The beginning of a new calendar year is often the time for “State of…” reports. President Obama just gave the State of the Union address, and many mayors have delivered “State of the City” speeches as well. At AVI CHAI, we are preparing to release two “State of the Field” reports looking at the state of blended/online learning in the field of Jewish day schools. One is an update reporting on new developments since the report we released in 2012 by Anne Deeter, “Online Learning State of the Field Survey.” The second is a qualitative analysis by Dr. Leslie Siskin of the progress of day schools involved in some of AVI CHAI’s funded initiatives in blended/online learning.
As a precursor to the release of these reports, we thought it would be interesting for day school educators and lay leaders to learn more about this modality of instruction in similar settings. Most of the data on blended/online learning that has been released so far is from the field of public education. While it is instructive, the settings are often very different from day schools. We were pleased to sponsor a piece on private schools in “KEEPING PACE with K-12 Digital Learning,” a report released annually by the Evergeen Education Group. For additional information, see pages 23-26 of the report and this post on their blog. Furthermore, we were pleased to learn of a report published by the OESIS Group (Online/Blended Education Symposia for Independent Schools) entitled, “Learning Innovation Report on US Independent Schools 2014-15.”
I found the report’s findings very interesting and want to share my thoughts about them in the context of our work in Jewish day schools. Here is a summarized version of some of the report conclusions:
- Close to 20% of independent schools in the U.S. are in advanced stages of blended learning adoption, with 12% having 75% of their teachers blending classes and 6% having more than 50% blending classes. As a whole, 41% of schools report that they are implementing blended learning, and 51% report that they are exploring it.
- The two most significant benefits of blended learning reported by independent schools are “accessing better content beyond standard textbook sources” and “creating time to personalize student instruction.” Another key conclusion from the survey is the attractiveness for schools and teachers of using blended learning for higher order elements of the learning universe; to be more specific, using it to target creativity, synthesis, evaluation and critical thinking through project-based learning and student collaboration.
- A striking observation is the fact that these schools consider blended learning less as an opportunity for “enabling more formative assessments,” or “getting more data for intervention.” Whether this is rooted in the general antipathy of independent schools to close scrutiny of data or is driven by other instructional preferences or by lack of training or technology assets, it is an important observation and one deserving of closer examination. The report notes that hallmarks of more advanced models of blended learning that are often found in leading public school models include a significant data culture that values formative assessments highly and stresses student agency, the self-pacing of elements of student learning, and maximized scheduling flexibility.
The report clearly shows that private schools are adopting online and blended learning; the movement is not only a public school phenomenon to increase performance levels of low achieving students. Even in schools where parents pay tuition and demand excellence in education, teachers are utilizing blended and online tools. The timeline of transforming classes into a blended format varied among the schools. The report concludes that, with an aggressive approach, such a goal could be achieved within three years, although it seems more likely that it will take three to five years. We are finding a similar trajectory among Jewish day schools, whose blended/online learning development is being supported by initiatives such as digitaljlearning.org and bolddayschools.org.
Independent schools and teachers agree that creating time for teachers to transform courses during a busy school year is the number one barrier to greater blended learning adoption. The other significant obstacle, at least as identified by school administrators, is a lack of professional development funds allocated in the budget. These are challenges for Jewish day schools as well, and school leaders as well as funders need to consider these needs as they embark on blended learning.
Perhaps due to the way AVI CHAI has focused our initiatives, I see many of our schools as ahead of the independent schools and closer to the “more advanced models of blended learning that are often found in leading public school models,” striving for data driven, personalized pathways. We have not ‘settled’ with implementing blended learning to allow for more instructional time or “just” to make time for collaboration or project based learning. I think we have pushed harder and asked schools to consider making even more drastic changes to their instructional models. We agree with Karin Chenoweth who writes in the February 2015 edition of Educational Leadership (“How Do We Get There from Here?”):
The general outline of ‘what works’ to improve schools for all kids isn’t a mystery. Research and experience have identified…practices that typically yield improvement:
- Have a laser-like focus on what kids need to learn.
- Collaborate on how to teach that content by unpacking standards, mapping curriculum, designing lessons, and constructing assessments that measure whether students master those lessons.
- Use the results of formative assessments to see which kids got it, and need enrichment, and which ones didn’t, and need additional help.
- Find patterns in data and use them to improve instruction (My students haven’t learned as many sight words as yours. What do you do that I should try?)
Data-driven instruction is new to many day school leaders and teachers, and we are proud of the numerous schools that have begun to shift to more personalized instruction based on formative assessments.
Interestingly, there is no analysis about cost, whether it is a driver or whether the model has any implications on finances. In our milieu, we are finding that many schools are reluctant to take their educational innovations to the next step, where they could realize cost savings. Perhaps with more parent education and with time, schools will continue down this innovative and daring path.
Stay tuned for the release of day school data within the month! We welcome your comments and questions here or by email at rabrahams@avichaina.org.