Welcome to the
Crusader Times - Fourth Quarter Awards Edition! Congratulations to all those students who persevered amidst imperfect circumstances this past quarter. You not only lived through history-in-the-making, but you were faithful to play your part as a student.
As a school, the best way for us to meet the challenges of uncertain times is to have a plan. Conditions can change and government directives can intervene, but by having a plan, we will be in the best position to respond calmly and creatively to these changes. Therefore, I hope you have had a chance to look over our initial
“Safe Return” statement, sent to families and posted to our website on May 28. An updated, more detailed Safe Return update will be published in early July.
Of course, any school’s strategy for next year must answer the question of how it will continue to educate students in case of a campus closure. While we have certainly developed some unanticipated expertise in remote learning over the past few months, we wanted to make sure we heard from you as a part of our debriefing and reflection process. Thank you to the 110 families who shared their remote learning experience on the survey we sent out in late May. Here are some key findings:
- 61% found the Academy’s Remote Learning Plan challenging or “just right”
- 39% indicated they wanted greater rigor
- 75% of families would like to see more integration of online tools in version “2.0,” and
86% hope classes will adjust to allow for more online video interaction between students
and teachers
- Nearly half of families were interested or “possibly” interested in optional remote
learning for the first quarter
- If, short of ordering campuses closed, government authorities mandate more extreme
physical distancing than we can accomplish with all students on campus, 72% of you
would prefer bringing your students to campus every other day over bringing them
every other week
Know that we will draw on this feedback as we prepare “Remote Learning 2.0” in anticipation of possible closures during the 2020-2021 school year. We are already laying the groundwork for Lower School teachers to cover all core subjects, greater rigor at the Middle and Upper School level, and an increase in our teachers’ capacity to post prerecorded videos and host live remote class sessions.
Let us continue to pray for one another. There is little doubt that 2020-2021 will challenge us all in some way. In God’s hands, though, trials and tribulations are occasions for our growth and his glory.