a conversation with…
Thomas Arnett
Thomas Arnett is a senior research fellow in education for the Clayton Christensen Institute, a nonprofit think tank. His work focuses on studying innovations that amplify educator capacity, documenting barriers to K–12 innovation and identifying disruptive innovations in education. Arnett previously served as a trustee and board president for the Morgan Hill Unified School District in Silicon Valley, worked as an Education Pioneers fellow with the Achievement First Public Charter Schools and taught middle school math in Kansas City Public Schools.
Thomas Arnett headhsot
Arnett recently spoke with California Schools about his expertise on blended instructional models and how boards can help guide their successful implementation in the new school year.
Please tell us a bit about your work at the Christensen Institute.
As a former teacher, I really struggled with trying to figure out how to truly differentiate my instruction. It felt like it was a good idea in principle, but in practice was just really hard, especially given the huge range of learning needs of the students in my classroom. So, I was optimistic about how technology might be able to help teachers be more effective in that area, and then I came across the Christensen Institute. What really inspired me about the work we do here is that while there’s lots of good ideas, I think, for how to improve education, our theories about how innovations unfold within a sector provide some powerful tools for helping us think about how you scale innovations. How do they truly come to reach and make a difference for all students, rather than just live in pockets on the margin as they often have?
When schools are allowed to reopen, many plan to use some form of blended learning to begin the 2020–21 school year. What are some options for blended learning environments?
If schools are able to open up, I think a number of the blended learning models that we’ve studied offer possibilities for how school could look. Within our blended learning model, there are two broad categories: the rotation model in which teacher-led instruction is the primary mode of instruction, but it gets a lot of supplements and enhancement from online learning. In normal times, the most common implementation of this model is station rotation, which is really classroom centers and one of those is an online learning center. That’s probably the most common in elementary schools.

More popular at the high school level are lab rotations, where students rotate between online learning in a lab and learning in a classroom, and the “flipped classroom,” where the basic concept is that you take what’s traditionally been homework, and you do that during class. This allows students to have support from teachers as they’re working through problems and doing the more active learning activities. The foundational content instruction that teachers would often cover in a lecture is online. And that could mean that teachers curate online resources for their students to access and look at, or it could mean that teachers make their own online videos of their lessons. But you shift a lot of that foundational instruction online and have students do that outside of class, and then have them focus in class on deeper learning activities and really engaged learning where they’re working with and practicing the concepts they have learned.

Of the rotation models, the flipped classroom is the most relevant during COVID-19. The question to really ask if you’re trying to flip your classroom is: What are the things that are most important for teachers to do with their students and what things can be in some ways offloaded to technology?
The other models are for when online learning really becomes the backbone of instruction. One is the flex model, which is where the core content is organized in a learning management system, often in a playlist. Students don’t have to ask a teacher what are we doing today, or what should I work on next, where do I go to access material? It’s all curated for them and they can move through that material independently according to their circumstances and their needs and the pacing that works best for them. But at a school site, the online learning is the entry point and then teachers and students work together on things like small group tutorials, or a project-based learning activity that enhances and expands students’ learning beyond what they’re learning online, or a classroom debate — activities that bring content to life. If you translate that model to remote learning, groups can meet on Zoom and focus on discussing ideas and collaborating on projects together.

Another model that falls in that category with online as the backbone is called “enriched virtual,” which was created by virtual schools that noticed students often need more face-to-face support than they can get when they’re fully virtual. And so virtual schools would set up learning centers, and students would come in two or three times a week for two or three hours at a time. They could meet with their teachers, build relationships with them, ask and answer questions, meet with peers on projects and activities — but most of the learning happens virtually and remotely. I think this is one of the models that has the most relevance for schools that are only able to open part time.

What are some things school leaders should think about when planning for a blended learning environment?
For something like a modified flipped classroom, there is an organization called the Modern Classrooms Project, and they have some online professional development that can help teachers pretty quickly set up a basic modified flipped classroom model. If schools are able to do station rotation, the basic station rotation model can be pretty easy in that if teachers are already doing classrooms centers, it’s just getting the devices and setting up the software to have one of those centers be online learning.

The bigger challenges are, if you really want to shift to things like mastery-based learning, if you really want to make a big shift toward student agency and having students do more self-directed learning — it requires shifting the role of the teacher and rethinking how we provide instruction. You have to ask what are things where teachers’ expertise is most important and most valuable versus what can be done online? Some of those shifts are harder, or at least take more time and thought to make. But I do think schools can start off with a basic model, and then hopefully, as teachers become familiar with those basic models, then adapt to what works best.

It’s important to keep in mind that there are a lot of interdependencies between different parts of the models that really aren’t well understood. Trying to figure out if the way instruction is being provided is accessible to families and if it is working for students. Do our communications work given that we’re not communicating in the ways we usually do? To help figure out how to work out all of those interdependencies, districts should have all the different stakeholders who are affected by a model at a table together planning things. Make sure that there are teachers, school site leaders and parents in different circumstances. Some parents may be working from home just fine, others may be struggling to figure out what to do with their kids during the day because they still have to go into work. So, having people from a variety of different perspectives at the table helping to figure out plans is really key.

In an ideal situation where students have both devices and internet access, what are the benefits and detractions of online learning to improve equity?
I think online learning can go both ways. It can improve equity depending on how it’s used, but it can also exacerbate equity, even if students have access to devices and WiFi. Some kids have a lot of home support from parents with their learning; other students don’t — circumstances aren’t working for them to be able to offer than support right now. There’s also the fact that, for some students, schools are really key places for getting access to basic food and health care and counseling. And so, even with online learning in place, a lot of those students are still going to struggle without those other supports, But, all that being said, I think there are a couple of areas where online learning, if it’s used well, could really help with equity.

If schools use online learning in conjunction with mastery-based instruction, it can be a way to be more targeted and focused in identifying and addressing learning gaps. In other words, instead of just assuming everyone is behind or everyone is at the same level, really using online assessments to find out where are different students at, and then using online resources to give students targeted instruction based on where they’re at.

A second thing I’d mention is that the more that educators can shift some of that foundational instruction online, the more time they can free up for doing more personal check-ins. I think that’s one of the things that’s needed most right now when everyone is socially distant — it’s hard to know the particular circumstances a student may be facing that are inhibiting their learning. The more that educators can free up their time to make personal check-ins with students, the more they’ll be able to identify those barriers and figure out workarounds for those barriers. I also think the more that educators can shift instruction online, the more that they can then identify the students on the margins who are slipping through the cracks and focus more of their attention on those students. Whereas, I think if you’re having to do all of the instruction yourself, many teachers probably feel like, “Hey look, I know some students are missing in action, and I just feel like I’m too busy trying to run my class to be able to figure out what those students need.”

What can boards be doing right now to prepare for a better blended learning environment for the 2020–21 school year and addressing students social-emotional needs?
The best thing that school board can do to prepare for the new school year is to be a resource for your schools. For example, readers of this article can share these ideas and models with their superintendent to give them more valuable resources as they’re trying to figure things out. Another one I would say is recognize that a lot of the challenge is just getting the basic infrastructure in place. So, supporting your school administration in efforts to provide devices and internet connectivity to students who don’t have those resources at home.

Lastly, one of the assets board members bring to a district is their connection to the communities districts serve. As districts make plans for the fall, they need to make sure that all the people whose efforts are interdependent for supporting learning are involved in planning. This includes parents who are wrestling with different life circumstances. (For example, parents who work from home, work part time or don’t work are often better able to support their children with at-home learning than parents who have to work out of the home during COVID-19. Similarly, parents who themselves have post-secondary education are better able to support at-home learning than parents who don’t have a high school or college degrees.) Board members can be strong advocates for making sure that parents from varied circumstances are involved in planning for fall learning.

Kimberly Sellery is managing editor for California Schools.