Crucial Conversations When Online Learning is The Right - But Maybe Not the Popular - Solution to a Problem

Corinne Dedini

We love to brainstorm solutions to sticky problems in schools.  Sometimes One Schoolhouse can be part of the solution. Even when we don’t have the answer, our collective experience in a range of schools makes us a solid sounding board when a partner needs to work through options with a trusted colleague.  Because there is a human element to every change, it is often useful to have someone who isn’t connected to the personalities involved to process options and outcomes.  
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So who are the constituent groups and how do you handle conversations when the solution includes putting students into online courses?  Let’s be honest: A lot of people have negative preconceptions about online classes. Families may perceive that they are impersonal or aren’t rigorous; teachers worry they will change or take away their jobs; administrators think it may be another thing to manage. Let’s assume these concerns are the starting points for conversations, and diffuse anxiety by addressing them head-on. 

Families:  Most families choose independent schools for two primary reasons: college readiness and personal relationships.  Sharing our college list along with anecdotes about how online learning promotes college preparedness by increasing academic maturity can help alleviate concern around rigor.  So does describing the One Schoolhouse faculty, most of whom teach in top independent schools around the country and hold advanced degrees in their fields. Our faculty have the same goals that your faculty have: to understand the goals and needs of every student and to help every student find success.
Primary communications goal: Convey that online learning is an essential piece of a college prep education and One Schoolhouse is your trusted partner because we share your independent school values. 

Teachers: Independent school teachers care deeply about their subjects and their students.  In this moment of accelerating change, some are less inclined to adopt new innovations or are even fearful.  Obstacles arise because teachers worry that new pedagogical or curricular initiatives will subjugate content and one-on-one time with students, or because they worry that the online option will eliminate their position or that of a dear colleague.  Transparent communication about the school’s decision-making process reduces fear, which often surfaces because teachers don’t have the information that they need to understand what’s really going on behind the scenes.  
Primary goal:  Don’t be afraid to make your thinking visible to teachers as you process challenges - it prevents the toxic behavior of assuming the worst. 

Administrators: No school administrator needs one more thing to manage, we can’t build a different school to address every single parent complaint, and we all want our school to be fully enrolled.  Circumstances such as these conspire to back us into a corner. Here are a few real examples from when I worked in face-to-face schools. There were moments we lost students for all sorts of reasons that were largely out of our control, but that could have been resolved with One Schoolhouse’s help: 

• A prospective family with a long legacy of French language study (a course sequence the school didn’t have) wants to enroll but is hesitating because of having to make a sacrifice on French;
• A student needs an extra free period so she can get to her dance studio by 2 pm every afternoon, but that means she can’t take the history class she wants because it is a single-section course;​​
• A family plans to go abroad for the child’s 10th grade year but wants to keep her in sync with her classmates so she might return to our school for 11th grade;​
• A student in AP Calculus as a 10th grader needs at least two courses in college level math while still in high school, but her family is afraid that the school can’t serve their child’s needs because those higher level math classes aren’t available in-house. 

​Primary goal:  One Schoolhouse can help you enroll or retain families in these situations, allowing you to earn the family’s tuition for the cost of a few online courses - a seemingly gnarly problem with a deceptively simple solution.  
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One Schoolhouse isn’t always the right solution to every problem.  But we can help you think about how to handle course issues, especially those involving sensitive relationships or high financial stakes.  We’ve seen communication go smoothly; we’ve also seen moments where you’d give anything for a do-over, and we’ve learned a lot about what makes the difference.  Bottom line: when you’re preparing for crucial conversations around online learning, make us your first call.

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