On Sunday, January 5, Columbia Public Schools experienced the first snow day of the 2024-2025 school year. But something was new, students were faced with a new form of online learning called the Alternative Method of Instruction (AMI). Students across Columbia Public Schools were given a set of new activities they could choose from to do over a snow day.
The use of AMI in Columbia public schools started after a state law required certain districts to have at least 169 days of school and 1,044 hours of instruction. AMI is allowed to account for thirty-six of these hours.
With the first taste of AMI starting before the semester even began, many teachers I spoke to were uncertain on how it would go because it left the work up to the students to choose from the recommended activities on the CPS AMI Choice Boards
The use of AMI takes away from the joy and release that snow days previously had for these students, piling new and unnecessary stress on a day that used to give students a break in the week to play in the snow with family and friends. Instead, students now have to sit inside and do tedious tasks and “check in” for their classes. “A lot of people were confused and had no idea where to go, so I had to remind my friends often and tell them where to go,” says senior Nicole Ignacio. Students had to log into Infinite Campus and press a new button to “check-in” in order to not be counted absent for the day.
The classwork given to the students was unnecessary and did not hold any sense of accomplishment as all the options for the students were seen as too easy or even useless in most cases.
Many CPS students in honor, Advanced Placement, and even college dual credit classes felt as if they were not getting what they needed for the class. Ignacio, who is in multiple AP classes, says, “You can’t really expect that each class can do the same choice board when there’s so much to cover for more advanced classes.”
The choice boards aren’t enough for the students, and with no substantial work actually needed to be turned in, students can easily just lie about the work they supposedly did and go on about their day. In light of this, the use of AMI isn’t productive in the slightest.
As per the CPS AMI webpage that concerns the rules of AMI, teachers are not allowed to provide any new material for their students. However, some teachers for more advanced classes could give out review packets before the next snow day. “If we know snow might be coming, we can set up review activities before the snow comes,” said Mr. Jordan Smith, who teaches English 10 Honors and British Literature.
But without new content, many students are left behind, especially when there’s a certain time frame to learn and understand new material before the Advanced Placement test at the end of the year.
Furthermore, the AMI policy limits the time students have to contact their teachers about questions they may have about any review content. According to the CPS AMI webpage teachers are only said to provide support within the first four hours of a typical school day. So after 1:00 PM, it may be hard for a student to gain the information they inquire about.
The use of AMI needs some serious reworking to allow students to continue learning and not just make them feel like they are doing busy work. According to the CPS AMI webpage, AMI is to help “Enrich student learning through electric or conventional paper lessons.” But I feel as if the current state of the policy makes the work feel elementary and doesn’t allow me to truly learn anything new. It would be better to give students the whole day off and use the day as a simple reset, so they could come into school the next day with a fresh mindset rather than questioning if what they learned the day prior was anything of substance.
