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Cassopolis Public Schools did not miss a beat when Gov. Gretchen Whitmer made the initial announcement on March 12 that Michigan schools would be closing.  Cassopolis Public Schools has been transforming teaching and learning to meet the needs of the 21st Century learner, which inevitably prepared the district for the unimaginable.

Since I came to Cassopolis in 2017, my goal has been to ensure that students are prepared for the 21st Century — college ready, career ready, life ready! However, in order to do this, the district’s operations needed to be revamped.

During my first year, the district began exploring project based learning, became a 1:1 technology district and partnered with the New Tech Network to become a project-based learning district. The district began implementing the use of the network’s learning management system, ECHO, which is designed specifically for schools implementing project based learning and has a multi-outcome grading system emphasizing mastery of essential 21st Century skills and content rather than focusing only on traditional grades.

The learning management system houses the students’ daily agendas and project briefcases, which have guided instruction for tasks, links to assignments and links to resources for instruction, such as embedded instructional videos or links to other software, web quests, etc.

The district’s transformation has not always been easy but in these times, it is evident that the hard work has paid off. Cassopolis Public Schools did not miss a beat when Gov. Whitmer made the initial announcement on March 12 that schools would be closing. The administrative team went into immediate action. A letter to parents addressing anticipated concerns was pushed out before morning hit. Substitute teachers were deployed to the buildings that Friday to give teachers extended planning periods so that lessons, activities and materials could be sent home with students.

Teachers left the buildings Friday with a sense of direction and a plan of action. By Saturday, the district had secured 100 Wi-Fi hotspots to distribute to families who may not have internet connectivity.

A survey was sent out through various modalities to determine which households needed a hotspot, and who needed a school laptop for their students. As data was being collected, the tech team was busy preparing the devices to be distributed. By the second week of closure, the devices had been distributed to those in need.

Because of the preparedness of the district and the quick response of this hard-working team, Cassopolis students were able to continue their education through the web-based learning management system that both students and teachers were already accustomed to using. Students and parents had immediate access to the instruction through their already established ECHO accounts.

Although it was unclear as to whether e-Learning would be acknowledged during the Michigan school closures, Cassopolis Public Schools was committed to providing continuous learning opportunities for its students. Teachers have been providing project and problem based learning activities, encouraging hands-on “easy to do at home” activities, and have been communicating with students through the e-learning platform (ECHO), Class Dojo, Remind, Class Tag, FlipGrid, YouTube Unlisted, Screencastify, Zoom (teacher pre-recorded instruction), and Google Voice. Staying connected to the students and providing social emotional support is a top priority of the Cassopolis Public Schools team.

There has been no stopping for Cassopolis Schools administration, teachers and staff who have been working relentlessly during this time to not only ensure that student learning remains continuous, but that food service continues as well.  Within two days of closure, meal distribution was organized, and food service began. Cassopolis Public Schools provides seven days of breakfast and lunch to students weekly.

It is because of the forward thinking and modeled practice of implementing the 4C’s of 21st Century learning (communication, collaboration, critical thinking, creativity,) that the Cassopolis Public Schools leadership team was not shaken when charged with the task to develop a continuous learning plan for the remainder of the school year. Simply stated, it was just a matter of compiling what we have already been doing.

 

Angela Piazza is the superintendent of Cassopolis Public Schools. She can be reached at by email at apiazza@cassopolis.org.