Will hybrid learning hurt high schoolers? Some in this Pierce County district fear so
High schools in Tacoma and around Pierce County are gradually reopening after months of remote learning. That’s good news for 9th-11th grade students starved for campus life during COVID-19, and great news for 12th graders deprived of their normal senior year experience (and much of their junior year, too).
Socially and emotionally, the benefits of in-person learning are undeniable — even with masks, social distancing and the part-time schedule every local school district has adopted for now.
Academically, however, the switch to a hybrid system is causing consternation in some places. Alternating between Zoom lectures and physical classrooms, sometimes with unfamiliar teachers or substitutes, poses challenges — particularly for high school students enrolled in high-rigor courses and other specialized programs.
Some families are concerned the change will impair their children’s college-readiness. In Sumner-Bonney Lake School District, high school staff say they’ve been told to expect losing two weeks instructional time during this month’s transition.
The ultimate solution is to vaccinate all Washington teachers and get them back into classrooms full-time, pronto. This Editorial Board has endorsed the idea, and Gov. Jay Inslee said Tuesday that all teachers are now eligible for the vaccine.
Until then, South Sound districts should implement flexible measures to keep students on track. And while much attention has properly focused on the youngest kids, administrators must not let high school students get lost in the shuffle.
“They need to think outside the box,” said Brenda Pearson, a Sumner-Bonney Lake parent whose daughter is about to lose her regular chemistry and pre-calculus teachers. “I just get upset thinking about how all this is going to affect my daughter’s trajectory.”
When students start returning to Sumner High and Bonney Lake High next week, they’ll find several teachers are now taking extended sick leave due to higher virus risk. A total of 31 K-12 teachers are scheduled for COVID-related leave, a district spokesperson said.
The district allows elementary and middle school teachers to keep teaching online. But at the high schools, it’s all or nothing; the district tells us it’s logistically impossible when students aren’t in the same classroom with the same teacher all day. Instead, they use a “concurrent teaching” model, in which one teacher instructs in-person and distance-learning students simultaneously.
For Pearson, that means her 10th grade daughter, Grace, will have a substitute teacher for her chemistry and honors pre-calculus classes. That’s OK for a few days. But for the rest of the school year? Yikes.
“Substitutes at that high level are kind of babysitters,” Pearson, who teaches in a neighboring district, told us Monday. “Don’t get me wrong, I respect substitutes, but some of these classes are so highly specialized.”
There’s no question the pandemic has caused setbacks with regard to learning loss. Several studies show the impacts of “COVID slide” are significant, and that students could lose up to a full year of math learning under erratic learning conditions.
High school students face special challenges, especially juniors and seniors. The Legislature recently addressed a big one by approving waivers for some graduation requirements during COVID-19 and any future state of emergency. Inslee signed that bill Tuesday.
But it’s up to school districts to ensure the integrity of a diploma isn’t diminished.
One reasonable idea proposed by a group of Sumner-Bonney Lake teachers is to hold “remote academies” in some high-level subjects; this would provide consistency for students while allowing high-risk teachers to keep teaching material they know best.
Teachers also want full transparency from the district in explaining to families the limitations of hybrid learning, as well as assurances that a viable plan for qualified substitute teacher coverage is in place. (The district tells us the substitute force should be adequate, and they’re recruiting retired teachers and student teachers to fill gaps.)
District leaders ought to work with teachers in good faith to address these and other concerns laid out in an open letter to the Sumner-Bonney Lake School Board, administration, staff and families.
We agree with Inslee that high schools can start reopening safely now, with minimal fear of virus outbreaks as long as all precautions are followed.
But doing it in a way that preserves academic excellence — and prepares students for a post-secondary, post-pandemic world — will require educators to be at the top of their game.
This story was originally published March 2, 2021 at 1:20 PM.