I’ve been asked the question a lot about what we’re supposed to do with students who don’t show up and/or turn anything in, or students who fail to “show mastery” during pandemic school . My answer is this: +

+Ask your school leadership, your PTA, your superintendent, your chief academic officer, your school board, and every single stakeholder group how to they want you to handle students “failing” during a global crisis. +

+ Ask what measures they’re taking to find students who are lost/losing instructional time. Ask how they’re prepared to best help those students when/if they return to us. And what they’re prepared to do when/if they don’t. +

+If students fail, what resources are they prepared to provide to ensure students who are not adequately served don’t continue failing and fail out. And then ask them how they’re prepared to do better by students, their families, and teachers. +

Lastly, ask them who is going to hold them accountable for these answers and for the lives of these students and their families and ask yourself why it most definitely should be you and every ounce of institutional power you possess. X