Amanda Adams

Most professional development is narrowly focused on either curriculum or technology. But if we want to see real changes in the teaching profession, we need to equip educators with new methods of teaching that blend curriculum AND tech to unleash their time for constant 1-1 and small-group instruction. Otherwise, we will keep throwing innovations at a broken instructional model.

Chronic absenteeism is a problem we cannot expect to go away for two reasons: 1. Students and families will always have extenuating circumstances that make it difficult to attend school. Those challenges disproportionately affect students in high-need communities. 2. The pandemic called into question the purpose of in-person learning time and exposed that asynchronous learning experiences can replace traditional, one-size-fits-all instructional approaches. So solutions today need to extend beyond just trying to decrease chronic absenteeism. They also need to include deploying new instructional models that allow learning to remain continuous when students are absent. It requires replacing live lectures with instructional videos/other digital resources and shifting towards self-paced learning. This ensures students don’t “miss the lesson” when they miss class and allows teachers to maximize in-person learning time in 1-1 and small group discussions. npr.org/2023/03/02/116035809….