Report: What needs to happen to prepare WA state schools for next major disruption
As schools across the country grapple with whether to return to in-person learning and how to do so safely, one Washington state group is already thinking ahead.
A new report released by Washington-based nonprofit Technology Alliance on Tuesday urged action to prepare schools and the state’s 1.1 million students for another pandemic or natural disaster.
The report, led by a task force of more than 50 education, business and government leaders, lists action steps to fill the gaps in education exposed by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The report covers five areas: internet connectivity, learning devices, student learning and educator readiness, information technology support, and family communication.
The report envisions how schools can pivot efficiently to remote learning in the future in the event of another pandemic, natural disaster or even a snow storm.
“It is time to reimagine the student learning experience and optimize it for all students,” the report states. “Now is the time to create a school system that cannot only better withstand disruption but also one that is more resilient, more flexible, more relevant and, above all, more equitable.”
Global health officials have said it’s not a matter of if there will be another pandemic but when.
Laura Ruderman, Technology Alliance CEO and a former Washington lawmaker, said that got her to thinking about major disruptions for schools in the future.
“I realized that we needed to start thinking and learning from the current crisis, and how to not have it happen this way again the next time there is an extended closure,” she told The News Tribune last week.
The task force, which includes state Sen. Lisa Wellman, D-Mercer Island, Rep. Matt Boehnke, R-Kennwick, and Rep. Mia Gregerson, D-SeaTac, was convened in late August to find out what needs to happen to better prepare schools for a calamity, whether in the next year or the next decade.
“The biggest takeaway is, we know what the problems are, and we’ve put together some really good recommendations,” Ruderman said. “We need to stop talking and start acting.”
Action steps
Currently, 150,000-200,000 Washington students lack adequate, reliable internet access, according to OSPI and the state’s Broadband Office.
The first step is to fix that, states the report, which calls on the Legislature to include annual financial support for internet connectivity.
The report also encourages technology equity by ensuring there are one-to-one devices for every Washington child. Currently, there is a shortage of 200,000 devices for Washington state students, according to OSPI.
Aside from the computers and internet connection, the report suggests that school districts develop remote learning plans to prepare for future learning disruptions, vetted by all stakeholders including families, students, teachers and principals.
“Furthermore, these plans are practiced (like a fire drill) frequently (i.e., at least monthly) when there is no crisis to manage to help these constituents become fluent in blended/remote learning,” the report states.
In the area of information technology (IT) support, the report recommends increasing funding for IT support from .628 full time equivalent per 1,000 students to 2 FTE over the course of four years.
“The current IT staffing model was developed to support technology use within schools only and has proven to be inadequate to support remote learning technical support needs during remote education,” the report states.
The report also suggests convening a working group of IT leaders and educators within 60 days of the report’s release to detail what a student-centered IT support system looks like. The Washington State Broadband Office was a member of the task force for the report.
The report also stressed improved communication with families during major school disruptions.
The Equity in Education Coalition, co-founded by executive director Sharonne Navas, helped survey more than 800 families over a two-week period throughout Southeast Seattle and the South King County area. They found that over half of the families surveyed had not heard from their school district since September 2020.
“I think the biggest piece that resonated was that families want to feel respected and heard,” Navas told The News Tribune on Monday.
The report recommended a requirement by OSPI and the State Board of Education for each district to have a written plan in place for how to communicate with families in the event of a school disruption.
In the works
Some of the recommendations are already in the works.
Some districts have already acted on providing devices to students. Tacoma Public Schools was not planning to become a one-to-one school district until after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. As of January, the district has purchased and allocated enough computers for its 30,000 students.
Bills proposed by legislators are intended to tackle equity and remote learning, including HB 1365 that would help districts procure devices, and HB 2631, that would establish a work group to create a family engagement framework for ages 0 to 21 across all Washington schools.
Ruderman acknowledged that some of the recommendations in the report are not new ideas — especially when the focus is inequities faced by students of color and low-income, special needs and homeless students.
“What we are really seeing is the cost of not acting on many of these problems,” she said.
When asking about the funding to implement these changes, Ruderman said the report doesn’t give one specific plan for how to implement the recommendations, and that the cost will vary depending on what the Legislature or school district chooses to do.
“Every time we came up against the question of the cost of acting on the recommendations, the real question became not what is the cost of action, but what is the cost of inaction,” she said. “Not can we afford to act on these recommendations, but can we afford not to?”
Navas echoed the sentiment when it comes to takeaways of the report.
“My hope is that we will recognize that there is a huge digital inequity in our state,” Navas said. “And the next time something happens, we won’t be caught in that ‘deer-in-the-headlights’ moment.”
This story was originally published February 2, 2021 at 9:00 AM with the headline "Report: What needs to happen to prepare WA state schools for next major disruption."
