Declining Enrollments Challenge Schools

Students today are not the same as those who filed into classrooms even 20 years ago; they are pushing the envelope for defining what learning and related instruction looks like. More students are opting for homeschooling and virtual schooling:

  • – Twenty years ago, some 850,000 students engaged in homeschooling.
  • – For 2024, that number was more than 3 million.
  • – Twenty years ago, some 45,000 students engaged in online, virtual schooling.
  • – For 2024, that number was approximately 650,000.
  • – Schools are facing declining enrollments and related budget cuts that are not related to fewer eligible students. It is estimated that nearly 40% of declining enrollments are not attributable to population decline.

Today’s Students Want More from School

Today’s students are truly the “digital natives” Don Tapscott warned us of years ago. They seek independence, immediacy, authenticity and relevancy, and agency; yet, they may have executive function deficits due to pandemic-related learning, lack of adult attention at home, or overprotective parents. (And you know I believe executive function is at the heart of all learning!)

What students want is “respect.” If I already know a skill, don’t make me sit through a lesson. If I don’t speak your language, provide me with structures to succeed. I have interests and questions: Let me explore them.

Respect

Years ago, I was interviewing high school students and they essentially said that when teachers don’t differentiate instruction to address their individual needs, they find it disrespectful! That was a powerful statement for me to hear, and it led me to dig deeper into my work in designing differentiated learning environments.

Let’s Start with Kindergarten

Schools have a tendency to favor whole-group skill instruction in kindergarten. I’ve watched students break down and cry, one saying, “I can already count to 100!” when the teacher was having the group count from 1 to 10. I have friends and colleagues whose children are entering kindergarten already knowing how to read at a first- or second-grade level, and they are bored with worksheets on learning their letters. English Language Learners are sitting through whole-class lessons that are offered in English. How respectful are these situations of our youngest learners?

Future-Powered Kindergarten

I’ve been designing student-centered classrooms for years, best known for the Learner-Active, Technology-Infused Classroom defined in my books Students Taking Charge (K–5; 6–12.) I’m looking more deeply into today’s students and taking my vision a step further, beginning with kindergarten:

  • – Emphasizing executive function development
  • – Recognizing the power of play in learning
  • – Favoring small-group instruction over whole-class instruction
  • – Prioritizing teacher read-alouds of books
  • – Creating learning environments where subjects are not presented in blocks, but content is infused throughout the day

Take a look at this “Look Into” a kindergarten classroom. Identify ways in which students are respected. Here’s a more detailed description! Finally, you may find these facilitation grids useful for tracking students’ executive function skills while observing play, engaging with individual students, and experiencing their interactions in the classroom.

Let’s Pave a New, Fearless Road to Learning

I know I know . . . fears over declining achievement are leading schools to adopt scripted programs; allocate blocks of time for direct, whole-class instruction; monitor teachers’ actions through pacing guides; and provide whole-class direction instruction in skills. That’s all driven by fear. If you can be fearless for a moment, think of what it would look like if you put those youngest learners (and all learners) in charge of their own learning . . . structured, like a bridge (resist the ferry!). Let’s define what respect for our students really looks like in a classroom!