- Lack of background knowledge. When confronted with the challenge of learning something new, we immediately search for what we already know that may assist us in the task. If key aspects of our knowledge and experience are missing, making sense of what we are attempting to learn and connecting with prior knowledge can be challenging, if not impossible.
- Missing universal learning skills. Organizing information, identifying key characteristics, sorting details from main concepts, and other learning skills may be missing. Absent these skills, even seemingly simple learning tasks can prove to be unachievable.
- Mismatched instruction and learning pace. For some learners, the pace of instruction may be too slow. They become distracted and frustrated and miss key elements and characteristics of what is to be learned. For other students, the pace may be too fast and they struggle to keep up. Many of these students are capable learners, but they need more time to process content and skills or may need more examples and practice to fully grasp patterns, sequences, and key characteristics.
- Lack of self-monitoring skills. Some students are not aware of when they are falling behind until they reach a crisis. They may not know when to ask questions and tap other resources, such as classmates, to carry them through and keep their learning on pace. By the time they become aware or their performance makes their lack of progress visible, they are already far behind.
- Absence of feelings of connection, community, and caring. For some students, the problem is not lack of skills, absence of background knowledge, or level of challenge. They see no reason to invest and persist with the learning. These students may feel little connection with the teacher and other members of the class. They do not experience learning as part of a community that values their contributions and offers support. Even though they are capable of learning what is presented, they feel little reason to remain connected. Learning is not their problem. It is relationships.
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Remediation Is Not the Answer to Remote Learning’s Lags and Lapses
Many educational leaders and practitioners are anticipating large scale remediation efforts when schools resume in-person learning. They point to evidence that many students have failed to benefit enough from remote learning to keep up with the expected pace of progress. Their hope is that by providing remediation services, students will catch up to classmates and grade level performance expectations.
Yet, there is ample evidence that such a strategy is unlikely to deliver the results we hope for and need. In fact, decades of research and experience have shown remediation as a “catch-up” strategy to be expensive, time consuming, and largely ineffective.
Remediation as an approach has suffered from at least four key faults. First, efforts to remediate have too often utilized the same instructional strategies and approaches that led to the problem. Repeating what did not work the first time offers little promise for a better outcome. In fact, it may reinforce for the learner that he or she is not a capable learner and lessen confidence, commitment, and effort rather than build capacity for current and future success.
Second, the time gap between the emergence of learning problems and remediation responses are typically too long. When students are confused or hold misconceptions regarding a concept or skill, the longer we wait the more difficult it is for students to “unlearn” their faulty understanding. When students are made to wait until they are assigned to a special class or given services, they face far greater challenges than if a simple, direct intervention had occurred in real time.
Third, remediation services often target a specific problem or assignment when the problem may be broader. If the real problem is lack of background knowledge or key learning skills, targeted remediation offers little help. Meanwhile, teacher and student become increasingly frustrated with the student’s lack of progress.
Fourth, remediation focuses backward to problems with previous learning challenges. Remediation asks students to stop and focus on what they did not grasp. At the same time, they are expected to be moving forward with new concepts and skills. This challenge is especially difficult when new content is dependent on understanding what should have come before.
Rather than default to traditional remediation practices, we would do better to understand why students are falling behind. There are many reasons why some students are not keeping pace. Unless we understand these underlying causes and respond to them, we can hold little hope of making a difference. Here are five of the most common causes:
In Your Corner, Thinking Frames
A Last Look Over Our Shoulders At 2020
Most of us are happy to put 2020 behind us and move forward with hopes for a better year. Yet, the pandemic still rages, vaccines are slow to roll out, many families still struggle, challenges of remote learning remain, and other issues that we found difficult in the past year are following us into the new year. So, before we put 2020 behind us, perhaps we should look back over our shoulders and take stock of what we’ve learned, what we acquired that we want to make sure we keep, and what we definitely want to let go of.
In reality, not everything about 2020 was bad. Here are some of the positive things many of us experienced:
Slowing down. For a large number of people, the pace of life slowed dramatically. Not commuting to a job every day and the narrowing of entertainment choices like travel, restaurants, concerts, sporting events, and movies gave many the perspective that we don’t have to be doing something all the time. Families ate together more frequently at home, not having to race to get their children to a myriad of practices and games. For many, the idea of “quality” time became a reality.
Gratitude. Struggle and tragedy taught us to be grateful for simple things and the truly important things that we may have taken for granted. For instance, our friends and family members. Our pandemic friends (the safe “pods” we created to keep ourselves sane) will surely be lifelong friends and may become a part of our extended family. These are the people who helped to get us through—and are still helping us, and we them.
Giving back. We became more aware of the gaping needs in people’s lives and that it takes a village to meet them. Not only did we understand more acutely the needs of those facing economic and food insecurity, but also people facing great loneliness and loss. Where we had the opportunity to give back, we did, and at the same time helped to sooth our own feelings of loneliness and loss—realizing at the same time, giving back is the surest way to do so.
Accentuation of talents and roles. Whether it was the teacher who taught our children, the delivery person who brought our packages, or the grocery store clerk who cleaned our cart and provided a safe environment in which to shop—we became much more aware of the importance of everyone who kept things going so we could keep going. We also had the opportunity to see new talents surface in those closest to us, perhaps because they were needed in new ways, or simply because we had more time to observe them.
Yet, there are definitely things we will want to try to leave behind as we put our toes in the water of 2021. Here are just a few:
Fear. No doubt COVID-19 made most of us fearful at some point—for our health and the health of our loved ones, as well as our economic security. And while concern is always warranted, we should allow ourselves to let go of the type of fear that is crippling. We have made it this far, and that’s progress. There are many hopeful things on the horizon including vaccinations for all who will take them. The economy is sure to rebound as a result—and with it, there will be increased opportunities for all.
Divisiveness. Ironically, COVID-19 was the great equalizer—in that it reminded us all of the frailty of being a human. In truth, if we take a hard look, there is more that we have in common with our fellow humans than things we don’t. We have also become aware that little has been accomplished by feeding the fires of division. In the coming year it would be wise to listen more, judge less, and try to increase our understanding of one another.
A dubious relationship with the truth. Our trust in what is true and the sources we rely on to provide it may be the biggest and most serious casualty of the last year. We need to remind ourselves, and our students, how important it is to be seekers of the facts—even when they are not what we expect or want to hear. The truth and being able to trust in those who relay it are foundational to everything we do. Without it we have nothing.
Take some time to contemplate these hindsight reflections and add your own. It’s vital that we go into 2021 acknowledging the wisdom we have gained from 2020. We learned more than we realize. And with the right reflection, we will have gained much more than we lost.
In Your Corner, Leadership and Change Management, Planning
In Your Corner, Student Learning
In Your Corner, Thinking Frames
In Your Corner, Leadership and Change Management
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