This crisis has revealed demand by small but material # of students for a hybrid model of school that isn’t 7 hours * 180 days in-school attendance but isn’t homeschooling either, that relies partly on tech but has live teachers for daily oversight & that creates a community. 1/5
It's time to rethink the blended models that have existed for years with mediocre success. Perhaps (1) these models work well only for a subset of kids (2) they’re hard for teachers (3) too much reliance on digital (4) some students work better outside of the school building. 2/5
Online only, especially if prerecorded, is hard even for motivated adults. Live classes suffer from quality consistency and stimulating kids at varying levels. A new model must optimally integrate teachers and tech while balancing time at school and independent work at home. 3/5
Some parents are able to cobble these components together through homeschool. But it’s costly and highly demanding on parents. Some students would thrive in this type of environment but don’t have the family situation or money that allows for homeschool+extras. 4/5
There is real demand for a public, hybrid model (part in-school, part at-home) for those students who would benefit from more independence and customization but has adult supervision, access to extracurriculars, and social events to create a real sense of community. 5/5
