With schools across the country closed due to coronavirus, families and educators are quickly changing to a new approach to education in a very short amount of time. While many teachers are doing a great job of keeping up with classes such as math, English and science, I think the greatest lesson of all that is being taught right now is the importance of adapting to a new situation.
External changes often force us to look at our internal abilities and make adjustments based upon the circumstances around us. Blockbuster laughed Netflix out of the room with their idea of videos on demand at your home instead of going to a brick and mortar store. Due to the sudden need for specific medical supplies, car manufacturers are now making ventilators and beer companies are adding hand sanitizer to their product line. While change isn’t easy, it is often necessary.
The current COVID-19 closures are a rather extreme example of this need to adjust, but smart educators have been looking at the external environment and adjusting accordingly for years. In 2012, I was working as the Communications Director for a successful suburban school district in the Columbus, Ohio area. The district scored in the top 10 out of more than 600 school districts in the state in both academic achievement and growth measures. The district just passed a ballot issue for new operating dollars during a very difficult economic and political time. The leadership easily could have sat back, thanked their lucky stars, and said we are going to keep the status quo. However, they were also watching $2 million in their operating dollars per year being sent to external online charter schools.
The district had a strong desire to make sure every student’s educational needs were being met and they wanted to protect the precious resources provided by their local taxpayers. So they looked at the external forces surrounding them in their state and across the nation. They looked at the internal structures and people they had in place to see what strengths they could tap into further. They re-imagined what education could look like for specific groups of students that had different needs or interests than what a “traditional” school program looked like at that time. They created the first innovative learning campus of it’s kind in their region and more importantly better met the needs of students while also reducing the number of students looking for options elsewhere. They adjusted to the external environment to create an even better and stronger product for their customers.
I feel for all the educators, students and families that are adjusting to this “new normal” overnight. Parents who are trying to juggle being good employees and keeping their child’s learning on track are to be applauded. Teachers are learning new technologies, processes and content to try and keep kids engaged and learning without direct contact. The stories of people dealing with and rising to meet the challenges they are facing are numerous and inspiring. In the end, I think the most valuable lesson that everyone will learn is the ability to adapt to whatever life throws at you and how to think differently about any situation that is presented.
COVID-19 is not the first nor will it be the last external force to change people’s lives. While today’s circumstances are terrible on so many levels, if we can help our young people to learn from this situation and adapt to a new environment, we will prepare them for the next big change in their life. Ensuring that students have what they need to be successful in life, regardless of what path they choose, is what education is all about.