion held in summer 2021, including our very own Allison Powel and several DLC members. Perhaps that alone explains the change of tone. The report mentions the roundtable and lists participants but never delves further into how the roundtable discussion influenced the report’s findings.)