School leaders mustn’t lose sight of the need for student agency and student engagement as they contend with the myriad challenges posed by COVID-19. In fact, they must reimagine what agency and engagement can look like in cases when students are learning virtually and also when they are unable to connect.
Mere Engagement: Reflections about the Connections Between Online Learning, Student Agency, and Student Engagement offers school leaders seven action steps to support students’ sense of mastery and ownership of their learning, along with promoting their sense of connection and belonging.
The authors posit that in the face of the havoc wreaked by COVID-19 and all of the issues competing for school leaders’ attention, that concerns about student agency and engagement are being “backburnered” to everyone’s detriment.
