A response to Steve Witherspoon’s “Seeking Educational Traction: The path to the New Normal”

Right-sizing Education

In the recent CANDOR “Front Burner”, Reeser, Ewy and Blankley [like the public at large] saw the COVID challenge to education as an unwanted and expensive but potentially opportune moment to compare conventional in-person-synchronized with pandemic virtual-asynchronous learning. Reeser went even further to suggest “we must start asking the question: ‘What is the best approach for an individual student.’” … a question which, if taken seriously, will bring calls for reVolution not merely eVolution in education … as “time, elections, trust and vouchers” provide stage and setting for diverse factions. Ewy voiced a warning about “opening people’s eyes” to alternatives they cannot “unsee”. Blankley candidly concluded there may not be a “right answer”.

But, perhaps, there is a “right answer” … which depends not on the method of communication but on the SIZE … of a class, of a school … even of a curriculum.

For example, in his address on “The Aims of Education” AN Whitehead stated:

“Every intellectual revolution which has ever stirred humanity into greatness has been a passionate protest against inert ideas. Then, alas, with pathetic ignorance of human psychology, it has proceeded by some educational scheme to bind humanity afresh with inert ideas of its own fashioning.

“Let us now ask how in our system of education we are to guard against this mental dry rot. We enunciate two educational commandments, “Do not teach too many subjects,” and again, “What you teach, teach thoroughly.”

“The result of teaching small parts of a large number of subjects is the passive reception of disconnected ideas, not illumined with any spark of vitality. Let the main ideas which are introduced into a child’s education be few and important, and let them be thrown into every combination possible. The child should make them his own, and should understand their application here and now in the circumstances of his actual life. From the very beginning of his education, the child should experience the joy of discovery. The discovery which he has to make, is that general ideas give an understanding of that stream of events which pours through his life, which is his life.”

Blankley hinted at this in his comments on ”project based learning” but failed to articulate any  principles of size. Homeschoolers have long sensed the wisdom of Whitehead’s observations, but few would dare to reach for its power in a MOOC.

At Northfield School of the Liberal Arts in Wichita, faculty discovered the benefits of a “cohort class structure” using a “deep dive subject approach” in which a small group of students were largely attached together with a single teacher for the entire year in a series of intensive studies that crossed traditional subject lines … in a real life communal experience. Unexpectedly exceptional results encouraged all stakeholders to continue the practice in the coming year … no “return to normal” there. I am certain other schools have important discoveries to share as well.

I am also certain the effects of SIZE can be recognized by those educators who are willing and able to step back from the pandemic experience and look at education afresh. For those who would like to press on with this theme, I highly recommend reading JBS  Haldane’s wonderful essay titled “On Being the Right Size” in which he concludes:

“And just as there is a best size for every animal, so the same is true for every  human  institution.”

Perhaps, even after COVID’s uncomfortable disruption of the status quo, we are still not asking the right questions about education … public or private … classical or traditional … parochial or secular. If not, we have certainly missed an opportunity.

I will close with observations, a question and an answer by Whitehead in the conclusion of his address which might encourage us to examine our COVID excursion from another perspective … that of size.

"The first requisite for educational reform is the school as a unit, with its approved curriculum based on its own needs, and evolved by its own staff. ... When I say that the school is the educational unit, I mean exactly what I say, no larger unit, no smaller unit. Each school must have the claim to be considered in relation to its special circumstances. ... When one considers in its length and in its breadth the importance of this question of the education of a nation’s young, the broken lives, the defeated hopes, the national failures, which result from the frivolous inertia with which it is treated, it is difficult to restrain within oneself a savage rage.

"We can be content with no less than the old summary of educational ideal which has been current at any time from the dawn of our civilization. The essence of education is that it be religious.

"Pray, what is religious education?

"A religious education is an education which inculcates duty and reverence. Duty arises from our potential control over the course of events. Where attainable knowledge could have changed the issue, ignorance has the guilt of vice. And the foundation of reverence is this perception, that the present holds within itself the complete sum of existence, backwards and forwards, that whole amplitude of time, which is eternity."

Perhaps, COVID was nothing more than nature giving us all a religious education. Let’s be sure we take full advantage of the experience.

Illustration: Thuan Pham

What hath this pandemic wrought? 

Delayed learning, that’s what the world of education’s Semantics Police refer to when describing the pandemic’s impact on students during the past 15 months. Other educators might refer to it as the Covid slide, a combination of the typically brain-draining hot months of June-August, the summer slide, with our current virus-hampered state. Nationwide, summer school has taken on new significance as some schools are currently offering more classes to help students catch up, and to provide curricular friction to grade-level slippage.

Many changes will be debated, each based on lessons learned, and what students missed, during the Fourth Quarter of the 2019-20 school year and beyond, a turbulent period which was virtually locked down by Covid-19. And, much like the response to the spread of the virus, results will vary.

The State of Kansas demands K-12 student bottoms in specific seats for a school to merit funds to flow from Topeka, additional in-state funding largely comes from counties, and the LOB (Local Option Budget). Add in federal funding for Pell Grants, Title I, Special Education, and other line items, and suddenly the cost per student in Kansas for 2021-22 is expected to rise well over $11,000, with some estimates much higher. This paradigm has been the norm for decades.

With so much money allocated, and expectations growing, what has been learned during the past 15 months? How high are the stakes for public education as some parents, and politicians, call for a reboot, demanding more choices for students when the class bell next rings?

To consider these questions, and a few others, Stan Reeser and Ben Blankley, USD 259 Board members, and Ryan Ewy, Hutchinson High School’s principal, provide their unique perspectives during a pandemic which called for them to help craft numerous decisions that affected tens of thousands of students.

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Ben Blankley and Stan Reeser discuss an agenda item at a recent USD 259 Board of Education Meeting (Photo courtesy of Stan Reeser)

Stan Reeser, President, Wichita Public Schools Board of Education

 Question #1. The pandemic has forced local educators to change several policies and traditions to strive toward quality education, as safely as deemed possible with changing directives and recommendations from the County, State, and Federal governments. What was the most difficult part of the process as the Board attempted to satisfy its various stakeholders while also staying focused on the community's health? 

The most difficult part of the COVID-19 decision-making process was trying to fall asleep after a major vote knowing that you had either hurt students or you had hurt educators or you have made some parent's life difficult. Usually when you help educators, you help students, or when you help students it eventually comes around and helps teachers. This was a case of choosing who to hurt the least.

2. Based on the experiences of the outcomes during the past two school years, what do you predict will return to normal during the 2021-22 school year, and what will remain the same as this school year in terms of dealing with education and public health?

3. Virtual learning likely produced mixed results these past two school years, with some students engaging and learning at home, while others struggled. Do you see USD 259 encouraging more online learning in the future? What are the pros and cons?

(The responses to these two questions are intertwined)

We (the community & education institutions) will be less scared of virtual learning. Virtual learning was seen in the past as something that was used as a last choice for students that struggled in traditional learning. I think in the future we will offer some type of virtual learning on an equal basis with traditional in-person learning. Of course, now, we hope we will have the luxury of exploring whether or not virtual learning is the proper path for a student instead of the necessity of remote learning (please note that I am interchanging virtual and remote learning). Unless the Kansas Legislature changes its mind (they won't) the concept of remote learning is morphing into virtual. We will use many techniques from remote and apply them to virtual, such as tighter schedules and more live teacher check ins. The interesting part is while the citizens, the students, and the education world adopts this new way of learning, members of the Kansas Legislature will become more entrenched to the learning models of the past.

Instead of thinking about what the pros and cons of virtual learning or traditional learning are, we must start asking the question: "What is the best approach for an individual student.”

 4. Given the challenges of the two pandemic school years, and the alternative learning structures many parents created out of necessity, do you believe home-schooling, charter schools, or perhaps a more fervent push for a voucher system in Kansas is a path USD 259, or other public school districts, might choose in the near future? 

Yes, there will definitely be a greater push for a voucher system for private/alternative school choices due to the pandemic. The political forces pushing this agenda in Kansas are powerful and have the numbers in the Kansas State House and State Senate. There were times, out necessity for public safety, the BOE had to make decisions that hurt families who live on the margin either economically or socially in our community.  They jumped on this and their political message now is, "See, that public institution is not interested in what you need." Time, and elections, will tell us whether or not the citizens believe this to be true. The nice thing we have in Kansas (and especially here in Wichita) is a generational trust in public education. In fact, that is one of the cornerstones that drives my decision-making process: will the community understand that these decisions were made in good faith and in the best interest of their child?

5. How far, if at all, has this pandemic obstructed learning for Wichita Public School students?

Believe it or not, this is a fairly easy question. If the student has or had a support system, or if they had the individual drive to succeed, then they were not obstructed in achieving or performing in their school work. If they did not have these two things, then they were probably already behind in learning and the turmoil of the pandemic on education will create an even greater learning gap. Public education mirrors the good and bad in any society. This pandemic will definitely exacerbate any divisions that already exist among groups of people attending our schools.

6. What do you believe Wichitans should know about the decisions made during the past two school years, and what direction the Board will take in the future?

I think the Board will look to return to normalcy. When I became President of the Board in January of 2021, my first message to the Administrative team and my colleagues on the BOE was, "We do not own this pandemic. We will perform our role in reducing the severity of the pandemic but we can do nothing about the battle between the Governor and the Legislature Leadership Council over safety guidelines or school building closings. We can't vote with the Sedgwick County Commission on whether or not to require masks. We will do the responsible things and then we’ll get back to education." The one thing everyone should know about the BOE is that there are three spheres of influence we must consider in all decisions: the students, the educators and staff, and the public. Rarely do we get to decide strictly on an issue that is exclusively beneficial to one stakeholder.

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Ryan Ewy, Principal, Hutchinson High School, USD 308

1. The pandemic has forced local educators to change several policies and traditions to strive toward quality education, as safely as deemed possible, with changing directives and recommendations from the County, State, and Federal governments. What was the most difficult part of the process as the Hutchinson Board of Education attempted to satisfy its various stakeholders while also staying focused on the community's health? 

The initial closing of schools in the spring was primarily met with support as most people were fearful of the unknown and appreciative of the proactive approach. At that time, we were not a one-to-one school district and with 70% of our students identified as free and reduced, households lacked access to electronic devices and internet service. In response to that dynamic, we created paper packets and had students pick up and drop off their assignments/assessments in a drive thru process. Students that participated at any level received a passing grade. (This helped many of our students stay on track in terms of graduation and credit requirements. Again, was this the right or wrong way to handle this difficult situation?)

In the Fall, our BOE decided to open all schools for in-person learning with the option of staying remote and working from home. At this point we had become a one-to-one school, but our teachers and students still needed to be trained on new electronic devices and the Google Suite platform. Initially, all remote students were working on a program called Odysseyware with no direct instruction and limited teacher contact. Most of the community was happy with this option, but many of our teachers were not. They knew that we couldn’t properly maintain social distancing in this environment, and many felt they were being put in harm’s way. However, they didn’t necessarily like the option of students trying to learn on their own using Odysseyware. We had to maintain this posture though until all training was completed.

We also allowed all academic/athletic activities, programs, and concerts to continue while following the CDC and local health official guidelines. Generally speaking, when extra-curricular events get to take place the community is happy. Throughout the school year we changed our learning format several times as we adapted to new medical knowledge, educational trends, political power plays, and family needs (we went from in-person, to hybrid, to remote, back to hybrid, back to remote, back to hybrid, and finally back to in-person. I am not being sarcastic as this was the actual order and number of learning environmental changes).

Overall, I felt that we battled the 50/50 political divide that many other communities experienced. Half of our parents felt all students should be in school to promote academics and reduce social/emotional trauma. The other half felt that we were putting people’s health and lives at risk. Leadership decisions become very difficult when people express concerns about death and physical/mental health to promote their cause or belief. We tried very hard to accommodate both factions. With every decision I made half the people thought I was a genius and the other half thought I was a fool. And half of them were right.

2. Based on the experiences of the outcomes during the past two school years, what do you predict will return to normal during the 2021-22 school year, and what will remain the same as this school year in terms of dealing with education and public health?

Next year we are returning to full in-person instruction. Additionally, we are opening up a virtual school to accommodate students that want to learn remotely. No masks or social distancing will be required. We will still use Google Meet and Google Classroom to reach out to kids and post assignments.

3. Virtual learning likely produced mixed results these past two school years, with some students engaging and learning at home, while others struggled. Do you see USD 308 encouraging more online learning in the future? What are the pros and cons?

In addition to the above comments about virtual school and Google Classroom, we are looking to add a few hybrid and virtual courses for upper classmen, something we have never done before. I don’t believe education will completely return to its old form, nor should it. We now possess the technological training and tools to offer education in a whole new way (we just did it for a year). Moreover, we have shown that we can offer additional services like flexible scheduling, expanded credit/course offerings, and telehealth.

4. Given the challenges of the two pandemic school years, and the alternative learning structures many parents created out of necessity, do you believe home-schooling, charter schools, or perhaps a more fervent push for a voucher system in Kansas is a path USD 308, or other public school districts, might choose in the near future?

Unfortunately, for public education we may have worked ourselves out of a job. We have performed so well during this pandemic that it has opened up the door to other educational possibilities (right or wrong). People’s eyes have been opened and change seems inevitable. It’s like the old adage, “Once you see it, you can’t unsee it.”

5. How far, if at all, has this pandemic obstructed learning for Hutchinson Public School students?

Our graduation rate held steady, but our reclassification (students not meeting the credit requirements to advance to the next grade level) rate has increased. I don’t know the exact reclassification percentage as the counselors are still verifying all grades, but the preliminary numbers are not very good. In addition, our local assessments revealed that many of our students are half, or a whole, grade level behind in many competencies. We are having Summer School this year to see if we can “close the gap”, but only time will tell. This is the first time we have had an in-person Summer School at HHS for many years. We are having sessions in both June and July to try and recover some of our lost learning and knowledge deficiencies.

6. What do you believe your stakeholders should know about the decisions made during the past two school years, and what direction the Board, and Hutchinson High School, will take in the future?

The safety and well-being of students, staff, and families was at the forefront of every decision. We didn’t always get it right, but our hearts and minds were in the right place. We made decisions with no playbook, textbook, or resource. A nation-wide closing of public schools was unprecedented. We learned, shared, cried, cussed, and ultimately prevailed. However, we will be dealing with the residual effects of this pandemic for many years. I have never been prouder to be an educator in my life

Ben Blankley, Vice President, Wichita Public Schools Board of Education

1. The pandemic has forced local educators to change several policies and traditions to strive toward quality education, as safely as deemed possible with changing directives and recommendations from the County, State, and Federal governments. What was the most difficult part of the process as the Board attempted to satisfy its various stakeholders while also staying focused on the community's health?

In my opinion, the most difficult part of the decision making process was that each difficult decision came down to us as individual school board members, and we didn't really have good federal, state, or local guidance on what was considered best practices until far into the school year. That opened up a lot of second guessing, among both board members and community stakeholders. There was never a "right" answer, and as a region, we ended up with remarkably different experiences for students and staff in our suburb and exurb districts versus our urban district.

2. Based on the experiences of the outcomes during the past two school years, what do you predict will return to normal during the 2021-22 school year, and what will remain the same as this school year in terms of dealing with education and public health?

I predict we'll get back to more community and parent volunteering in the fall. We'll also resume larger student activities like field days and pep rallies, at least outdoors. What I hope remains the same is people being encouraged to stay home when sick, and the flexibility of the education system to handle that. It's predicted that we won't have COVID-19 vaccines available for children under 12 until late fall 2021, so we will still be in a "test, quarantine, contact trace" mode with our school nurses for next school year as well at least at the elementary level. My hope is that this pandemic experience gets more students and staff aware of how any respiratory illness can negatively impact learning for all, so even more people get their annual flu shots and stay home when they are sick.

3. Virtual learning likely produced mixed results these past two years, with some students engaging and learning at home, while others struggled. Do you see USD 259 encouraging more online learning in the future? What are the pros and cons?

With how college and career learning shifted to more asynchronous and project-based learning, even prior to the pandemic, I can see that being further emphasized in our school district. As a current district parent, I would certainly appreciate the opportunity to continue formal learning when my child must miss school for various reasons. I anticipate the families for whom virtual learning worked really well will demand some asynchronous learning in their future school years.

4. Given the challenges of the two pandemic school years, and the alternative learning structures many parents created out of necessity, do you believe home-schooling, charter schools, or perhaps a more fervent push for a voucher system in Kansas is a path USD 259, or other public school districts, might face in the near future?

I think we'll still see about 10% of our region's students opting for the non-public educational setting, and I don't anticipate that changing very much in future years. The political will may exist in our state to extract public school funding for private schools, but the percentage of students participating won't change much. The size and complexity of our district enables a lot of programs and opportunities for students that just don't exist elsewhere. Non-pubs have their roles, but they don't, and can't, serve all students with their limited mission, scope, and purpose.

5. How far, if at all, has this pandemic obstructed learning for Wichita Public School students?

The assumption going into the fall was that the Spring of 2020 was an exceptional challenge that increased the expected summer slide for a large portion of our students. The exceptional students were doing exceptionally well throughout the year, and our students with intense learning challenges continued to receive additional supports. By the end of this school year, I believe those students in the middle probably missed out on the most learning and have the most to make up.

6. What do you believe Wichitans should know about the decisions made during the past two school years, and what direction the Board will take in the future?

These decisions we made regarding the pandemic were the most gut-wrenching, impactful decisions most school board members will ever make in their entire public service. The scrutiny over the past 15 months that we put on ourselves (and the public put on us) to be informed and reactive to stakeholder concerns throughout this pandemic was emotionally draining and will seriously affect us for the rest of our lives. We all know more about COVID-19 now than we did in December, last fall, last summer, and last March. When looking back at the decisions all local school boards made, we should remember that we were all trying to be as reasonably cautious as we felt was necessary with what we knew at the time.