Reboot and Recover: Navigating Remote Instruction for Post–covid-19 Secondary Teachers

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic had a tremendous impact on K-12 education. In 2020, New Yorkschools were ordered to close, forcing over two million students and two hundred thousandteachers to rapidly shift to remote instruction. Teachers reported feeling unprepared for thepace and magnitude of this change, partly due to their varied technical backgrounds andlimited exposure to remote instruction. While the field has begun to define core practices ofquality remote instruction, little is known about what professional experiences might lead in-service teachers to embrace these core practices. Many districts in New York remainedpartially remote through the 2020–21 school year and beyond, so improving the quality ofremote instruction available to secondary students in grades 7–12 is paramount. A mixedmethods research study addressed the preparedness and professional development needs ofin-service teachers during the pandemic. Over the last decade, several teacher preparationprograms have begun to include remote instruction as a key pedagogical practice. Thepandemic created a unique opportunity to study how in-service teachers experienced the shiftto remote instruction. The results of this study may be instrumental in developing educationmodules in remote instruction for preservice teachers in secondary education preparationprograms.