







































Children and Teenagers 
ISSN 2576-3709 (Print) ISSN 2576-3717 (Online) 

Vol. 4, No. 2, 2021 
www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/ct 

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Original Paper 

Flexibility & Grace: Lessons Learned in K-12 during the 

Covid-19 Pandemic 
Dr. Chevella T. Wilson1* & Raymond J. Ankrum1* 

1 Engage LLC, Winston Salem, United States 
* Raymond J. Ankrum, Engage LLC, Winston Salem, United States; Dr. Chevella T. Wilson, Engage 

LLC, Winston Salem, United States 

 

Received: April 20, 2020         Accepted: April 30, 2021        Online Published: May 15, 2021 

doi:10.22158/ct.v4n2p1                              URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/ct.v4n2p1 

 

Abstract 

The start of the school year 2020 was a tumultuous time for stakeholders. Parents had to make 

accommodations for school programs. Teachers and students on the frontlines had to make mental and 

physical adjustments to in-person and online learning. No matter how one looks at it, post Covid-19 

school will never be the same. This article takes a deep dive into why schools that had to adjust 

learners will be in a more situated space to ensure learning occurs in a manner consistent with schools 

that provide high-quality instruction for students and families. 

Keywords 

pandemic learning, Covid-19, hybrid instruction, online learning 
 

Introduction 

In the early months of 2020, a cataclysmic virus unleashed itself on our country. Covid-19 has since 

been the cause of over 200,000 deaths to date. The Covid-19 pandemic has ruptured financial 

institutions and American businesses to their very core. Such destruction to our financial markets 

reminded us briefly of the Great Depression of the 1920s. American schools did not escape the 

onslaught. According to Bhamani et al. (2020), most governments worldwide temporarily suspended 

schools until there was a better command over how to contain and defend against Covid-19. In New 

York State, schools were closed in mid-March and remained closed until early September. Each school 

had to submit a learning plan that required approval by the New York State Education Department, 

allowing schools to transition into the 2020-2021 school year. 

 

 



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Literature Review 

Teaching during covid-19 may prove to be a challenge. Teaching during regular times pre-Covid-19 has 

proven to be difficult for many teachers; adding a pandemic to the plate will highlight existing 

deficiencies. Adjusting to a new routine will take an adjustment period for educators. Haverback (2020) 

posits we ask teachers to make adjustments on the fly for conditions that they are untrained to handle. 

Given the sudden need for adjustments and flexibility from teachers, quality instruction could diminish 

due to a lack of proper training. Henceforth, “Enhancing and transforming teachers’ self-efficacy 

beliefs may help to guide teachers through this difficult time” (Haverback, 2020, p. 2). Quite naturally, 

in order for our teachers to continue to provide quality instruction to students during pandemic learning, 

school systems, and building leaders will have to provide professional development and coaching to 

assist educators on how to navigate. 

On the other hand, Covid-19 was supposed to cause a reset at how we viewed school. Many things that 

were mundane and taken for granted were now put squarely in our faces.  

The connections of being in-person. The ability for students and teachers to build their bond, a bond 

that directly impacts student achievement, is critical. In Notes from the Field, an article written to 

capture the impact of covid-19 on teachers, Nagle (2020) perfectly depicts the first couple of weeks 

surviving as an educator during the Covid-19 pandemic. The article captures the initial enthusiasm of 

online learning while also stating how this quickly waned as teachers began to miss their students. 

Teachers are resilient beings; they make adjustments on the fly. One does not doubt that with a few 

adjustments, teachers will give quality instruction to students. 

The students are essential to the learning environment of schools. Pandemic or not, educators are 

tasked with providing rigorous learning opportunities for students to thrive. Our student expectations 

are to make transitions on the fly in order to help facilitate their learning. Such transitions rarely 

account for proper ways to administer services deemed necessary for the child’s learning, i.e., IEP 

accommodations and other anticipatory measures put in place to ensure the most vulnerable students 

receive adequate education during the pandemic. Schaefer et al. (2020) espouse how difficult it can be 

to educate students in non-pandemic times; now, stakeholders provide instruction to students without 

factoring in economic stress, health, and socio-emotional well-being. While we know our kids to be 

resilient, to not account for their mental well-being becomes a vast ask for students and families. Many 

schools have proven an inability to deal with such a tall order. 

Moreover, it is counterintuitive to want to highlight the breakthroughs of pandemic learning. One such 

breakthrough is relationship strengthening between students and parents. Family engagement is bound 

to increase, as parents now have to play a more active role in educating the minds of their children. 

Bhamani et al. (2020) posit that when parents and their children engage in collaborative efforts that 

facilitate learning, bonding between parent and child increases exponentially, allowing for the 

accounted time to have a more significant impact facilitating relationship building. The article goes on 



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to theorize that online schooling could be a catalyst to improve bonds between families. 

One downside among many that need capturing in scholarship is the internet dependency for online 

learning and hybrid learning platforms. Internet access also highlights the inequities that exist in 

schools. Whereas socio-economically disadvantaged students sometimes do not have access to a stable 

internet, nor do they have access to devices. Schools that did not invest in their infrastructure by 

purchasing devices that students can take home and learn may run into obstacles. 

Not to mention rural access to Wi-Fi services may also be problematic for schools. Romero-Ivanova et 

al. (2020) states, “The internet, while it has never been completely reliable or dependable, was found to 

be even more problematic during this crisis period, and globally students who lived in rural areas, ones 

who lived in areas that did not have adequate Wi-Fi, or students who could not afford access were often 

marginalized because of these issues” (Romero-Ivanova, 2020, p. 83). 

 

Participants 

The researcher is a school superintendent uniquely situated in a charter school district that serves 

students and families from grades K-9.  

The school has over 700 students located on Long Island. The demographics of the school are 78% 

Hispanic, 20% African American, and 12% White. The researcher tasked the school’s principal with 

creating and sharing a Likert-styled survey to obtain feedback related to questions and concerns 

exhibited by the school’s teachers. The purpose of obtaining the feedback was to help the school 

leadership team adequately prepare the learning environment while helping to mitigate teacher 

concerns identified from the survey. The researcher thoroughly explained the purpose of the survey and 

the usage of the survey data. All teachers that participated in the survey are certified by the New York 

State Education Department (NYSED). 

 

Apparatus and Materials 

The researcher explained that participation in the survey was voluntary. Teachers could opt out of 

taking the survey with no judgment or recourse. The teacher demographics of the survey participants 

are 83% White, 15% African American 2% Asian. Sixty out of sixty teachers provided with the link 

responded to the Likert Survey. The Likert survey was composed of several questions, with responses 

ranging from 1-5, 1 representing strong disagreement, and 5 representing strong agreement. The survey 

was created using google forms, which also collects and analyzes the data as well. There was also space 

providing to teachers to leave additional thoughts and concerns that may not have been captured in the 

survey. 

 

 

 



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Procedure 

The survey tool selected for this study was a Likert Survey instrument. The questions in the survey 

encompassed how teachers felt about returning to live in-person instructions and procedures that would 

need to be put in place for teachers to feel comfortable delivering live instruction to students. The 

survey link was sent to teachers via our online google platform, the teacher's first initial and last name, 

followed by Rcsli.org. The link to the survey was sent to all of the teachers simultaneously. 

 

Discussion 

During this time of utter chaos and uncertainness, it was important for school leaders to hear the voices 

of the teachers on the front lines. We knew there would be some reluctance to teachers returning face to 

face to teach students. Rather than force teachers back into buildings, we thought the best approach 

would be to allow teachers to participate in determining the likelihood of returning into school safely.  

One of our immediate goals was to commit to being overly transparent with our school community. 

Conversations that may have previously been on a need-to-know basis were now opened up for 

feedback and criticism. It was vital that we also set realistic expectations for staff and instructors. We 

also made sure to ask students and staff to be flexible, given pandemic learning was uncharted territory 

(Ross & DeSalvo, 2020). 

As a parent and a school leader, one was immediately able to identify the weaknesses presented by our 

online learning program. Unlike many other schools, we anticipated the need to invest in our 

infrastructure. We had already transitioned to one-to-one devices for students. The problem we 

uncovered was not a groundbreaking one. However, we were able to ascertain that in-person learning 

was more impactful than our more than robust attempt to educate students online (Carpenter & Dunn, 

2020). 

We watched many other districts make decisions as top-down directives, and we wanted to ensure that 

we approached the situation differently. Teachers had just as much of a right to express their concerns 

as anyone else involved in pandemic learning. By listening to our teachers, we were able to quell many 

of their concerns. Having teachers eager to return to a safe building got us to our ultimate goal: to 

return safely to face-to-face learning. 

 

Hypothesis 

The hypothesis for the study was if teachers were provided with protective gear (PPE), they would be 

okay with retiring to work to provide live instruction. 

 

Results 

Out of the surveyed staff, 65% of staff members were okay with returning to face-to-face instruction. 

35% of staff members expressed concerns with returning to work. Compared to some of the data 



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released from the three largest school districts in the United States, our teacher’s willingness to return 

to face-to-face instruction outperformed those districts. Teachers that fell into the category of willing to 

return to work also requested enhanced cleaning protocols, social distancing, and consistent health 

screenings. The teachers also insisted that we follow the advice of the Center for Disease Control. 

 

Study Limitations 

The limitations of the study are finite in that the study is being conducted during a pandemic. There are 

underlying factors such as mental health and well-being that the study does not take into account. 

Another limitation is that the researcher could not extrapolate additional data sources, i.e., interviews, 

due to pandemic concerns. Lastly, opening the study up to include additional schools would have been 

beneficial to the results and claims of the study. 

 

Further Research 

The Covid-19 Global pandemic caught many by surprise. It is safe to say that most Americans were 

unprepared to adjust to the ramifications presented by Covid-19 properly. If history has served us 

correctly, we know that there will be future pandemics. The hope is that this research will help in 

preparing for future pandemics. Education in the United States is central to everything. With our 

country coming to a screeching halt, while teaching and learning become proportional compared to 

where it has always been, we know there is still much work to do in K-12 education. Using lessons 

learned from the Covid-19 pandemic will serve us well in how we address our need to be prepared for 

future emergencies. 

 

References 

Bhamani, S., Makhdoom, A. Z., Bharuchi, V., Ali, N., Kaleem, S., & Ahmed, D. (2020). Home 

Learning in Times of COVID: Experiences of Parents. Journal of Education and Educational 

Development, 7(1), 9-26. https://doi.org/10.22555/joeed.v7i1.3260 

Carpenter, D., & Dunn, J. (2020). We’re all teachers now: Remote learning during COVID-19. Journal 

of School Choice, 14(4), 567-594. https://doi.org/10.1080/15582159.2020.1822727 

Haverback, H. R. (2020). Middle Level Teachers Quarantine, Teach, and Increase Self-Efficacy Beliefs: 

Using Theory to Build Practice during COVID-19. Middle Grades Review, 6(2), n2. 

Nagle, T. (2020). COVID Notes from the Field: Differentiation in the Digital Classroom. Georgia 

Educational Researcher, 17(2), 6. https://doi.org/10.20429/ger.2020.170206 

Romero-Ivanova, C., Shaughnessy, M., Otto, L., Taylor, E., & Watson, E. (2020). Digital Practices & 

Applications in a COVID-19 Culture. Higher Education Studies, 10(3), 80-87. 

https://doi.org/10.5539/hes.v10n3p80 

 



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Ross, A. F., & DiSalvo, M. L. (2020). Negotiating displacement, regaining community: The Harvard 

language center's response to the COVID-19 crisis. Foreign Language Annals, 53(2), 371-379. 

https://doi.org/10.1111/flan.12463 

Schaefer, M. B., Abrams, S. S., Kurpis, M., Abrams, M., & Abrams, C. (2020). “Making the Unusual 

Usual”: Students’ Perspectives and Experiences of Learning at Home during the COVID-19 

Pandemic. Middle Grades Review, 6(2), n2. 


