Creating a “New Normal”: Unpacking Lessons About Change During a Pandemic

Prior to COVID-19, my colleagues and I (like most education innovators), were imagining new ways of teaching and learning while trying to transform learning systems that are no longer meeting the needs of our students. In our recent blog about polycentric change and transformation, my colleague Brigid Moriarty-Guerrero and I reflected on the ways that we see some change efforts unfold effortlessly, while others feel impossibly difficult. We asserted that change is emerging from everywhere across a system, all the time - and that we “can’t wrestle a cloud” when trying to transform our system. Instead, we should find ways to harness the right set of enablers that allow transformation to flourish. 

Now that we are weeks into a global pandemic, the entire planet has been thrust into unprecedented waters and is frantically trying to adjust to current circumstances. While we are also in the process of figuring out a new path forward, it has become so clear how polycentricity is thriving as our system transforms to accommodate new ways of living, learning, teaching and working. While many are anxious for “things to go back to normal” (as quickly as possible), I am left wondering how we might instead pause and use this moment to interrogate the “normalcy” we left behind with a more critical eye, investigate the ways in which change is already transforming our systems, and find ways to harness this change for good in launching us into deeper transformation for the future. 

Our team has engaged with partners across the nation who are on the frontlines of school leadership as districts are being shut down and systems wade into uncharted territory. Some of us are understandably in a place of “stomping fires” in an effort to deal with the rapid and daily changes underway. These immediate challenges often require “fire extinguishing” and carving an immediate path forward. However, some of us are also pausing as the world pauses - giving us a chance to see the whole landscape from a birds’ eye view, admiring how change is emerging from everywhere, in a truly polycentric way. It’s never been more clear or identifiable than it is right now. 

So, what is making it so clear in this context? I believe that the pandemic is unique because, for the first time in recent history, we have a collective perspective and shared experience with humans across every society. We have a newfound sense of solidarity as we are all actively solving for similar challenges. The change that has resulted from COVID-19 has made it necessary for everyone to think and act differently. Therefore, everyone is eager to learn new ways of living, learning and teaching in our current context. We aren’t relying on research-based practices or creating strategic plans on how to respond to this situation. Instead, we are welcoming any and all new ideas (no matter how extraordinary they may sound initially) in a way that I have never before seen. There is less focus on doing “school” in the way it has always been done, and instead there’s complete openness to trying new things. It’s truly remarkable. While this is not nearly a comprehensive list of innovations I’ve seen or heard, these are a few examples of innovations that have emerged in the first weeks of the pandemic that are helping ensure that kids get what they need to continue learning: 

• Districts are thinking outside the box to continue providing food services for students in their communities through curbside food pick-up, delivery on buses, etc. 

• T.V. stations have partnered with education agencies to create educational programs that have state standards and lessons embedded in programming

• Districts are openly and transparently sharing their planswith the public about the ways they are supporting students, parents and teachers during this time 

• Many schools are shifting to virtual learning (delivered in many ways) as a strategy to continue teaching, learning and assessing from a distance  

• Education support organizations are problem-solving in real time to offer assistance to district partners and the field at large

• Trauma-informed care is taking center stage as we are working to be more responsive to the myriad needs of our students and communities  

And these are only a few of the examples that have made headlines! Just think about the thousands of new ideas that are emerging in schools and systems every day across each of our communities and in our classrooms! It has been amazing to wake up each day and read about a new innovation that has taken flight. While these ideas have emerged as a strategy to combat a very specific problem (COVID-19), we can’t deny how powerful and impactful these changes might be for students beyond our current reality. 

While I’ve been in awe of the polycentric change around me, the pandemic has also raised even more awareness about our nation’s equity and opportunity gap that has been (and continues to be) prevalent, deep and systemic - especially around basic needs (food, access to technology, tools, data and resources). It has never been more clear to see how schools are a profound pillar in our society, providing much more than “education” to our youth. Districts across the nation are scrambling to figure out how to make “distance learning” work for students with limited (or no) access to internet, computers, phones, or other tools by sending Chromebooks home with students or figuring out how to get mobile hotspots to communities in need. Other districts, like Philadelphia, have decided not to implement distance education during the pandemic due to the significant lack of access to resources across the community. The pandemic has exposed some of America’s (worst kept) “secrets” about inequity in our schools. How could we possibly “unsee” what we see now? How do we use this moment as a lesson to question the way things were before and figure out a path forward that actually strives to close this opportunity gap in meaningful ways?   

A final insight that I’ve been pondering about polycentric change in this pandemic is a reflection about the enablers that Brigid and I offered in our February blog. As we talked about change, we didn’t acknowledge grief within the process of transformation. We now understand that grief plays a significant role in change processes. The past couple of weeks have been uncomfortably difficult - we have each experienced it differently, but have all needed to grieve the loss of normalcy in our own ways. Research supports that the discomfort we feel during major change is actually grief. For each of us, we have had to “give up” what we thought our lives would be like at this moment and accept the way things actually are. It’s painful and difficult. While education transformation shouldn’t be compared to a global pandemic, the premise is the same: transformational change requires a deep understanding of grief and supporting partners through the process of letting go and acceptance of something new. 

Living through this time is stressful and surreal, but also incredible and inspiring. COVID-19 has forced us all to change in significant ways. While we each “stomp fires” in our personal and professional lives, I hope we can also pause to take in the amazing ways that polycentric change is spreading across our system. Everyone across the globe is flexing muscles around design thinking right now - digging deep into our creative minds, imagining wild and crazy ideas, and trying them out without hesitation, or ensuring that it’s 100% “right.” This designer’s mindset is allowing prototypes to take off in unprecedented ways. Yes, some of these ideas won’t work as we imagined, but the act of being fearless in imagining new ways of thinking and doing, then quickly prototyping and trying them out are muscles that we are often too scared to flex in education. I’m excited that we’re taking the risk to think outside the box. This moment is an opportunity for each of us - leaders and educators - to resist the temptation to command & control, and to recognize and leverage the emerging polycentricity around us.  I urge us all to stop insisting that we “return to normal” and put this pandemic behind us, but rather to consider this: how might we use our new insights, learning and momentum as starter yeast to push the envelope and truly transform our education systems for the good of all students? 

Let’s all use these three questions as a way to reflect on how we move through the pandemic, considering what we want to leave behind and what we want to take with us into the future:  

• What do we hope to retain through this?

• What do we hope to lose?

• What do we hope to gain? 

Together, I am hopeful that we can create our new (transformed) normal.