The COVID-19 pandemic brought unprecedented disruptions to education. In many cases, these disruptions have led to learning loss among K-12 students. With school closures, remote learning challenges, and shifting instructional models, students have faced significant obstacles in maintaining academic progress. Research indicates that the pandemic has widened existing educational inequities, with marginalized communities disproportionately affected by the learning disruptions. According to a study by McKinsey & Company, K-12 students in the United States could experience an average of seven months of learning loss due to the pandemic, with students of color and those from low-income backgrounds being most severely impacted. Similarly, data from the Northwest Evaluation Association (NWEA) suggests that students have experienced setbacks in both math and reading proficiency during the pandemic, with younger students and those from disadvantaged backgrounds showing the greatest declines.
As educators and policymakers strive to address the challenges of COVID-related learning loss, understanding the scope and impact of these disruptions is crucial for implementing effective interventions and supporting student success. Educators are increasingly seeking culturally responsive, personalized resources to meet the diverse needs of their students and to support closing learning gaps.
CCC hosted an expert panel of educators to discuss the importance of authentic content and the role it can play in K-12 education. This three-part blog series using excerpts from that webcast, will explore K-12 literacy education by comparing the benefits of authentic content with the limitations of synthetic text; demonstrating how authentic text can help districts meet necessary standards while supporting real-world relevance; and sharing best practices for using published content to close learning gaps.
Meet the Educators
Marjorie McKeown: Founder and CEO of ALEE, The Alexandria Learning Ecosystem for Educators. Marjorie brings a wealth of experience as a teacher, principal, and educational leader, with a focus on innovative approaches to curriculum development.
Ellen Brooks: K-12 School Improvement Coach and Educator at Monroe Public Schools in Michigan. Ellen’s expertise spans classroom teaching, digital learning, and professional development, making her a valuable resource in navigating educational challenges.
Kimberly Andersen: Director of Curriculum and Instruction at Twin Valley School District in Pennsylvania. With over three decades of experience in teaching and school administration, Kimberly brings a deep understanding of curriculum design and implementation.
The Pressure of Bridging COVID-era Gaps in the Classroom
The educational, social, and emotional gaps for K-12 students permeate classrooms ranging from sprawling urban hubs to small, rural districts. Kimberly Andersen is the curriculum director for the Twin Valley School District in rural Pennsylvania.
In Andersen’s district, “We came back in person right after COVID. But some families still chose to do more of a virtual, remote-type learning. So those students didn’t have the opportunity to interact with their peers face-to-face. It is definitely important in bringing them back and engaging with each other.”
She continued to discuss the state of literacy in her district and the challenges of balancing the social and emotional learning with classroom learning. “Because of that shift of trying to draw in much stronger literature for the students to be engaged in, it really facilitates that they’re building this common ground, they’re able to work together, and problem solve some of those social emotional aspects.”
The Education Recovery Scorecard is a collaboration between the Center for Education Policy Research at Harvard University and The Educational Opportunity Project at Stanford University. Not only did academic achievement gaps widen during the pandemic, but the latest research shows that these gaps still remain and have continued to worsen in some states. A recent article in Education Week presses states and local districts to continue the momentum of closing the learning loss gap.
But who is ultimately pressured to reverse learning loss? The bottom line for most educators, says Andersen, “There’s a lot of pressure on teachers to really help to close those gaps.”
Finding and Using High-Quality Content to Engage Students While Meeting Standards
Teachers spend hours of preparation time attempting to find relevant, engaging content to meet local and state standards and to engage students. Add this to the demands of teaching, grading, and supporting students – especially in the post-pandemic educational environment. No task is an easy feat.
While it is possible to find high-quality supplemental content online, there are caveats. Andersen talked about the challenges of standards alignment and creating connections. “The rigor, the depth, and the connections in it are not where they need to be for that particular grade level. We definitely don’t encourage teachers to just go out and purchase these [supplemental content]. We want products that have been well researched, show that they’re going to give the students opportunity, and that really have been embedded as high-quality materials.”
Ellen Brooks talked about how supplemental materials, especially in English Language Arts (ELA) , can support a spiraling curriculum that builds language skills. Also, reading across disciplines can result in better communication skills for students. She shared that her district, a suburb located in the southernmost region of metro Detroit, faces similar challenges in accessing high-quality content to rural Twin Valley, PA. Monroe Public Schools are a one-to-one district, and students have access to a world of content via devices. According to Brooks, “There is a scaffolding of skills that’s required to have those devices and use them in meaningful ways. The excitement that comes from these wonderful places where you can get free reading opportunities like EpicBooks is really popular.”
While having virtual libraries can be exciting for students, evaluating content for quality in a virtual setting can be overwhelming for an educator. “Whether it’s an eBook or whether it’s a physical book in your hands, you look at that cover, you look at the summary, you try to build some background knowledge at what this could be about. It’s never been easier to jump on Google and look for that thing that you need.”
Evaluating Content for Quality
The depth and breadth of content can be overwhelming. Brooks says, “I think there’s a lot of that gap filling where there’s that excellent intention of meeting the diversity needs of your students and their different levels and you’re kind of just like grabbing everything. You’re not really getting that in-depth, time with that thing that you know is the highest sort of quality.”
Educators and students spend time questioning what they’re using. “How do we know that this is good? How do we know it’s a credible source? We’re trying to not just click that first link and assume that it’s the best, but really understand where some of these materials are coming from, who authored them. It’s just so fast and easy and it’s one click away.” Taking time to evaluate and be thoughtful about content is important – not just to get it into students’ hands as soon as possible. Finding relevant, quality content can be a lesson in itself, to talk to students about determining the authenticity of what they read on the internet.
In an already busy instructional year, it is a challenge to find the time to evaluate content, secure permissions to use copyrighted content, and then prepare for lessons. In the Monroe Public Schools Brooks said, “We have tons of teachers that are starting with a revised curriculum that includes morphemic instruction. They’re looking for more materials. It’s not hard to go on Teachers Pay Teachers and find a slideshow that someone put together. But there’s not the time to evaluate that source and really see, ‘Is this more for the teacher? Is it more the student?’”
The Copyright Caveat
Educators in districts across the country take it upon themselves to gather and use relevant content in their schools and districts. In doing so districts need to ask, “what about copyright?”
“Lack of funding and lack of quality materials that are accessible to teachers is the underlying problem,” says Marjorie McKeown. She also discussed that, in spite of being in a small district, accessing and using quality content, which are often protected by copyright and require additional licenses, was a challenge. Not only did educators take time to research things they wanted to include in their lesson plans, but it had to be evaluated, and, in some cases, take time, money, and resources to seek out permissions. Experienced educators have a more discerning eye for content but new teachers “weren’t critical consumers of standards aligned, instructional content.”
In Monroe Public Schools, Brooks shared one solution where teams of teachers “come together and do planning together.” Instead of working as individuals, the educators work through a rubric of high-quality instruction and lesson components. The district challenges the educators to work with district-selected tools and resources first because they are well-vetted and trustworthy.
In the Twin Valley District, Andersen says that educators are discouraged from randomly selecting things online to use in their classrooms. The district also focuses on “ongoing professional development and that we need to give [our educators] the time to be able to customize or individualize based upon their student needs and give them the time to collaborate and look at materials.
Access and Reuse High-Quality Copyrighted Content
Educators are on the frontlines of closing pandemic-era learning gaps while balancing the social and emotional needs in their classrooms. They spend countless hours preparing lessons that will engage students in learning – educational, social, and emotional. Having authentic, high-quality content that connects students to real life experiences can potentially close this gap. To support educators, school districts should have a copyright policy in place and consistently provide educational opportunities for their staff to understand the policy and the risks of copyright infringement. CCC provides a variety of for Academia that can support this need.
RightFind Curriculum allows users to easily search for, discover, and incorporate high-quality, copyrighted content into curriculum and instruction while managing copyright compliance. RightFind Curriculum includes an advanced search and discovery tool, a curated collection of high-quality, standards-aligned content, consultative support with a CCC content expert, and print and digital rights to use 1M+ copyrighted English and Spanish language works from 90+ leading publishers, including books, magazines, newspapers, and websites. This solution helps provide greater access to high-quality, authentic content across districts and for EdTech developers.
This is part 3/3 of a blog series inspired by the webcast Why High-Quality Content Matters in K-12 Instruction. Attendees included educators, administrators, and curriculum developers from across the United States. We are grateful to our expert panelists for sharing their insights.