OKCPS will provide devices to all students. Assistant Superintendent of Academics Tracy Skinner says about one third of OKCPS students will require a hotspot, which the district plans to provide. Trinity, which provided devices for each student even ahead of the pandemic, experienced a fairly smooth transition to distance learning earlier this year, which included teachers providing live virtual instruction. Lisa Schade, chief operating officer, says the pandemic reiterated the school’s focus on meeting individual students where they are, academically and developmentally, in their learning. “Our faculty and staff are better prepared to teach on-site and pivot to online for the entire class or for an individual student if necessary,” said Schade. “They have become more comfortable with a flexible teaching platform. They expect change but know that our students will be successful no matter what comes their way.” Getting kids caught up Another key component both the Department of Education and teachers around the state have focused on this summer is wrapping the unfinished learning and missed skills from the spring into curriculum this fall. Hofmeister says teachers will embed unfinished learning into grade-appropriate curriculum. “We don’t want students to feel the stress of trying to pack in too much,” said Hofmeister. “We’re providing teachers with scaffolding, ways to design lesson plans to meet kids where they are and close those gaps.”
Jernigan explains EPS’s strategy as “spiraling in” missed skills, realigning curriculum and rewriting the curriculum calendar so teachers can take a cyclical approach that touches on missed skills but also keeps students moving forward. After researching approaches used by classrooms affected by Hurricane Katrina, EPS realized that going back to missed skills meant students were always behind. With the cyclical approach, students will learn both missed skills and grade-level skills at the same time. Skinner says OKCPS curriculum coordinators have created a strategic planning guide based on essential standards they know students in each grade must master. Teachers will target the skills they already know will be deficits for students based on where the in-person school year ended in the spring. OKCPS will also be using their content management system for virtual learning to assess and remediate missed skills. “We don’t want students to feel the stress of trying to pack in too much. We’re providing teachers with scaffolding, ways to design lesson plans to meet kids where they are and close those gaps.” Joy Hofmeister, state superintendent of public instruction
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