Some district leaders may need to rethink enrollment goals as the homeschool-inspired learnings pods that families set up during the darkest days of COVID are becoming permanent. However, the approach still faces some signficant political and logistical hurdles.
Parents reported their students feel more invovled and more engagement in the pods. Also, some teachers and other educators saw opportunities for a new career path as families sought effective instructors to lead these learning pods, according to a new analysis by the Center on Reinventing Public Education at the University of Washington.
“These efforts were born of necessity, but because they formed on the margins of the rules that typically govern how schooling works, families and educators gained a historic opportunity to remake learning based on their own visions,” says the analysis, which was based on input from 150 parents and 100 instructors who were involved with pandemic pods.
In the future, the Center is urging policymakers to target resources toward low-income families who have had fewer opportunities to create learning pods. Here are 5 more things public school leaders should know as they look toward a future that seems likely to involve learning pods:
1. Outlasting the emergency: Families created pods to fill their children’s needs for socialization and child care in response to the initial COVID crisis—and some now prefer them to pre-pandemic schools. Over two-thirds of pod families surveyed reported at least one “tangible” benefit for their child and many said the pods were highly student-centered. The most frequently cited benefit, the Center found, was a greater sense that their child felt “known, heard, and valued,” which led to increased engagement in learning.
2. Strong relationships: Many pods stuck with math and ELA instruction from their public schools. But parents were more satisfied with pods that were more personalized and self-sufficient and that didn’t rely on “Zoom school” provided by their districts. These families also felt their children formed deeper relationships with instructors and classmates.
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3. Social connections: While pods allowed children to remain connected with their peers and make new friends, the pods were not immune to some of the social issues that have divided public opinion over the last few years. Families tended to form pods with those who shared their views on masks and other health precautions and how to teach about systemic racism and other so-called “sensitive topics.” For some, this homogenization allowed families to celebrate their cultures and avoid the marginalization some had experienced in public schools. Other families, felt, left out because their cultures or values were not widely shared in their communities.
4. Redefined the teaching experience: About half the pod instructors surveyed had been classroom teachers prior to COVID and many reported greater professional satisfaction and “a newfound unwillingness to put up with the bureaucracy of schools,” the report says. Other instructors had worked in child-care or as paraprofessionals. Despite benefits like flexibility, many educators found the pods to isolating and cut off from professional development. Many also worried about job security as they didn’t have administrators who could mediate disagreements with families.
5. A uncertain future: Most of the families and educators surveyed did not expect to remain with their pandemic pods after the 2020-21 school year. Families drifted back towards their public schools to gain access to additional academic support and special-education services. Some families faced financial hurdles to continuing with the pods while instructors began the doubt they would provide long-term, steady employment.
