Updated August 26, 2020

We are excited to announce the launch of the Resilient Schools Project (RSP), in conjunction with Future of School, a 501c3 nonprofit organization. This initiative will assist schools and districts with developing an ongoing response to instruction disruptions during the 2020-21 school year. This page describes our background thinking, resiliency as a concept, what the project will do, fees, and how to join.

Background
Our current thinking is based on the concept of resilience as a framework for post-disturbance response, which we borrow from various fields including climate change adaptations and ecology.

Health authorities are clear in predicting the possibility that COVID-19 will re-emerge in the fall or winter. Even if we are spared that outcome, it is clear that many sectors of society need to be better prepared for major disruptions—including schools. It is clear that most schools are scrambling right now to provide some sort of instruction, and most people are accepting of the fact that the current situation was not foreseen. The next time, if it happens, parents, students, and policymakers may not be so forgiving.

We choose “resilience” as a concept because of the parallels with other systems that are as complex as public education.

In ecology, a resilient system is one that has enough species richness and biodiversity such that the system rebounds from a disruption.

In climate adaption, a good example of resilience is found in cities that are adapting to rising sea levels and storm surges in new ways. The old method of addressing rising seas was to build walls to keep the ocean away from the city. That worked well, until the wall failed—and when it failed the result would be catastrophic. The newer way of addressing rising seas is with parks, floodplains, and areas planned to let some water in, and then make sure it can go back out to sea with minimal long term damage. This is a “bend but don’t break” approach that has the side benefit that often the floodplains provide parkland, open space, and other ecosystem services.

A resilient school system might take a similar approach in implementing a diversity of instructional models. We already see that districts that have online, blended, and hybrid learning options are adapting to school closures better than districts with few or none of these options. Instructionally diverse districts have a subset of teachers, students, parents, and school leaders who are already accustomed to learning remotely. Even if, for example, only 5% of the teachers in a district have taught online, that is still a leap forwards in terms of in-district expertise, and an opportunity to use the experienced online teachers in a mentoring role.

The Project
The RSP will support member schools and districts in their response to disruptions in instruction caused by COVID-19. The RSP will operate a facilitated professional collaborative network; find, share, and/or create guides on key issues and best practices; offer consulting guidance; meet remotely with schools in a cohort up to twice per month; and provide support via a members-only discussion board. Note that RSP membership overlaps with DLC membership in that all RSP members will become DLC members, but not all DLC members are RSP members.

Topics to be addressed will include:

• Assessing near-term needs to address COVID-19 related instructional issues in school year 2020-21

• Rolling school closures

• Students choosing to learn from home even when schools are open

• Addressing vulnerable populations (teachers, students, and members of the school community, including those with vulnerable family members)

• Special populations of students including English Language Learners

• Equity and access

• Teacher training

• Online content

• Technology platform

• Social distancing

• Messaging/communications with families and media

RSP members may be individual schools (public, charter, private) or districts. The project will focus primarily on districts of up to about 50,000 students because we believe that larger districts may face a different set of issues related to size and resources. Larger districts will be considered for membership after a preliminary discussion to ensure shared expectations. We are primarily expecting US and Canadian schools to join. Schools in other locations will be accepted, but synchronous meetings are a major component of the project, and they will be based on Western hemisphere time zones.

Timing and process
The Resilient Schools Project is gathering interested districts at this time, for a September launch. As of late August we have eight signed on, and several available slots paid for by Future of School (see below for more information). The following activities will support members with a professional collaborative network, coaching, resource curation including identification/sharing/development, and other activities:

• Video meetings every second week typically, with allowances for holidays.

• A moderated set of RSP discussion boards.

• Guest experts specializing in a variety of topics to join discussions and share ideas and resources.

The project will culminate in sessions at the Digital Learning Annual Conference in Austin in June 2021. Note, however that DLAC registration and travel are not included in RSP fees.

Because this is a member-driven project, each RSP member school/district agrees to:

• Designate two contacts who will be RSP representatives.

• Select representatives who will be school or district leaders who are centrally involved with planning for possible disruptions during school year 2020-21.

• Have at least one representative take part in most synchronous meetings (both representatives are welcome), and participate in discussion boards.

• Actively engage in the project. We are not defining “most”, but the project won’t work nearly as well without member engagement.

  
  

The role of Future of School
Future of School will work with our corporate, EdTech, and foundation partners to subsidize a number of Resilient School Project members from rural and economically challenged communities who cannot afford the membership fee. We are seeing four out of 10 of the poorest U.S. students are accessing remote learning as little as once a week or less, according to a new survey from ParentsTogether. The goal is to create an equitable opportunity for all students and teachers to go from crisis schooling to remote learning. FoS will also document and tell the stories of the ways that schools are responding to disruptions to instruction. Some RSP members will be asked if they would like to have teachers, students, and school leaders take part in surveys, interviews, focus groups, and other elements of story-telling. Willingness to take part in the documenting of responses is not a requirement of being an RSP member.

Fees
The RSP fee is $10,000 for a district, which includes a standard membership in the Digital Learning Collaborative.

Future of School is subsidizing a small number of RSP members at up to 100% of total fees. Members that are subsidized by Future of School must agree to take part in documenting school responses to disruptions during school year 2020-21.

Interested?
Email us at info@evergreenedgroup.com. Indicate if you:

• Are ready to join immediately.

• Are ready to join but require a subsidized membership.

• Have questions to be answered before you decide.

Please include the name and location of the entity that will join. If a school, please tell us grade levels. If a district, please tell us student enrollment (approximate is fine) and number of schools.