The Future of Texas is in our Public Schools

Blended Learning Resources During COVID-19

As districts across the state plan and prepare for the 2020-21 school year, they must consider a multitude of factors that could make reopening in the fall significantly more difficult due to the spread of COVID. The most important decision districts face – yet, perhaps the most challenging – is how to create consistent, quality, and equitable instructional opportunities for students, on top of making up missed instruction or academic losses from the 2019-20 school year.

As districts consider at-home remote learning, socially-distanced schools, or hybrid models, school leaders and educators can use this opportunity to intentionally integrate technology into their regular instruction. Blended learning combines the best of in-person instruction with technology to personalize instruction. Although true blended learning cannot take place without the face-to-face component, the resources offered here provide administrators, school leaders, and educators with actionable and solution-oriented blended learning tools to strengthen teaching and learning during the 2020-21 school year.

01

The Teacher Perspective: Why Does Blended Learning Work?

Feedback from educators who participated in the first few years of Raising Blended Learners (RBL) suggests that blended learning strategies could positively influence the way schools reopen in the fall.

02

Educators Should Focus on 3 Blended Learning Fundamentals in 2020-21

What we’ve learned through our Raising Blended Learners program is there are three distinct ways districts can make transitions between in-person and remote learning more seamless.

03

A Blended Learning Coaching Tool

Through the Raising Blended Learners initiative, we have developed the RBL Implementation Continuum (RBL-IC) as a resource for teachers and administrators as they design student experiences for socially-distanced schools, at-home remote and hybrid learning scenarios, and plan for teacher support.

04

Using Strong Data Culture to Create Effective COVID-19 Instruction

Campuses with strong data cultures are best positioned to identify and address COVID learning loss for all students. To support educators in shifting their practices and mindsets around using data to facilitate personalized learning, the Raising Blended Learners initiative has developed a series of open-source professional development modules and is now offering an exclusive professional learning opportunity to all Texas school districts. 

We are offering a free professional learning opportunity entitled, “Building a Data Culture to Support Your COVID Learning Response” for Texas school leaders to engage with a team of their colleagues to consider how to improve campus and district data cultures.