As schools across the country wrestle with the challenging logistics of safely returning to classroom instruction, they are also working overtime to mitigate the pandemic’s impact on student learning for their most vulnerable subgroups.
We’re learning that our school partners are seeking solutions to the following four pain points: reading losses, inequities, lack of time, and overwhelmed parents and teachers.
Here’s how the Family-Educator Learning Accelerator addresses them:
1. Reading losses
Assessments are exposing losses that have compounded since the pandemic first hit. We coach teachers across the country to implement Family-Educator Learning Accelerators (FELAs), which are 5-10-week cycles during which teachers and families team up to help kids accelerate reading goals.
2. Inequities
Partners are feeling urgency about addressing the reading needs of their most marginalized student subgroups for whom full-class, synchronous instruction is a challenge. FELAs include daily or weekly small group phonics instruction designed to meet the needs of their Pre-K through 5th graders most at-risk of falling further behind their peers.
3. Lack of time
In most partner districts, distance learning has meant fewer hours of daily instruction. By upskilling parents and engaging them as partners, schools can dramatically increase high quality reading time at home. Springboard’s family workshops give families the tools and confidence required to feel comfortable playing ‘reading coach’—regardless of their own educational background.
4. Overwhelmed parents and teachers
Parents and teachers are overwhelmed by the challenges of distance learning. Many Springboard partners lack capacity to engage in program planning and seek a partner to guide them through a structured reading experience that delivers clear outcomes. Springboard coaches ensure schools receive the support they require to successfully complete each FELA, capped by incentives for children that celebrate their efforts.
These pain points certainly don’t capture the full scope of challenges that schools and districts are confronting amidst a global pandemic. Student safety, technology access, and absenteeism are just as pressing. But we’re finding that FELAs are meeting the moment for partners that seek solutions that can solve multiple challenges through one tidy framework.
While schools and districts contract with Springboard Collaborative to support the implementation of FELAs, we’ve also open sourced the playbook for partners seeking to adopt the methodology more independently. Visit felamethod.org for a range of free resources to begin your FELA journey.
To learn more about how Springboard can help you implement a FELA at your school community in 2021, click here!