Insights

As the vaccine roll out accelerates and schools are opening for in-person learning, we published a new report which reveals a hopeful message: PreK-12 district leaders are cautiously optimistic about the future. The research, completed in partnership with research firm Hanover Research, covers how district leaders rated themselves in response to the pandemic, the impacts of technology, and attitudes about the future of the field of education.

Here are some of the results that stand out to me.

Education leaders are more adaptable than ever before. One result of the study that struck me was that, although there were significant challenges, 75 percent of district leaders believe the COVID-19 pandemic has put them in a better position to solve problems than ever before. To me, this demonstrates that the industry became more adaptable, largely in part because of the rapid adoption of digital tools and the equity issues that were highlighted over the past year. It also reminds me of the incredible tenacity that all educators have and their commitment to helping their students, no matter the circumstance.

Despite potential learning loss, educators have solutions to solve critical problems. I am also encouraged by the fact that district leaders feel more equipped than ever to solve problems, as another key finding from the survey is that learning loss will be a huge obstacle coming out of the pandemic, with 52 percent of district leaders stating it will take six months to a year to recover. With both the hard and soft skills that educators have learned over the past year, I have no doubt that they will pivot and create new strategies to best help their students make up for any learning loss.

Beyond absenteeism, a top concern for district leaders throughout the pandemic was figuring out how to best use technology solutions. I wasn’t surprised by these findings, as shifting from an all in-person environment to one that relies even more on technology is a huge change, no matter how great the technology is. However, it reminds me that the work we do here at Cambium to make all of our PreK-12 education solutions simple to use, effective and reliable can have a huge impact on the educators, students and parents using them.

Additional findings from the survey are available in Cambium’s report, which can be downloaded here.