HEAD LINES

Leadership in Crisis

By Jamie Williamson Head of The Windward School

On September 9, 2019, I began my first year at The uncertainty can manifest into less-than-productive conversations Windward School, fully committed to Windward’s and sharing of incomplete information, and invisible armies mission and energized by the challenges I knew lay ahead. emerge. These are the times when it is critical to stay on course, At the time, I was unaware that the transition would be defined and we at Windward were led by our vision of a world where every by its unprecedented and unforeseen challenges, both for me child with a language-based learning disability is empowered to personally and for us as a community. The start of the 2020-2021 achieve unlimited success. In practical terms, that meant crafting school year finds us stretching into our eighth month of navigating a reopening model that provided our students not only with new the COVID-19 health crisis, and its full health measures to keep them safe but also impact and lasting effects are becoming with robust academic supports, tools, and increasingly evident. Now more than ever, Now more than ever, social and emotional resources to help them it is paramount to look to our compass for clear direction: to the Windward mission it is paramount to thrive. It also meant stretching ourselves to grow within this moment. “[Right now,] we and its values, to finding opportunity in look to our compass have a once-in-a-lifetime chance to courseadversity, and to grounding ourselves in correct, to take what we have experienced and our commitment to our children. for clear direction: learned and create a vision for education that The National Academy of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine recently shared to the Windward is more inclusive, responsive, and purposeful than it has ever been” (Edutopia, 2020). a news release emphasizing the importance mission and its Winston Churchill famously said, of reopening K-12 schools for in-person “Never let a good crisis go to waste.” I’ve instruction. It noted, “In grades K-3, children values, to finding been considering those words seriously these are still developing the skills to regulate their own behavior, emotions, and attention…. opportunity in past several months as we reframe what our educational environment looks like Schools should prioritize reopening for grades adversity, and to in a post-COVID-19 world. When we K-5 and for students with special needs who transitioned to remote learning last spring, would be best served by in-person instruction” grounding ourselves it was immediately clear how important (National Academy of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, 2020). For Windward, we in our commitment fully integrated technology would be to the program, both in the near and long term. knew that there would be dual priorities for to our children. Realizing on day three that our content reopening: both to expand the instructional management system would not be sufficient spaces available so that we could offer for our new needs, we pivoted, secure in the in-person instruction for all students and to ensure that students knowledge that we didn’t need more time with a broken system. In who opted into remote learning (either part- or full-time) received the short term, this switch presented additional challenges; however, the same quality and breadth of instruction as their in-person in the long term it has presented an amazing opportunity to think counterparts. Any changes made to facilities, protocols, and health about how technology can fit it into the framework of Windward. and safety measures had to remain guided by the core elements— A large part of the success of the remote learning program can comprehensive, multi-sensory, and language-rich direct be attributed to the adaptability of our families and their willingness instruction—that provide the backbone of our instructional model. to trust the leadership team with the major changes required. Our

In times of crisis, people’s anxieties about widespread families’ confidence in Windward during this health crisis

COVID19 Learning Loss: Reading Forecast Forcasted trajectorories for grades 38, reading RIT scores based on COVID19 induced school closures.

underscores what is most special about our community—providing a safe space for us to 230 School closure Typical last day grow, to experiment, and to support one another. Navigating this experience together has made us 220 7th grade 8th grade all stronger, and “it’s now undeniable that we are all connected to each other, that actions matter, and that we can have a dramatic influence on the health and well-being of others” (Edutopia, 2020). RIT Score 210 200 4th grade 5th grade 6th grade

The idea of our influence on each other (and on younger generations) becomes especially 190 3rd grade critical when we consider the specific needs of our student body. The Brookings Institution recently 180 released a report analyzing the impact of COVID- Sep 1 Oct 1Nov 1Dec 1 Jan 1 Feb 1 Mar 1 Apr 1May 1Jun 1 Jul 1 Aug 1 Sep 1 19 on student achievement, and the results were Typical growth/Summer loss sobering, especially for reading. The report noted, COVID Slide: Students have academic setbacks typical of summers throughout an extended closure “These preliminary…estimates suggest students could begin fall 2020 with roughly 70% of the learning gains in reading from the prior year relative to a typical community in ways we didn’t know were possible. Our children are school year” (Brookings Institution, 2020). suffering from the ambiguous loss of familiar structures, ways of life,

With an instructional model that is wholly targeted on and even the ability to meet up with friends and extended family remediating reading deficiencies, we simply cannot afford to allow (Haelle, 2020). It is crucial for us to be present for them and our students to fall behind. Fortunately, the direct instruction acknowledge their unique needs in this moment. “Now that model of instruction has been shown to shine in the remote students have lived through this, we can’t stop having conversations learning environment. Not only that, but it is flexible, so students about hard things: loss, grief and societal issues such as inequality, participating in person and remote learners receive the same oppression, and poverty. We have an opportunity to use this benefits. Its key components remain unchanged regardless of openness to heal and show that we can indeed have hard instructional setting: “1) Students are placed in instruction at their conversations, move through challenges, and come out the other skill level. 2) The program’s structure is designed to ensure mastery side, together” (Edutopia, 2020). In these circumstances, we look of content. 3) Instruction is modified to accommodate each to our north star to get our bearings: For Windward, that is our student’s rate of learning” (National Institute for Direct Instruction, commitment to learning, our commitment to community, and our n.d.). Even more importantly, the Windward program is research- commitment to making an impact. By modeling resilience in the based and field-tested, which ensures that students are never left face of adversity, compassion for others, and curiosity about faltering in a reading program that is not effective for their needs. disrupting the status quo, we demonstrate to our children that

This health crisis continues to test us as a society and as a anything is possible.

For Further Reading

Farber, K. (2020, May 20). Lessons Learned During the Pandemic. Edutopia. http://bit.ly/LessonsLearnedDuringthePandemic

Haelle, T. (2020, August 17). Your Surge Capacity Is Depleted – It’s Why You Feel Awful. Elemental Medium. http://bit.ly/YourSurgeCapacityisDepleted

The National Institute for Direct Instruction (n.d.). Basic philosophy of direct instruction. The National Institute for Direct Instruction. http://bit.ly/BasicPhilosophyofDirectInstruction

The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. (2020, July 15). Schools should prioritize reopening in fall 2020 especially for grades k-5 while weighing risks and benefits. The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. http://bit.ly/SchoolsShouldPrioritizeReopeninginFall2020

Soland, J., Kuhfeld, M., Tarasawa, B., Johnson, A., Ruzek, E. & Liu, J. (2020, May 27). The impact of COVID-19 on student achievement and what that may mean for educators. Brookings Institution. http://bit.ly/TheimpactofCOVID-19onstudentachievement