The unclarity behind the CGS Asynchronous Work Policy

By Hadley Cress ‘27

Photo by Alana Hill of a CGS student doing Asynchronous Work.

Something’s missing from the student and family handbook. Where are the policies surrounding asynchronous learning and snow days? 

In general, asynchronous learning is work students are supposed to do on their own time that they can do independently. At Catlin Gabel School (CGS), it is a way to continue student learning over unplanned breaks.

It often means work that would have been done during the school day is converted to be done online. Asynchronous work is meant to be “connected with what you’re doing in the classroom,” said Kama Bruce, CGS Assistant Head of School.

Asynchronous work at CGS is still fairly new. According to Derek Kanarek, CGS’ Upper School Academic Dean, it was established in “inter of the 2022-2023 school year.” The novelty of this policy explains why there is confusion and a lack of clarity from the student and teacher perspective.

The policy in place at the moment (which is only available in the teacher handbook) is that the first day taken away is homework-free. However, the following days will be accompanied by asynchronous work. According to Bruce, asynchronous work is meant to help prevent the need to add days in the school year as well as keep the learning flowing. 

When the policy was being created CGS took into account those who lost power or had other problems over the unexpected days off. Bruce and Kanarek both mentioned that having deadlines moved until after the breaks and being in communication with many families and students makes the asynchronous work more ethical.

CGS uses asynchronous learning over unplanned breaks because it is easier to set up from a teacher’s standpoint. They do not have to coordinate times for when to meet with students. Bruce talks about the pros of asynchronous work and mentions that having it be so independent for students makes it more flexible and easier for those experiencing difficulties due to weather.

For ninth-grader Deniz Avci, the asynchronous work was not hard to complete. She said, “Asynchronous work was helpful with keeping me up to date on the material and not to fall behind once we returned to in-person learning.”

Cristy Vo, a ninth-grade English teacher agreed there were some positives to asynchronous work saying “The benefit of having work is so that you are not having … full interruptions in … the momentum that you’ve built throughout the school year.”

On the other hand, French II teacher, Marisa Ikert, doesn’t think asynchronous work helps her class as much as synchronous work would. Ikert said, “I think it would be easier or more beneficial to have a real class over Zoom to be able to check in with students and have some interactive time.” Synchronous work would also add some structure to the classes over the break which, in Ikert’s opinion, would be helpful.

Synchronous work, which was seen a lot during the COVID-19 pandemic, is an effective approach to snow days, however, it can be hard for teachers and students to manage that much structure when possibly having power or internet outages.

Synchronous learning means being available to communicate during specific times and doing work as a group at set times. This makes it less flexible which can be hard for students and teachers, especially with possible weather problems.

One thing Avci did not like was the amount of work assigned. For her, the work was not hard, just abundant. She said, “I wish that instead of assigning a class period worth of material per class, we were assigned more homework-length assignments. I don't think it is realistic to assume we are constantly working in class, so it is not necessary to make assignments an hour long.”

Along with there being many asynchronous assignments Avci lost Wi-Fi over the break. This variable can make it hard for students to complete excess assignments. Avci was fortunate to have cell service so she was able to complete her work however she had to travel to another home for heat which gave her less time to finish assignments.

Upper School science teacher Joey Grissom said that for him asynchronous work causes a lot of disruption. For his class, it can be hard to shift the current learning from in-person to online.

At the time of the break, Grissom’s class was working on a lab that could not be shifted to online work. As a result, Grissom had to move a lesson he had planned for an upcoming week and teach it over the break.

Along with having to move around what he was teaching, Grissom mentioned that it was hard to quickly create an assignment that could be done remotely and meet the parameters of the policy.

According to many different teachers, one thing the policy lacked was clarity. They would be asked to assign one class’s worth of work while also being asked to assign an hour’s worth of work.

The policy states “On the first Inclement Weather Day or “Snow Day”, employees are encouraged to enjoy the surprise day off and/or take care of their own essential needs in the event of power outages, etc.” and continues to say “If there is more than one snow day Inclement Weather Day in a row, each division will be in communication with students and families about how teaching and learning will continue, including the posting of assignments online and/or transitioning to Zoom as the learning platform.”

This does give some information however it doesn’t talk about the amount of work meant to be assigned and it is still fairly vague. Teachers were emailed with information surrounding what to do over the break.

For some teachers, there is a difference between an hour and a class's worth of work. Ikert said she normally would assign less work but felt pressured to because of the unclarity of the policy.

Vo mentioned a similar experience saying that having required asynchronous work was not always helpful and sometimes she felt it was more than she wanted to assign. Vo said she would prefer to have students, “Read a book that they are enjoying or read poetry.”

In addition, Vo said it’s “hard to assume that students could complete any work.” This makes it difficult to know how much to assign and can make it hard to make the work ethical if it is harder to complete for some students over others.

The biggest problem repeated by many teachers was that the asynchronous work was helpful to keep the learning going but there needs to be more clarity for the future. They weren’t sure what the requirements were or how much work needed to be assigned.

Vo said she sees both the positives and the negatives of asynchronous learning. She mainly wants more instruction and understanding.

For students, asynchronous is helpful but it can also be overwhelming. Knowing in the future the amount of work to prepare for would be beneficial.

This CGS policy will continue to be relevant in the future. Hopefully, by next year it will be clearer and better communicated to teachers and students.