Education Innovating

Teachers union launches charter school authorizer in Minnesota

Mon, 12 Dec 2011 20:53:32 +0000

Many teachers express frustration about how often they are told what, how, and when to teach -- basically, asked to follow a script.

Many believe the job of teaching has suffered since the 1990s, as the standards and accountability movement has driven decision making upwards and away from teachers, to the district, state, and federal level.

The Minneapolis Federation of Teachers has taken a bold action to help restore professional autonomy to teachers, in exchange for being held accountable for results. This month the MFT, supported by a grant from the American Federation of Teachers, became the first teachers union in the country to open a charter school authorizer.

"Conventional wisdom suggests that the interests of teachers unions and charter schools are at odds. I believe that’s wrong."

- Lynn Nordgren, President
Minneapolis Federation of Teachers

The MFT believes that charter authorizing is an important means to more innovative, high quality schools, and to schools where teachers are valued and involved in major decision making roles. The Teacher Professional Partnership is one promising organizational arrangement that will likely be adopted by many of these schools.

Education Evolving applauds this exciting development, and recognizes Lynn Nordgren, MFT president, and Louise Sundin, former AFT vice president and board chair of the new authorizer for their essential forward-thinking leadership.

A Charter Sector and Chartered Schools

Fri, 08 Jul 2011 14:58:57 +0000

This post was originally posted by Ted Kolderie on the weekly National Journal Education Experts Blog. The topic for the week was chosen in response to the second major ESEA reform bill, related to chartered schools, being approved by the US House Education and the Workforce Committee.

The National Journal question was: To what extent can charter schools change the education landscape? Absent other changes, will a renewed emphasis on charter schools actually improve opportunities and achievement for kids?

The House bill, if enacted, would continue the national government's effort to help expand and improve the chartered sector of K-12. Within this expanded charter sector more new and new kinds of schools can be created.

That would be good. It makes sense to build up chartering. The country needs two sectors of public education, one traditional and one more innovative; operating with somewhat different forms of organization and with somewhat different approaches to learning. With choice providing dynamics useful to both.

Parents don't enroll their children in a sector, however; in a category. They enroll in some particular school. They look for a school that will work for their children. But research to date has been comparing charter and district using test-scores and the change in test-scores by category as the measure of 'performance'.

Mean proficiency scores, as the statisticians remind us, cannot be taken as a measure of school performance. Parents (and policymakers) need to know what schools are as schools; so they can tell which, chartered or district, are best for particular students. So research needs to start disaggregating the categories, describing schools in terms of what they have their students reading, seeing, hearing and doing.

Ted Kolderie receives ECS James Bryant Conant award

Tue, 05 Jul 2011 17:58:30 +0000

Ted Kolderie, a founder of Education|Evolving, is the recipient of this year's James Bryant Conant Award from the Education Commission of the States (ECS) for his work to develop the chartered schools sector in public education.

In responding July 7th at the ECS annual National Forum on Education Policy in Denver he will set out the case for using the charter sector now to innovate with approaches to learning, forms of school organization and a broader definition of achievement.

More on the award here, from the official ECS press release:

A short paper Kolderie wrote in 1990, "The States Will Have To Withdraw the Exclusive," though not the first publication about chartering, is regarded by many as the founding document of the contemporary charter movement. Since then he has worked with legislators and citizens on the design and improvement of charter legislation in more than 25 states including California, Colorado, Florida, Michigan, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Ohio.

“Ted Kolderie was and is a critical player in the charter school reform movement. For over thirty years he has shared his knowledge and innovative ideas with legislators and education leaders around the country to help them think about the strategy for system change,” said ECS President Roger Sampson.

Inventory of schools with teacher autonomy

Tue, 07 Jun 2011 21:47:15 +0000

It's worth taking a close look at our current approach to school management.

Our deal with teachers has been that we don’t give you professional authority, and in exchange you don’t give us accountability. Why not cut a new deal: in exchange for real accountability we’ll give you real authority?

We believe that we'll see more innovation in schools where decisions are made by those who know the students' contexts and needs the best -- the teachers. We've been following a growing number of schools nationwide where teachers are able to control what matters for school success.

Today we announce our new National Inventory of Schools with Teacher Autonomy. In it you'll find:

The master list of schools with teacher autonomy.
A nationwide map showing the locations of the schools.
How teachers make arrangements with states, districts, unions, and others.
What we mean by “teacher autonomy”. And, the areas of authority teachers can secure.

As always, we appreciate your comments. And please email us if you notice any errors, or have any additional schools to suggest.

We'll Be Back

Fri, 01 Apr 2011 19:43:43 +0000

Apologies that our posts have been quite sparse over the past few weeks.

The legislative season is busy for us small policy organizations, but we hope to be posting more regularly again in June.

Stay tuned!

New charter authorizer to focus on innovative schools

Thu, 31 Mar 2011 10:48:17 +0000

In the effort to improve public education today, there is a tendency to look for “what works,” and then replicate it. These efforts should be applauded.

But, it’s important that at the same time we continue to try new things. There is likely not one concept of school that works for all students, all teachers, and in all contexts. We must continue to innovate.

Innovative Quality Schools (IQS) is a new approved authorizer of chartered schools in Minnesota. They will focus on authorizing schools that innovate with respect to instructional model, staffing and leadership design, evaluation method, or some other aspect.

This March, IQS issued its first Request for Proposals, asking any organization in the world to submit proposals for new chartered public schools for Minnesota students.

IQS Board Chair Dr. Kristin Anderson (a former superintendent) said, “Innovation does not mean proposals that are not well thought out. Rather, they are ideas that have a compelling design that is different and new.”

Have an idea? Know someone who might?

Official Press Release • Full Request for Proposals

What Wisconsin says about the affordability of K-12

Fri, 11 Mar 2011 11:00:00 +0000

The drama playing out in Wisconsin is something of a political spectacle.

As the opening shot in a strategy to reconcile a multi-billion dollar budget deficit, the state’s new Republican governor has been working with the conservative legislature to try and rush legislation that would significantly restrict the ability of public sector employees to bargain collectively.

What we are seeing in Wisconsin is the traditional model of public schooling—and public services generally—buckling for the first time at a state level. See this blog post from last Wednesday.

The cost of doing business for Madison Metropolitan School District is increasing at an annual rate of 3.8 percent. With economic growth around two percent the district—like districts across the state and the country—is becoming more expensive in real terms each year.

Cuts are made to balance the budget. Same service, but less of it. Because costs have been outpacing growth in revenue and are projected to continue doing so, this practice of austerity has become perennial. A balanced budget this session will become a two percent deficit next spring.

Try an exercise: Take the total operating budget of a major urban district and divide by the number of students they serve. Avoid the mind-numbing complexities of the varied sources and conditions of revenue and enrollment—just total spending by total number of kids. Chances are it is much greater than necessary to run an effective school. In Madison, it is $15,000 per head.

Across the country there are independent public elementary, middle, and high schools that operate on two-thirds that amount. Often they look different—are designed differently—and are smaller in size. Sometimes they make creative use of digital electronics.

To resolve K-12 costs over the long term Governor Walker could ask the legislature—the architects of the state’s education system—to evolve public schooling toward a framework that rewards innovation. He may find the teachers, if not their union, are in fact allies in this work and an asset with unexplored potential.

As political tensions rise, it is more important than ever to clearly understand the problem.

Image: City bus takes Republican lawmakers away from the state capitol in Wisconsin

New book argues today's system of K-12 is not sustainable

Wed, 02 Mar 2011 11:00:00 +0000

Federal stimulus funding for K-12 has created an impression that schools are suffering today because of the economic downturn. This is true. But the downturn is not the principle reason for their financial pains.

For decades education expenditures have outpaced economic growth, and governments have increased spending to match. In recent years this has become less possible, because of the Great Recession and because of growing claims from other public services such as health care and social security.

UNSUSTAINABLE: A Strategy for Making Public Schooling More Productive, Effective, and Affordable is a new book released this month, by Education|Evolving associate Tim McDonald. In the book, McDonald applies Education|Evolving’s approach of rethinking the structure and incentives of school systems, to propose a strategy for addressing cost and effectiveness issues in K-12.
Timely and well-argued, it is essential reading for those in public and private life that recognize the central role of strategy to accomplish the aspirations of American public education.

High school rents classrooms to raise money

Fri, 25 Feb 2011 11:00:00 +0000

With traditionally-designed big-box high schools, it can be difficult to change to keep up with fluctuating financial times. The shell is still there. The physical constraints drive learning models as much as the conditions and teachers.

In times of financial school leaders seek ways to maximize school space. The traditional model seems less and less viable in these times of digital learning and varied learning styles.

Grasping to fund schools...maybe it's time to think differently

Fri, 18 Feb 2011 11:00:00 +0000

In rural Hutto Texas, the superintendent has taken the compelling step of seeking to trademark and lease-out the school’s Hutto Hippo. He is also planning to lease bus and website space to advertisers.

Things seem desperate.

But really what’s happening is that a bright, competent administrator is doing the best he can within the confines of his environment.

Stop, step back. Think: Maybe the confines are the problem, not the money.

He’s grasping to fund one model of school. Maybe it’s the model that is the problem.

Schools that run on less

Wed, 09 Feb 2011 11:00:00 +0000

This editorial in the Wall Street Journal cites a study by Ball State that found charter schools receive on average 19 percent less revenue than district schools.

It is not uncommon for charter schools, which (in most states) exist separate from districts, to run on 90, 80, or even 60 percent of the money of neighboring schools. It is not always clear why this is, though there is a dynamic between the comprehensive factory model of school on one hand (that is inflexible in design and relies on economies of scale) and centrally controlled finances on the other (removing incentive for schools or teachers to save money). Streams of dedicated money into districts also add to the problem—preventing school leaders from the kind of maneuverability they need in times of financial stress.

When schools are started new, independently, and with lump-sum public payments from which they may construct a budget, school leaders often find quickly that it is possible to design a school that works well for less.

How to bring "digital" into K-12

Mon, 07 Feb 2011 11:00:00 +0000

Boards and superintendents, legislators and governors are about to feel the big push for "Digital Learning Now".

This will appeal. 'Digital' carries the potential to improve learning; personalizing work so that students who need more time get more time and so that those who can move faster do move faster. It carries the potential also to help deal with the economic unsustainability of the current concept of school -- in which the only worker is the teacher.

But . . .

Going digital will be a challenge. Personalization implies radical changes in teaching and in learning. Bringing 'digital' into mainstream school will disrupt the traditional model of course-and-class with its technology of teacher-instruction.

How can districts, policymakers, carry out so radical a change . . .

A change to what you see in the report cover photo?

This latest strategy paper from Education|Evolving says: by getting outside the concept of 'classroom' and by creating a user-driven system, with the school the 'user'.

Read a short summary
Download full report (10 pages, PDF)

Trying to fit a square peg in a round hole

Mon, 31 Jan 2011 11:00:00 +0000

When there are schools that are smaller, different than traditional schools, it becomes particularly important to measure value-added performance—and to appreciate expanded forms of achievement.

Schools should be held to high standards but not compelled to follow standardized processes.

The School of Urban Planning and Architecture (SUPAR) in Milwaukee—a popular and successful school with an alternative design—is facing the challenge of having to fit a round school design into a square hole.

This article from the Journal Sentinel lays it out well:

Its attendance rate was lower than the district average and its financial reporting standards were questionable, according to documents that went to the school board. Those documents are recommending closure, something the full board will discuss Thursday.

But at a board committee meeting this month, SUPAR students changed the conversation. They were eloquent, weaving personal stories in with their knowledge of the school's assets and challenges. Outside supporters from the university community spoke about the school's progress.

Teachers held up data that painted a different picture: that of a school making gains with a population of kids that hadn't been successful elsewhere. The school is in its fourth year and all of its graduates - albeit a small number so far - have gone on to post-secondary education or the military.

Reform and the Teachers’ Unions

Fri, 28 Jan 2011 11:00:00 +0000

This blog post from the New York Times comments on two tasks that are captivating state legislators and education officials: assessing teachers and speeding up disciplinary processes.

Teachers are resisting. “If the unions want to have input, they need to quickly come up with a legitimate proposal of their own.”

Perhaps the root of the resistance of unions is a wariness to be subjected to accountability when they have limited control in classrooms. In this blog post in July, we described a visit two advisors from teacher-run schools had with Secretary Duncan about running schools themselves.

Perhaps one of the most interesting things is that they are willing to accept complete accountability—for complete control.

New York City seeking to reinvent schools

Wed, 26 Jan 2011 11:00:00 +0000

See this new report from the Center for Reinventing Public Education.

Eight years of New York City’s public school reforms have significantly but incrementally improved students’ performance and graduation rates. In order to bring about more dramatic progress, the district created a ‘radical’ new initiative through which schools fundamentally change their structures and employ cutting-edge technologies to support student needs.

Launched in 2010, the Innovation Zone—iZone for short—is an ambitious program that expects to produce upwards of 100 schools in the next three years. The iZone schools are being asked to “reinvent” themselves by fully individualizing student learning in order to achieve student mastery of subject material, not just “basic skill proficiency.”

Based on interviews and school visits in New York City, the report looks at the goals and challenges of the iZone initiative.

A new teacher-run school in the Motor City

Fri, 21 Jan 2011 11:00:00 +0000

As Detroit Public Schools manage crisis, one school moves toward teacher control. At Palmer Park Academy, Ed Week reports, the genesis of the changes occurred last summer, after a group of teachers at Palmer Park approached the district with the proposal to convert to a teacher-led arrangement, in which the school’s teachers take on the budgeting and management duties generally carried out by an administrator.

Image: Palmer Park Academy

What is it that causes technology to stick?

Mon, 17 Jan 2011 11:00:00 +0000

The New York Times recently described the many schools now starting to run pilot projects with iPads. Will they stick? Won’t these go the same way as laptops?

‘School leaders say the iPad is not just a cool new toy but rather a powerful and versatile tool with a multitude of applications,’ the article says, citing the speed of development of user-created applications.

‘I think this could very well be the biggest thing to hit school technology since the overhead projector,’ a principal is quoted.

Couldn’t it be bigger – couldn’t it change schools?

See this post, about Apple’s one-to-one program. Shortly after running lecture-style trainings in their stores, Apple executives realized that people found it more efficient to wait until the end and ask their questions after class. So they changed the format completely.

Principal: Teachers want to be valued participants in decision-making processes

Wed, 12 Jan 2011 11:00:00 +0000

In this op ed in the Montgomery Advertiser Gerald Shirley, Principal at School of Discovery in Selma, Alabama, describes the benefits of schools where teachers are involved in making management decisions.

“Society expects teachers to meet high standards,” she observes, but “teachers have voiced concerns. They want to be held accountable,” but want to be valued participants in the decision-making processes.

“The teacher-led school minimizes teachers' complaints about policies, because they have to find solutions.”

Give it a read.

Guest Post: A rubric that tells teachers when a student is ready to take on greater responsibility

Fri, 07 Jan 2011 11:00:00 +0000

TAGOS is a small project based charter school in Janesville Wisconsin with 80 students in grades 7-12.

In this guest post Jon Woloshin, an advisor at TAGOS, describes how a group of teachers empowered to run the school built an assessment rubric that assists them as advisors to know when to add responsibility to the students’ work load.

One day during a summer 2008 Project Based Learning conference at Minnesota New Country School, TAGOS staff were given an article, “Using a Discipline System to Promote Learning” by Dr. Marvin Marshall, and were told to provide feedback on it the next morning.

We read the article and got together in a hotel room later that night. We all agreed that our students would be more likely to complete their requirements and graduate from school if they were more internally motivated to achieve their goals. On the hotel mirror in the room, we outlined the areas of our day, project time, math, silent reading, and advisory circle, with a dry erase marker and created a rubric of behaviors related to each area to track student motivation.

Behaviors were described as follows: Anarchy (noisy, out-of-control and/or unsafe behavior), Bossing Others (bothering and bullying others by not followed identified school standards and expectations for behavior), Cooperation and Conformity (listening to others and extrinsically behaving according to the standards and expectations for behavior), and Democracy (listening to others and intrinsically behaving to the standards and expectations for behavior with self-rule rather than extrinsic forces).

We decided that intrinsic motivation would not only find students following expectations that have been set forth because they are supposed to demonstrate particular behaviors, but also demonstrating self-discipline and showing kindness to themselves and others, because it is their choice and the right thing to do.

As a teacher led school, we designed and implemented this rubric for the upcoming school year and decided that it should become part of each student’s Personalized Learning Plan meeting held at the end of each six week block of school. Currently, students assess themselves when prompted by advisors and together record and track how their behavior has changed over time.

At present only student data is tracked, but this tool may play a future role in future staff evaluations. This information plays a significant role in fostering conversations about participation, cooperation, and achievement between a student and his/her advisor. Students have responded positively often feeling pride when identifying intrinsic motivations.

Image: TAGOS

School of One video

Mon, 03 Jan 2011 11:00:00 +0000

In July we posted an interview with two members from the School of One math program in New York.

Since that time the school has been gaining more and more attention, with more and more awards. It is a fascinating model.

Here’s an interesting video:

Robin Hood Hero | School of One from Robin Hood on Vimeo.

Image: School of One

Schools seeking sponsorships

Wed, 29 Dec 2010 11:00:00 +0000

This article in the New York Times describes how football fields in Los Angeles may now be sponsored by Nike.

Facing another potential round of huge budget cuts, the Los Angeles school board unanimously approved a plan on Tuesday night to allow the district to seek corporate sponsorships as a way to get money to the schools.

As they discussed the proposal at Tuesday night’s meeting, several board members expressed distaste with the idea of opening up schools to business, but concluded that there was no other way.

Is it possible to keep going like this?

18 year old Nurse Practitioner took advantage of early college enrollment

Mon, 27 Dec 2010 11:00:00 +0000

Last week at age 18 Danielle McBurnett become the youngest nurse practitioner in the country at age 18.

She started taking college classes at age 12, and graduated high school at 15 before enrolling in the nursing program at Arizona State University.

Arizona Central reports that McBurnett “doesn't believe in being limited by the date on which she was born.”

In Minnesota, the first state to institute post-secondary enrollment options (PSEO), over 120,000 high school students have chosen to enter college early since 1984.

Imagine both what’s possible in terms of unusually capable (or mature) students moving on when they are ready—or in savings. At $10,000 per student per year, the amount of money a state could save if just a small portion of students entered college early adds up quickly.

Last week we reported on a blog wondering whether technology could be used better if placed in school models that treat students more like responsible adults, and in June had a post on Abby Sunderland, who created a stir when at age 16 she attempted to sail solo around the world.

In this paper E|E asks whether it is time to reconsider the notion of adolescence?

Photo: Danielle McBurnett

Is technology a distraction?

Wed, 22 Dec 2010 11:00:00 +0000

In this blog post for the Citizens League policy organization Education|Evolving associate Kim Farris-Berg questions a recent study that technology leads to distraction, and thus away from learning.

Ultimately, she argues, teens choose whether or not to participate in an activity. If they are distracted, what is the cause? Perhaps a school environment that is more engaging—that gives students higher levels of responsibility—could be a constructive step forward.

Image: New York Times

Waiting for Superman and strategy for improvement

Mon, 20 Dec 2010 11:00:00 +0000

Waiting for Superman has really drawn attention to the hunger that families have for good schools. 700+ applications for 40 spots at a school in Harlem; scenes of mothers riding public transit for hours in search of good schools.

In this scene from the movie Bill Gates talks about the importance of education to the country’s future. “People get panicked about the economic success of this country,” he says, and “there is one thing that will determine that.”

“We cannot sustain an economy based on innovation unless we have citizens well educated in math, science, and engineering…If we fail at this we won’t be able to compete in the global economy. How strong the country is 20 years from now—and how equitable the country is—will be largely driven by this issue.”

Gates (and others) talk in the documentary about the system as something that does things, rather than a collection of people doing things.

If the goal is to have more good schools like those that parents in the movie want to go to, will this be done because an administrator says it should? If the unions were to disappear tomorrow, would better schools emerge? Probably not. What then is the strategy to get more, good schools? How will it be done?

Movie Videos & Movie Scenes at MOVIECLIPS.com

Teacher-run schools in a unionized setting

Fri, 17 Dec 2010 11:00:00 +0000

Recently we commented on an interesting study by Charles Kerchner and Laura Mulfinger that provided keen insights into teacher-run schools.

In another post we highlighted an excerpt that showed how students at one school, operating as a student congress, decided that instead of banning cell phones in the school, they would allow phones but ban disruption.

Here is an excerpt, on teacher-run schools in Milwaukee—where charter schools remain part of the district, and teachers are members of the local union:

Milwaukee and the unionized version of teacher-run schools

Outside of Minnesota, the next largest aggregation of teacher-led schools is in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where 13 teacher-run schools exist as what are called “instrumentality” charters within the Milwaukee Public Schools. Teachers gain authority to make day-to-day decisions in schools, which have no principal, through memoranda of agreement with the district and with the Milwaukee Teachers’ Education Association. Teachers remain employees of the district and members of the bargaining unit. They are paid according to the standard salary schedule and participate in the conventional pension system.

Milwaukee teacher-run schools control their own curriculum, and they determine some of their own work rules and internal decision processes. Unlike the case at Avalon and the EdVisions schools, they do not control personnel and budget decisions to the same extent. The Milwaukee schools can select teachers, but from the district pool of candidates, and on some occasions they receive a “must place” teacher, who has lost a position at another school.

Much of the relationship between the teacher-run schools and the district has existed as informal permission, where formal authority rests with the district but operating discretion rests with the school. Over the last decade, that relationship has been reasonably stable, but both the union presidency and superintendency have turned over, and it remains to be seen whether the new administrations will be as tolerant as the old ones. Meanwhile, the state of Wisconsin has given the state superintendent enhanced powers to intervene in Milwaukee and other districts deemed to be failing, including the ability to impose a standard curriculum in all schools. It is unclear whether this mandate applies to charters, such as the teacher run schools, that are instrumentalities of the districts. Some of the teachers and teacher leaders are considering leaving the district altogether and applying for charter status directly from the state.

The existence of the Milwaukee teacher-run schools owes much to Cris Parr, who is the lead teacher at SUPAR (The School for Urban Planning and Architecture) that is built on the notion that there is a powerful and engaging pedagogy in the act of design. Parr was an experienced teacher in the Milwaukee Public Schools when she and her father, John, visited the Minnesota EdVisions schools and began to ask themselves “why should teachers have to sacrifice their income to start a great school?” John Parr, a former union organizer, devised and negotiated the memoranda of agreement with the district and union that made the teacher-run schools possible. He has since become an advocate for teacher-run schools with teacher unions nationwide.

Here’s Kerchner’s study again:

Image: A project-learning matrix from SUPAR

Why don’t bad schools close?

Wed, 15 Dec 2010 11:00:00 +0000

EdWeek ran this interesting article on a study put out yesterday by Fordham and Basis Policy Research.

The researchers examined over 2,000 chronically low-performing elementary and middle schools, and found that it is difficult to close them. Despite persistently low performance and efforts at turnaround, only 19 percent of the poor chartered schools and 11 percent of poor district schools closed after five years.

And, it adds, the Department of Education estimates that only 18 of 730 schools receiving School Improvement Fund grants this year opted to shut down, and 31 schools choosing to restart.

The challenge seems to be that the politics are prohibitively difficult for administrators—no matter how well-meaning, how right, how savvy—to close schools. When a superintendent does take bold action, as did Michelle Rhee in Washington, DC, it makes news. It is unusual.

Instead, there may be another way to look at this. Bad schools may be much more likely to close if quality alternatives are available—with the decision of an administrator not initiating the closing, but coming at the end after families have chosen in sufficient numbers not to attend there. The findings about the limits of turnaround efforts seems to suggest that many of these alternatives may need to be created new.

Image: mackinac.org

Moving from grading for compliance to grading for mastery

Mon, 13 Dec 2010 11:00:00 +0000

After comparing four years of semester grades with standardized state exams, teachers at Ellis Middle School in Austin, Minnesota noticed a discrepancy. A small but significant portion of student that got good grades in class did not score well on the tests; while another portion that received high scores on the year-end state tests were C or D students during regular coursework.

This New York Times article quotes the school’s principal, Katie Berglund, saying that they were grading less for mastery of course material than for compliance—completing assignments, showing up on time, participating.

So they made some changes—offering two grades: A ‘knowledge grade’ that averages tests given as part of a course, with homework treated as practice and not counting toward the final grade. They also have a ‘life skills’ grade that accounts for preparation, behavior, teamwork. The superintendent noted changes in behavior, with students focusing more on what they need to learn instead of going through the motions.

Now 90 percent of grades are determined by assessments, and 10 percent on ‘practice' (homework).

This raises an interesting, larger question:

If mastery is what matters—which Austin argues, with good reason—then can standardized tests capture its full range? Probably not. What other means of assessment could be used for students to demonstrate achievement, and how can school be arranged to enable that?

Berglund on Fox and Friends last week:

Image: Roderick Mills, c/o NYT

Guest Post: Integrating iPod Touch in Essex

Fri, 10 Dec 2010 11:00:00 +0000

In this guest post Nick Dennis, assistant headmaster at Felsted School, an independent school in Essex, England, describes their experience in the first year of a two-year commitment as a regional training center for innovative use of Apple products. He describes how the school has come to see that technology need not be a distraction; should not be considered a panacea itself; yet has capacity to help teachers rethink ways technology can improve learning.

Many schools are still very wary of introducing mobile technology to the classroom. The main fear is that it prevents students from becoming properly ‘engaged’ in lessons, distracting them from the main business of learning. We believe this is a result of the technology becoming the focal point rather than the learning itself and placed within the correct pedagogical context, a mobile enhanced teaching strategy can usher in substantive benefits in terms of students’ academic progress and pastoral care.

As a history teacher with a particular interest in the relationship between historical processes and the use of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) to help further understanding, I was very concerned that the use of ICT was often thought of as a panacea to what is essentially a teaching and learning problem. After becoming aware of the growing body of research on effective teaching and assessment strategies by John Hattie, I began to think about the ways technology could aid and amplify effective classroom practice.

Apple and Orange involvement

Apple was aware that we had a slightly different view on the use of technology in the classroom, and after a series of meetings with the, they understood the learning-centered goals we had for our students and the school. As a result, Felsted has been named as an Apple Regional Training Centre; one of the few independent schools to have this status and the only one in the UK with History as its subject focus.

Although unique, we decided to embrace mobile learning to supplement historical learning but we soon realized this was too narrow to really examine the benefits of mobile amplified learning. The project now covered four academic departments (Economics/History/Classics/Biology) spanning the range of age, ability and examination boards.

Baseline student data and target grades will be used as the benchmark for measuring student progress and we are currently devising an approach where we can measure the actual learning taking place using the work of Graham Nuthall as a basis.

One area we are keen to explore is Dylan William’s idea of ‘Hinge Questions’ as part of improving assessment of learning and providing the next steps for improvement. A ‘Hinge Question’ is where students face a number of multiple-choice questions during the lesson on their mobile device but instead of having one right answer, each answer refers to a particular level of understanding. Student answers are recorded and collated by the software and the teacher can then use this to give effective feedback to help move the student on. The devices can also be used to personalize content to students based on their performance so that learners are always challenged in relation to their performance.

On the basis that the results of the first year of the trial prove to be successful, the plan is to roll out the mobile enhanced project to all other areas of the school.

Benefits

The potential benefits of using mobile devices in a pedagogically focused way are enormous. Not only do they move us away from the ‘office model’ mode of using technology, their battery life, portability and multi-functionality allow them to be used in a variety of contexts. As well as offering basic academic tools, such as an electronic dictionary, thesaurus, calculator and planner, they can also serve as note takers by using the camera/video. Outdoor and international visits take on a different dimension with the ability for GPS use and to create video blogs on the go.

We are also developing a mobile interface so students can gain easy access to their academic information thereby removing the need for a paper planner. Pastorally, it is anticipated that the use of mobile devices will promote the quality of tutoring at Felsted by giving staff finger-tip access to student information, such as sanctions and commendations, medical details and contacts for parents.

The desire to use these devices at Felsted is not driven by them being ‘cool’ (although the students perceive them as such). We believe that they may offer a vehicle to help improve what are already effective teaching, pastoral and social practices but with more speed, precision and in a context focused on striving to help students achieve their best.

While the ‘office model’ of computers has promised much and has led to some improvements, it often meant that students had to be chained to desks. Learning can happen anywhere, and we believe that mobile devices may be able to help promote, capture and extend learning within and outside the classroom.

Images: Nick Dennis; Felsted School, Essex

Anxiety over PISA scores calls for U.S. to consider the source of its competitive advantage

Wed, 08 Dec 2010 11:00:00 +0000

With the release of PISA scores yesterday, anxiety rose in face of middling US results, and strong Chinese performance—particularly Shanghai. The references to Russia are back, with the President saying that, “Fifty years later, our generation’s Sputnik moment is back.”

The United States scored in the 20’s on most subjects measures. The image of China as rising power: “The(ir) work ethic is amazingly strong,” a former US official said. “I’ve seen how relentless the Chinese are at accomplishing goals,” said Chester Finn, “and if they can do this in Shanghai in 2009, they can do it in 10 cities in 2019, and in 50 cities by 2029.”

The urge in the face of such challenges to date has been to double-down on standards, on central controls, and management—‘better leadership!’

Instead, we might think that the best response to challenges from global powers is to continue evolving public education toward the type of system that has made the U.S. strong in other aspects of its economic life.

Now more than ever we need a sound system—one that enables variability, innovation, and allows teachers to discover and develop new personalized ways of learning. Its incentives must be such that successful schools are rewarded with students that choose to enroll there; poor schools close; and the professionalism of teaching is improved—likely the only reliable way to improve the prestige and appeal of the job.

Image: leadenergy.org

Reimagine what is possible in schooling

Mon, 06 Dec 2010 11:00:00 +0000

This past summer Apple senior vice president for retail Ron Johnson spoke to the Civic Caucus policy group, and this blog commented on Apple’s One-to-One education program that he described. In designing the stores, he said, they first went to auditorium seating for teaching lessons to customers.

Immediately they began experiencing fewer questions during the sessions, and more after—when customers would come up to Apple team members individually. 'Okay, now here’s my question,' they seemed to ask. So Apple flipped their training; going instead to the personalized format from the ground up.

The discussion has been getting picked up by Apple-focused blogs, from the United States to France.

The development and interest in iPads is another demonstration of how advanced electronics have become, and are working their way into the lives of so many people today. Last Wednesday's post described one school's response to the inevitability that cell phones will have a presence in schools - don't ban phones, ban disruption.

Electronics are only part of the equation, however. Those working in schools need to be able to re-imagine processes of teaching and learning.

Is the job of teacher about compliance, or seeking improvement?

Is the task of running a school about compliance, or about rethinking operations to work best?

Change school culture by altering the conditions in which they operate

Fri, 03 Dec 2010 11:00:00 +0000

Yesterday the New York Times ran an article about changes that have gone on in the Baltimore Public Schools district since Andres Alonso took over three years ago.

It describes how the superintendent managed to enable change in the culture of BCPS schools, moving away from compliance and punishment and toward empowerment - of both students and adults. Principals used to spend more time filling out directives from the central office, the article says. Now they have full control over the schools’ budgets and are held accountable for performance. Responding to incentives, suspensions are going down and schools are increasingly employing mediation and counseling to manage discipline.

A teacher is quoted saying that their school now has “the feel of a charter school.”

In this article from Education Week Education|Evolving partner Ted Kolderie is quoted describing the affect conditions have on a school’s ability to evolve.

Early supporters of the chartering idea, he says, talked about a "ripple effect" where charter schools would spur other schools to pick up on their innovations. "But Kolderie added that he's learned the conditions in the public schools have to be right for that to happen. 'Whether there is a ripple effect depends on the pond and not on the stone,' he said."

Image: Andres Alonso, NYT

Instead of cell phones, ban disruption

Wed, 01 Dec 2010 11:00:00 +0000

Recently we commented on an interesting study by Charles Kerchner and Laura Mulfinger that provided keen insights into teacher-run schools.

One of the observations of the paper was that while school and instructional models vary, the behavior of teacher-run schools—the way students and teachers work, the ways that the schools function—tend to differ from traditionally-managed schools.

Take this excerpt, on cell phones:

All high schools have issues with cell phones, and many ban them some going to far as to collect the phones from students when they enter school in the morning and return them when they leave. Then they spend adult time trying to ferret out those clever students who have a second, undisclosed phone. At Avalon [a project-based, teacher-run school], cell phones are a learning tool. “I have had students use their phones for presentations or to retrieve information from the Internet as a part of a class discussion,” said [a teacher].”

It’s not that cell phones were not an issue. [The Student Congress, with rule-making authority for the school] discussed them at length, and at the end it decided that the problem was not the phones themselves but the disruption they sometimes caused to learning. So rather than ban phones, Congress banned disruption…

The student congress of Avalon is an extension of the school’s democratic character. The congress acts as the legislative branch of the school constitution, and the teachers as the executive branch (with veto power).

This anecdote is a shimmer of light that indicates the way things are now in public schooling—intractable as some challenges seem to be—can change. ‘School’ can be something completely different…can be re-imagined.

And, the students and the teachers may be some of the best-positioned people to contribute to the rethinking.

Here’s Kerchner’s study again:

Image: CellPhoneChip.org

Before targeting teachers, look at the system

Mon, 29 Nov 2010 11:00:00 +0000

Ken Futernick, director of the School Turnaround Center for the California-based organization WestEd, recently had a keen insight in this article in Kappan Magazine on why teachers behave as they do—bargain collectively, resist accepting certain frameworks of accountability, become frustrated with management. He turns attention from the people, to the structures in which they work.

Regarding the performance of teachers, he asks:

When system standards are in place and performance at any level is lacking, we can then ask: Is the problem due primarily to an individual’s performance…Or, does it have nothing to do with people at all but, instead, is rooted in flaws in policy or system design that would prevent any qualified person from succeeding?

When a problem of performance can truly be tied to an individual, he argues, then the organization should be set up in such a way as to hold them accountable. But that is not always so clear.

That some of the most-criticized behaviors of teachers can be commonly observed in a country as large and diverse as the United States—with teachers in districts large and small; urban and rural; rich and poor—it does seem wise to stop and think about whether the causes of these behaviors reside fundamentally with the system, not the people.

Consider what might happen if teachers ran schools.

Technology is for learning, before teaching

Fri, 26 Nov 2010 11:00:00 +0000

The weekly guest post is on hiatus this Friday, for the Thanksgiving holiday.

In this video for Ed Week’s forum Unleashing Technology to Personalize Learning, Chris Lehmann, principal of Science Leadership Academy high school in Philadelphia, describes the need to expand technology use beyond teaching so that it serves students and the processes of learning. Otherwise, he says, you end up with a smart board and Power Point slides: Merely a ‘digitalized blackboard.’

The Science Leadership Academy is a project-based high school, formed in a partnership between the School District of Philadelphia and The Franklin Institute. The school was featured on Apple’s website, as a case study.

How to determine teacher pay?

Wed, 24 Nov 2010 11:00:00 +0000

Bill Gates gave a speech in Louisville last week to the Council of Chief State Schools Officers (CCSSO), where he argued a need to address school financing problems by rethinking teacher pay. In particular, the steps and lanes approach that increases compensation based on seniority and degrees, without regard for performance. He urged moving focus from reducing class sizes to paying teachers more if they successfully take on larger class sizes and work at more difficult schools.

Instead of seniority and education level, what could be a mechanism for effectively determining teacher pay? What would the tools be? Think beyond principals, and tests; who might be involved, and what other forms of review and assessment may be used in determining appropriate levels of compensation?

In some schools, teachers set it themselves.

View the video on the CCSSO website.

For foreign languages, economy of scale has gone to one

Mon, 22 Nov 2010 11:00:00 +0000

A small Wisconsin village recently experienced the challenge of trying to manage budget difficulties within the confines of existing processes.

This article from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel describes how the district began offering Chinese classes in 2005; a reflection of the town’s history having the oldest trading ties with China in the state. Marathon County’s relationship with the country goes back a century, built around their ginseng crop.

“In an abrupt change, however, Marathon City this year was forced to cancel its Chinese-language program, a victim of cuts in the state education budget.” The article goes on to explain that language enrollment in public schools in Wisconsin's has declined consistently since a peak in 2005.

But: Need the language class have been lost in the first place? It is expensive to maintain staff, but in an age of online programs such as Live Mocha, the economy of scale has gone to one. The learning process may be a bit different, but that’s not a bad thing. It is a great testament to the community that Marathon City had set up a Chinese language program. It could still happen; could still be done; is still possible.

Marathon High School, Marathon City, WI

Guest post: Alternative assessment methods in Alberta better enable personalization

Fri, 19 Nov 2010 11:00:00 +0000

Editor’s note: Each Friday we feature guest bloggers that are involved in rethinking what is possible with schooling and the education system.

Dale Skoreyko is principal at McNally High School in Edmonton, Alberta, in Canada. In this post he describes that effective school wide assessment plans should be ongoing, in real time; and resist final grades or averaging of all grades.

By eliminating the impact of daily performance measures on a student’s final grade the exchange of information and feedback between students and teachers changes. The design of curriculum and learning processes may become more personalized by releasing the pressure for every student to produce the same end product. This can be replicated, he argues—school-wide—and has been.

Dale has implemented assessment plans at McNally High, Londonderry Junior High, and East Glen High School. He has presented classroom practice and leadership sessions since 2004 at the Alberta Assessment Consortium.

Teachers provide students with learning activities and assessment activities. This is not an epiphany; in fact we have known and done this for thousands of years. Why then are we so fascinated with the “new” idea of not including marks gathered from learning activities in the determination of a student’s grade?

An effective school wide assessment plan accounts for the activities and assessments that take place during the course of instruction and learning. As such, the marks generated from these tasks are used to inform the parents, student and teacher about the level of progress through the curriculum. They would not be used in the calculation of report card grades. Teachers need to provide up to date information on the current status of learning, rather than a historical analysis calculated using “averaging.”

By eliminating the impact of these formative learning activities on a student’s grade, the teachers are free of perceived constraints related to the nature of assignments and demonstrations of learning. Students are able to work with information on a personal level and demonstrate their knowledge and concept understanding that retains the rigor of curriculum alignment, but does not require every student to produce the same end product.

In the schools where I have been principal we have developed assessment plans that encourage creativity from our students and honors the understanding that learning occurs through different pathways, at different rates. Teachers gain an acute understanding of their program curriculum objectives coupled with a loose expectation regarding how success in those outcomes will be demonstrated. At first, this creates varying levels of anxiety for traditional teachers as they develop their marking keys and rubrics. Very quickly however, even the most reticent teacher realizes that the important aspect of assessment is to identify a student’s curriculum strengths and weaknesses rather than their strict adherence to a particular assessment methodology. The students and teachers are free to investigate the various ways of knowing. How liberating!

I have had the opportunity to present the results of this work in my schools to various schools and school districts in Alberta. Through teacher and school administrator presentations we have charted the critical path to developing a school wide assessment policy that fosters student participation, increases attendance, decreases student conduct issues and increases course completions. Sounds amazing? It’s really just good teaching with fair assessment practices; no magic involved.

Image: Dale Skoreyko

Teacher-leadership of schools is a means for improvement

Wed, 17 Nov 2010 11:00:00 +0000

An effect of the increase in news coverage of teacher-run schools is a similar dynamic as the chartering of schools has experienced—that is, some observers are interpreting the management structure of these schools (involving teachers, in varied ways, depending upon the school) as an end in itself. This is off the point.

It is important to note the scope of teacher-leadership in schools: A school will not be inherently higher or lower performing because it is teacher-led. Instead we should ask When teachers are involved in running a school as a professional partnership, what changes occur as a result? How do these affect different aspects of the performance of the school?

It is common for white-collar professionals to work in partnerships, from architecture and accounting to law, medicine, or other services. This sort of governance works quite well in those industries—and can reasonably be expected to work for teaching, as well.

Teacher-leadership is a way of managing that may manifest in many different governance models and can allow for more flexibility and inventiveness. In a time of financial constraint and the need for improved performance, that responsiveness is important. But teacher management does not, itself, change performance—it is a means. The improvements may come from there…but do a school should not be expected to be inherently better because it is run on a particular governance model. Our imagination should not stop at teacher-leadership, but begin—considering what could come from it.

Image: Teachers at Woodland Hills Academy in Los Angeles

Describing teacher-run schools in a Teacher Magazine interview

Mon, 15 Nov 2010 11:00:00 +0000

Teacher-run schools continue to appear in the news, such as a recent article by the Associated Press.

In this article by EdWeek’s Teacher Magazine EE partners Ted Kolderie and Joe Graba describe characteristics that begin to emerge in schools that are run by teachers.

They discuss the structure of management, whether or not there is a main office, and the title—‘advisor’—that is given to teachers.

They describe the way the role of teacher tends to change, when they move toward project-based learning:

“When you’re an advisor and you’ve offloaded much of the responsibility for learning onto the students, you can multitask—you can answer phone calls, you can talk to somebody else who has a question they want you to answer.”

And, how the relationship to central management must evolve if such schools are to work inside districts:

The districts have to switch how they oversee these schools. Almost every school in the country is run through process control—the central office tells schools what the processes are that they need to follow.

Going to site-governed requires [the district to] go over to performance management [as opposed to control]. You build into the performance measures the outcomes you expect a school to provide. And you say to the school, "We’re not going to tell you how to get there, we’re just going to agree on what the outcomes are going to be. You figure out how to get there."

Check out the full article on the Education Week website.

Guest Post: Big things often start small — the Florida Virtual story

Fri, 12 Nov 2010 11:00:00 +0000

Editor’s note: Each Friday we feature guest bloggers that are involved in rethinking what is possible with schooling and the education system.

Julie Young, President and CEO of Florida Virtual School, describes the appeal of online learning, and the dramatic growth the organization has sustained over the past 15 years. It is a cogent reminder that substantial innovations often start small—in the case of FVS, with 77 students.

When we started this adventure almost 15 years ago, we were just a blip on the radar screen, and many people thought that’s all we would ever be. However, it wasn’t long before people in Florida and outside the state began to sit up and take notice.

We hit upon a principle very early on that has been the strength and foundation of our program. We recognized that the beauty of online learning is the individualization it can provide; along with the removal of time and pace restrictions. When those limitations are removed, we have found over and again that students can indeed learn, even though they might not have been successful in a traditional classroom environment.

Now, that’s not to say we believe online learning is some kind of cure-all for every student, but it is a great option for many. We also recognize the reasons students choose online learning are as varied as the students themselves. Some need to take a course that simply isn’t offered in their school. Some may need to fix a scheduling conflict in order to take a favorite elective. Some students use our courses because they travel in order to compete athletically, or perhaps they are performers. Some students may need to make up a credit. Whatever the reason, the point is these students have an option where there was none before.

We started with just 77 students. In the coming year, we expect to serve over 100,000 students. We are so proud of all we’ve been able to accomplish on behalf of students, and we have to give a great deal of credit to the students, families, and school districts we serve.

Florida Virtual School now offers more than 100 courses, and we’ve been honored to play a leadership role to ensure that online learning opportunities blossom for Kindergarten–12th grade students all over the nation. Today, there are online learning offerings in almost every state for K–12 students, and Florida Virtual School has played a direct role in assisting many other states in getting started. Florida has truly been the nation’s leader in this arena, and others are still looking to us to provide ongoing leadership. Speaking of other states, Florida Virtual School has a Global Services division that provides many options to non-Florida students and school districts.

Some are always curious as to how we are funded, and that’s a great question. Florida Virtual School is a state funded entity, therefore Florida taxpayers and legislative support make our program possible! We are continuing to identify efficiencies in any way possible to save the state money as we promote digital learning in the state of Florida and beyond.

Check out our YouTube channel to learn more about what our students, parents, teachers and administrators are saying about us!

Image: Julie Young

The power of ownership—letting students lead parent and teacher conferences

Wed, 10 Nov 2010 11:00:00 +0000

This interesting blog post on School Spring describes a growing trend of student-led conferences.

“For years the process of parent-teacher conferences has been the same,” it writes. “The teacher hurriedly telling a parent about their child’s progress (mostly meaning their grades and participation in class) and not much time, if any, for discussion.”

It mentions an article from Education World that describes a growing trend toward conferences instead led by students, increasing the sense of ownership on the part of students and elevating them to a more equal status with the adults.

If the role of student can be successfully expanded into conferences, could it be elsewhere in the schooling process, as well?

Image: Student leading conference at McGraw Elementary, in Ft. Collins, CO

The power of motivation—if young people want to learn, you can’t stop them

Mon, 08 Nov 2010 11:00:00 +0000

Professor Sugata Mitra’s famous Hole in the Wall experiment clearly shows the tremendous potential of motivation on the part of students.

Discussing the experiment in this video from a recent Ted talk, Mitra describes the series of experiments where he placed a kiosk inside a wall in a slum in India, provided some positive reinforcement, and then stepped back—returning (sometimes months later) to see that students had not only begun to figure out the device and software, but through mirroring and mimicking of the computer narrator were picking up British English.

"If children have interest, then education happens,” Mitra says. "Students will learn what they want to learn."

The resourcefulness and energy demonstrated by students in Mitra’s experiment is a glimpse of something that can be harnessed by a school model.

When we look at a school, and its design and function, shouldn’t a first question be: Does this school work to elicit or suppress student and teacher motivation?

Guest Post: How Does A School Foster Hope?

Fri, 05 Nov 2010 10:00:00 +0000

Editor’s note: Each Friday we feature guest bloggers that are involved in rethinking what is possible with schooling and the education system.

James Steckart, Director, Northwest Passage High School describes his school’s use of the Hope Survey for measuring how students are feeling motivated and inspired by the school. EducationInnovating had a post on the Survey a few weeks back.

"Hope... which whispered from Pandora's box after all the other plagues and sorrows had escaped, is the best and last of all things.”

– Ian Cadwell (The Rule of Four)

We can disagree whether hope is the best of all things, but let us suppose for a moment that Cadwell speaks the truth. What does hope give the student, the teacher, the parent, the community? Most parents wake up and hope that the lives of their children are better than theirs, whether they live in poverty or in opulence. The community hopes that its members contribute in some positive way to the better of the whole. Most children when they grow have real meaningful dreams of hope. Finally, most teachers hope that their work contributes to the healthy development of the students in their charge.

This concept of hope is common sense, yet most schools do not understand how they can produce hopeful students. In fact for a majority of students working their way through the a conventional school system, I would argue and data we have would suggest that their overall hope disposition decreases with the more time spent in school. Why would anyone stay in a place where their dreams, questions, and hope are called into question and disparaged?

Let’s look at a school where the concept of hope is front and center. At Northwest Passage High School (NWPHS) the mission of the school is simple: Rekindling our hope, exploring our world, seeking our path, while building our community. Embedding hope into our mission statement, we sought a way to measure this concept to see if we were fulfilling our mission.

NWPHS is a small progressive charter school where half of the day students work with their advisor designing projects that meet state standards, and the other half of the day they are in small seminar classes focused on an interdisciplinary topic involving field research and working with community experts. In addition, the school schedules between 30-45 extended field expeditions to further enhance learning. In a typical year the students travel and conduct research in a variety of urban and wilderness areas throughout the United States and 2-3 select international sites.

Each fall new students to our school complete the Hope Survey for new students, and each spring every student completes the ongoing Hope Survey. The survey measures student engagement, academic press, goal orientation, belongingness, and autonomy and is administered through an internet browser.

This allows us to get a sense of how much and whether hope is being grown. For us the longitudinal data confirmed what we knew in our hearts about our philosophy and methodology of working with high school students. Our ongoing students last year had a high hope score of 50.74 out of 64 possible. What lessons has this given us to share with others?

First, hope is built when you give students choice and autonomy. At NWPHS, project based learning gives students real choice while they meet Minnesota graduation standards. We track their learning with a sophisticated project management tool called Project Foundry.

Second, we focus on building positive relationships with youth. We do this through intensive field studies, advisories, and service learning.

Third, we have faith that students will learn when you help them develop short and long-range goals through the use of continual learning plans and student run conferences which include the student, their advisor and at least one parent. These conferences last 30-45 minutes, and the student leads the discussion on their progress using their continual learning plan as the guide.

A student devoid of hope is a shell of a human being. They walk around listlessly living each day by the seat of their pants. Our job as educators, parents and community members it to instill a respect of these students and provide opportunities for hope to flourish.

Image: James Steckart

How did the "charter" school idea begin?

Wed, 03 Nov 2010 10:00:00 +0000

Recently in the Wall Street Journal and Education Next there were accounts of the origins of chartering. We thought we might take the liberty of adding our version, since the first legislative implementation of the idea occurred in Minnesota and a number of those now in Education|Evolving were involved.

Asking "Where did it start?" is like asking where a river starts. There's no single source, but several little streams flowing together. Albert Shanker and Ray Budde had the 'charter' idea early. Minnesota got it into law; seeing 'charter' not as a kind of school but as a platform for developing different schools.

It was mostly word of mouth. No master plan; no national 'project'. Not many education-policy groups supportive; the academic community inattentive. Efforts in the states were strikingly bipartisan; enacting what 'realists' said couldn't possibly be done. Importantly, too: Congressional legislation in 1994 deferred to state lawmaking.

See our new timeline of the origins of chartering.

* * *

And, the story continues. In July 2010, we covered on our blog how the Minneapolis Federation of Teachers received a grant from the American Federation of Teachers to design and seek approval of a new nonprofit 'authorizer' able to charter schools under law. Two teachers--one from Saint Paul; one from Milwaukee--met with Arne Duncan and the top staff of the Department of Education late in April to explain how this works.
The visions of Budde and Shanker may yet be realized in full.

Why redesign schools? Because the education paradigm has changed.

Mon, 01 Nov 2010 10:00:00 +0000

Here is a captivating illustration created by the Royal Society of the encouragement of the Arts (RSA) of a TED lecture given by Sir. Ken Robinson, on the present model of education and where it needs to go.

In it he says:

The present model was designed for a different age.
Operated on an assumption that there are the ‘academics’ and the ‘workers.’ It has caused chaos for individuals—evidenced by spread of medication for ADHD—and does not work for the information economy.
Our children are living in the most intensely stimulating period in the history of the earth. They’re being besieged with information from every platform…and we’re penalizing them from being distracted. From what? Boring stuff.
A longitudinal study found elementary-aged students went from scoring 98 percent ‘genius’ level on tests for creative thinking…then 50 percent only five more years later. What happened? “They became educated,” Robinson contends.

Check out the video below.

Guest Post: New ‘Innovation School’ in Massachusetts provides early pathways into college

Fri, 29 Oct 2010 10:00:00 +0000

Editor’s note: Each Friday we feature guest bloggers that are involved in rethinking what is possible with schooling and the education system.

Pathways Early College Innovation High School is one of the two Innovation Schools that opened this year under a new Massachusetts law allowing for the creation of district schools with exemption from many rules and regulations. In September Secretary of Education Paul Reville described the motivations behind the law in an EducationInnovating.org blog post.

In this post Michael Baldassarre, Superintendent of the Ralph Mahar School District describes how they work with Gateway to College to provide early-enrollment college options for motivated students that seek to expand their limits.

On August 31, 2010 I had the pleasure of meeting with the first twenty students in the newly created Pathways Early College Innovation High School at Mount Wachusett Community College (MWCC). The Pathways Innovation School is the product of the continued partnership of the Ralph C. Mahar Regional School District and MWCC, which are located about fifteen miles from one another in Central Massachusetts. In this program the students who I met will earn their Associates Degrees in the same time that they earn their high school diplomas.

Three key components went into the creation of the Pathways Innovation School.

First and most important was legislation sponsored by Governor Deval Patrick and Education Secretary, Paul Reville, which allowed our partnership with the community college to create an “Innovation School.”

The second component was the pre-existing mechanisms found in our currently active School of Choice policies, Dual Enrollment policies, and our Gateway to College funding formula.

Finally, the meaningful partnership that exists between the school district and the community college was conducive to planning for and opening the Innovation School without complication.

The school district and community college created the Innovation School by building on the success of another program that is known nationally as the thriving dropout prevention program, The Gateway to College. There is tremendous like-mindedness among the administrations from the district and the community college. We have referred to our approach an “N of 1” methodology for creative successful solutions for individual students. By working to meet the learning needs of students on an individual basis we have seen nearly 100 would-be high school dropouts earn their high school diplomas.

The Pathways Innovation School serves to compliment The Gateway to College by providing promising opportunities for students who are not considering dropping out of school, but rather seek greater academic challenge. For students on both ends of this spectrum education as it is currently branded may not be a good fit. The Innovation Schools initiative has provided us with a way allocate school funds to its core purpose of providing robust opportunities for promising student outcomes. It is our hope that the program will grow to 120 full time students over a two year period and that its success will be replicated by other community colleges and high schools around the Commonwealth.

Image: Michael Baldassarre

Superintendent: We may need to reinvent or discover a new system

Wed, 27 Oct 2010 10:00:00 +0000

In this report to Minnesota’s Association of School Administrators, the organization’s executive director Charlie Kyte recalls an illustrative comment from a superintendents at a conference.

He said:

The system of K-12 education is not broken. In fact, it is 100 percent successful—doing what it was designed to do. The problem is what we need it to do now is not what it was designed to do. It was designed originally to have a portion of the students be academically ready to go on to college. It was designed to have another portion of the students vocationally ready so they could go out to the skilled job force. And it was designed to hold on to quite a few kids, and even if it didn’t hold on to them they moved into the workforce…

That was the system that we designed for. We’ve been tinkering with it ever sense, trying to make it better and better. But frankly tinkering probably isn’t going to get us to where we want to go in the end. If we want to have a system where literally every student meets their potential, and we have people very well educated ready to go on to the high-skill jobs that our nation needs we may in fact need to reinvent or discover a new system.

That sounds pretty scary, but it’s the reality of what we may need to be thinking about.

Kyte continues on to a very interesting analogy on differentiated staffing from the medical industry. Check it out—particularly the first three minutes—below.

On the Road with Charlie from MASA on Vimeo.

Unions: To be a scapegoat is a choice

Mon, 25 Oct 2010 10:00:00 +0000

An article in the New York Times this past week pushed back against the caricature of AFT President Randi Weingarten by Waiting for Superman.

“Ms. Weingarten happens to be the most visible, powerful leader of unionized teachers,” the article notes, “and in that role she personifies what many reformers see as the chief obstacle to lifting dismal schools: unions that protect incompetent teachers.”

The article argues that she has led her (oft reluctant) members to compromises on issues of seniority and evaluation. “She has acted out of a fear,” it says, “that teachers’ unions could end up on the wrong side of a historic and inevitable wave of change.”

Unions are popularly seen as an obstacle to improvement, protecting weak teachers and preventing the entrance of others with potential through certifications. That may be true, though this is changing.

But the power of the (unreasonable) notion that unions are the principal obstacle distracts from the root problem. We ask: So, what if magically the unions disappeared. Then what? We would still be left with the problem that the schools do not function as well as they need to. The teacher-improvement argument does not address the deeper problem—that schools are in need of a fundamental redesign.

The Times was correct in capturing Weingarten’s sentiment that unions have become a scapegoat and that everyone is piling on. That this an excellent time—both politically and on the merits—for unions to get out from under the pile and push back.

The unions’ message, however, can’t be a call for “more of the same.” A better course would be to demand a level of autonomy and authority at each public school that matches the higher than ever expectations being handed down by policymakers, employers, parents and taxpayers. It’s not quite as simple as changing into tights and a cape in the nearest phone booth.

But this kind of “quid-pro-quo”—trading school-level accountability for teacher-led autonomy—may just be the “win-win” opportunity that serves both the policy and political demands now facing American public education.

For more on the need to redirect the debate now raging about how to seize the opportunity in getting to the “win-win” position public education needs, check out an editorial from last week by Educaton|Evolving's Ted Kolderie on the National Journal online.

Image: Randi Weingarten, from NYT

Guest Post: Imagine a school where all students have individual lesson plans

Fri, 22 Oct 2010 10:00:00 +0000

Editor’s note: Each Friday we feature guest bloggers that are involved in rethinking what is possible with schooling and the education system.

In this guest post Kari Thierer, National Director of School and Network Support for Big Picture Learning, describes how students in Big Picture students have the opportunity to learn through apprenticeship, and mentorship.

About one third of schools in the Big Picture network are created by charter, and the others as district schools. Thierer describes the central importance of autonomy for the school to succeed with its non-traditional model, including authority over setting their schedule and determining how students will demonstrate achievement.

Thierer believes it is important to look at performance assessment based on applied work, because many graduation requirements lack the breadth to show what students are capable of doing.

Big Picture Learning focuses on individual students to develop strong relationships, and utilize these relationships to develop relevant and rigorous learning opportunities for students. We recognize that each student is unique and that they require a customized learning program that fits both their strengths and their gaps.

Systematizing education doesn’t work because students don’t come standardized! We work to provide real-world learning opportunities where students engage in work outside of school, following their interests in hands-on ways with mentors in the community helping guide the learning. We help students learn core content through their passions.

For instance, a student interested in skateboarding (how many of teachers have a student like that?!), might have an internship opportunity with a skateboard manufacturer, or a city engineer working on designing a new skate park, or a skateboard shop owner. Through each of these experiences students delve deep into academic content in a real way—they help design the skate park, and thereby learn some new software, look at angles and how those work in construction, have to consider liability issues and experience levels, etc. At a skateboard shop, they have to see how to run a business—how do you attract customers, how do you take inventory, how do you pay taxes and your employees. Because they are with mentors who share their interests, they are much more engaged, and they have the opportunity to apply what they learn in school in a real-world setting, in a way that benefits the mentor as well.

Many graduation requirements are very outdated and not a true accounting of what a student knows and is able to do—so looking at performance based assessment and proficiency options for graduation requirements allows flexibility for students to demonstrate understanding.

In our schools, students present exhibitions of their learning each quarter. They are held accountable by having to demonstrate the work they’ve been required to do, not just pass a single test. They are also performing real tasks at their internships, where a real-life work place mentor is making sure they are doing their tasks correctly, in addition to being held accountable for the responsibilities of being in the workplace (showing up on time, being professional, appropriate dress and language, etc.).

Each student has an individual learning plan that is established at the beginning of a quarter, and represents the work they are held accountable for. The students then must provide evidence that learning has occurred. This has shown to be a much higher standard than sitting in class and just taking a test. What does a ‘C’ in a class really tell you about what a student knows and is able to do? Not as much as having them demonstrate that they’ve acquired knowledge and to show a portfolio of evidence to their teacher, parent, mentor and peers. It raises the stakes for students and teachers—and makes the learning real.

About one third of our existing network are created as charter schools, and the rest are district schools. Our mission is to change public education. This is done by helping schools and districts convert or open new, innovative schools.

All of our schools are accountable to an outside agency whether it is the district or state. Working within bureaucracy is a talent that should be learned by all students as a way to be successful in life beyond high school! However, flexibility is absolutely key. Allowing schools to create flexible schedules for kids is a key component, as well as allowing flexibility in the ways that students demonstrate mastery.

Image: Kari Thierer

Can Teachers Run Their Own Schools?

Wed, 20 Oct 2010 10:00:00 +0000

In this case study of Avalon School and several other teacher-led schools in the upper Midwest, Claremont University researcher Charles Kerchner found some interesting things: The schools use resources differently than traditional district schools. The teachers, as managers of the school, have constructed a much different method of teaching. And, they slice up authority and responsibility differently–including assigning a good bit of responsibility for learning to the students, themselves.

For more information about Teacher Professional Partnerships check the TPP tag on this blog, or these resources on Education|Evolving’s website.

Here's the case study report:

Image: Charles Kerchner

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Can Teachers Run Their Own Schools?