The effects of COVID 19 are going to be experienced for many years. Especially when it comes to education. Here are a few problems that were revealed by COVID e regarding special education and what we can do about them:
Meeting Standards
Many school administrators scrambled to modify the existing curriculum that, unfortunately, left out many students. Standards seem to be thrown out because of this emergency immediately. Truth be told, when we think about some of the lifestyles of our students, they live in a constant state of emergency. So why don’t we modify the standards to meet them where they are and uplift them in their communities? We should never throw out standards altogether. We have to have something that we’re shooting for. We should consider the environment that our students live in and how some of the material they are learning does not reflect what they need for survival and the environment.
We need methods for each teacher to quickly meet standards but modify them for their students in each lesson. Furthermore, those teachers need tools to support them, such as easy access to PD and ideas on classroom management. This can be done.
Lesson Plans
Some school districts altogether created the lessons for teachers. I don’t think this is that bad because they kept the district on the same page. But we’ve seen exemplary teachers do their best to modify lesson plans to their students’ needs. However, very quickly, the Department of Education excused states and districts from meeting the academic needs of our most challenging students.
We need methods for each teacher to quickly meet, create and accommodate standards-based lessons and assignments that engage students with today’s mediums of interaction. If our current president can submit policy stances through Twitter, why can’t our students have creative assignments using similar platforms?
Special Education Left Out
Students with learning disabilities, such as Dyslexia, for example, that are in general education, no longer got the support they needed, whether it was classroom pullout or access to school materials used to help them. I can only imagine what it’s like to struggle emotionally or academically and then lose any support I may have had during the pandemic. We already know how short student attention spans are. So when students are at home, it is tough to get them the resources they need.
Our app allows teachers to quickly create and modify lesson plans and assignments to meet each student’s needs and deliver that work via any mobile device, thus enabling rich and robust learning. Check it out here.
In Summary-
Technology is available, but it does not yet address the needs of today’s students, especially preparing them for what is ahead tomorrow. We all know COVID gave us a unique challenge, but these are meant to bring out the best in us.
The cost of not getting this right will impact student career and college readiness for years to come. Student Success is vital. We must take care to assist students that already struggle through postsecondary access and achievement, such as minority, first-generation, and non-traditional students.
