ROUND ROCK

Flores: Round Rock ISD to begin at-home instruction April 6

Staff Writer
Austin American-Statesman

Round Rock school district Superintendent Steve Flores provided this letter to district parents late Thursday.

With our decision to extend school closures and begin at-home instruction on April 6, we know many of you may have questions about what this will look like for our students. I’d like to take a moment to share an overview of what our students and parents can expect during this transition and how we will work to ensure that meaningful teaching and learning continues to take place for all students in Round Rock ISD.

Starting April 6, our students and teachers will begin instruction and learning through the use of tools such as Google Classrooms and our Round Rock ISD email system to receive and submit assignments and for teachers to provide feedback to students in a timely manner. Through these tools, teachers will also have the ability to send recorded messages or lessons to students, which will allow them to view and repeat as needed in the timeframe that works best for their individual needs.

Teachers will be reaching out to students soon to share more on how their individual class will function on these platforms.

To provide maximum flexibility for students and families, Round Rock ISD will be implementing asynchronous learning, which is teacher-facilitated instruction that students participate in on their own schedule. This is the primary approach of most colleges and universities for online instruction. We also took into consideration accessibility and feasibility for both our educators and our students. This means teachers will be providing and posting assignments and providing feedback after student completion. Teachers will also have “office hours” when they are available to help students.

A few community members have reached out to us in support of a synchronous approach. Synchronous instruction is teacher-student interaction that occurs in real time via video conferencing and requires all students to follow a consistent daily schedule from their homes. Until we can assure that we are equipped to safely utilize real-time video conferencing and provide access to video-conferencing in the homes of all of our students, we will continue to move forward with an asynchronous approach.

We are encouraging our teachers to reach out and connect with students through approved methods, such as email, texting apps like Remind, or a phone call to parents, to check in even before we launch our at-home instruction. Some teachers have even created video messages for students and sent them through email to encourage them and let them know how much they are missed.

Part of our instructional approach also includes providing equitable access to both devices and the internet to students who may not have these resources readily available. We will be reaching out to students in need of a device with more details soon.

For students needing internet access, we have ordered wifi hotspots. We will release more information about the distribution of these after they arrive in the District. There are also a few Internet Service Providers offering free, trial internet to homes that do not have access. More information can be found in the FAQs on our District’s COVID-19 Website.

Printed take-home packets will continue to be available at our curbside breakfast and lunch distribution sites for students who would prefer printed materials or who may continue to have limited access to devices or the Internet.

To offer our community optional and supplemental education enrichment resources, our Home Learning Hub will continue to remain open and updated for our students to access. We encourage our community to stay connected to this resource as it is designed to further enrich our students’ education during these unprecedented times.

We are still examining how we will assess grades and course completion, in collaboration with districts across Texas and guidance from the Texas Education Agency. We will have more information regarding grades and promotion next week, including detailed information for seniors.

I hope that this information provides you and your student with some clarity on what to expect as they and our educators prepare to transition to at-home learning. Our goal has and always will be to do what is best for our students and staff, both to ensure their safety and also to ensure they are receiving the best educational experience possible.

I will continue to write to you as more information is available to keep you, as members of our Round Rock ISD community, informed. Updates will also be shared with our community through email, text and phone calls on this developing situation. Please visit our Coronavirus webpage, roundrockisd.org/coronavirus, with current information about our District’s response and plans related to COVID-19. We will also provide information on our Facebook and Twitter pages.

Thank you for your patience and support as we work together to educate students across Round Rock ISD.