Essentially every school is having issues with students who will not log-in for remote instruction. The good news is that it is not just your school. The bad news is I’ve yet to talk to anyone that has an answer. So try this.

1. Admit that what you are doing isn’t working and that remote instruction is terrible (this is not a critique, we’re all better teachers face-to-face). Luckily most students suffer thru. But a sizeable minority of students either have higher standards or parents that aren’t willing to make them sign on.

2. Be willing to tackle the problem from a different angle.

3. Forget credits, grades, seat time, and progress for these ghost students. That ship has already sailed. Instead think re-engagement and salvaging something from nothing.

4. Find your most engaging, charismatic, and successful remote instruction teacher.

5. Create a ½-day class for that teacher. Don’t worry about the subject, it doesn’t matter. This class will be a general studies, multi grade class.

6. Assign all the ghost student to this class

7. The purpose of this class is to give your best remote instruction teacher space to work their magic and connect with these students and by doing so, reconnect them to the school.

8. As students reconnect and begin to experience some success (at best a 2-3 week process), transfer them back into subject area classrooms.

9. Remember, I said a 1/2-day class. This does not mean that your most engaging, charismatic teacher is teaching two sections. No. The other half of the day, this teacher is tracking down ghost students and recruiting them back to school.

How do I know this will work, this is what we did to reconnect with the most hard core, inner city, high school dropouts. We had success. Not 100%. But when the previous solution was generating 0% success, what would normally be considered modest improvement becomes phenomenal. Plus, your ghost students aren’t hard core dropouts (yet). It’s just that your current educational program can’t cut through the noise and meet their needs.

Change the program.

Lead Your School and Wash Your Hands!

Your turn…

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