21st century Social Studies

If you went to bed at a reasonable hour, you might have missed a highlight of the last board meeting: the presentation by the primary and secondary coordinators of the district's Social Studies program.

At both levels, a deliberate effort has been made to incorporate the development of “21st century” skills into the curriculum – with a particular emphasis on globalization. This approach is consistent with that of nations who have successfully improved their educational systems (as I mentioned on December 17th.) The combination of “inquiry-based learning” with a variety of authentic assessment tools is an important part of their strategy.

There is also recognition that technology can be an important tool for developing these skills. The opportunity to do this has been greatly enhanced by Pennsylvania’s “Classrooms for the Future” grant.

One objective of the Social Studies program is that our students should become “discerning consumers of information.”  As “old-timers” may recall, at one time research consisted of “looking it up in the encyclopedia”. Now our students need to make sense of a nearly infinite amount of readily available material.

One challenge facing the program, particularly at the high school, concerns the lack of appropriately-sized spaces. Hopefully, this will be addressed when the high school facilities are upgraded.

Another challenge is the need for opportunities for greater faculty collaboration.

Since collaboration is one of the 21st century skills we want our students to acquire, it is essential that our students see it modeled throughout the school community. So the extent to which our social studies department is doing that - both within, and with other departments, particularly English - is encouraging. But everyone needs to work together (collaborate?) to find ways to make this happen more consistently.

A better way to Achieve

More potentially good news on the policy front…

Governor Rendell's misguided proposal for Graduate Competency Assessments began several years ago with his attendance at an educational conference hosted by Achieve, Inc. It was at this conference that Rendell committed the Commonwealth - without consultation with other educational policy leaders, or the state legislature - to requiring ten subject area exit exams as a condition for a high school diploma.

In the interim, Achieve has thought about this issue a little more deeply. The result is a recently published policy agenda, entitled “Measures that Matter”, which I will summarize here.

In my opinion, Achieve has some good things to say around “aligning high school standards with the demands of college and career”; recommending that colleges and employers be more specific about what students need to know in order to be successful. But I will focus on what the report says about assessments.

For example, the report says that there are “too many tests in high school” that are often disconnected to one another, and seldom of any help to teachers who might want to use them to evaluate student progress or make mid-course corrections. Instead, “tests should be a tool for instructional improvement.”

The report also recognizes that “some essential skills … are difficult to measure via pencil-and-paper tests”. “States should supplement standard tests” with performance assessments for such things as “engaging in teamwork” or performing tasks that involve “extended analysis, research and communication.”

As a result, Achieve now recommends the “adoption of high school assessment systems that rely on a combination of state-wide and local measures” and “do not require students to pass a high-stakes test or tests in order to graduate.”

And finally: “states need a broader vision of accountability, one that empowers educators as much as it holds them accountable. Too often, accountability has been thought of as punitive … instead of a way to target assistance to schools in need, use data more effectively, and reward progress.”

Details on the report can be found at: www.achieve.org/MeasuresthatMatter

It’s exciting to think that we might all begin to push in the same direction.

In the right direction

Not many education policy details came out over the course of the recent election campaign, but I am encouraged by President-elect Obama's obvious commitment to early childhood education, and especially, by the quality of the people who will be advising him. One well-respected education reformer is Linda Darling-Hammond, who chaired the committee that eventually resulted in the selection of Arne Duncan to be the new Secretary of Education.

As it happens, at Monday's board meeting we received copies of an article from the December Phi Delta Kappan, authored by the same Darling-Hammond. It addressed the fact that while the quality of public education in this country has been largely stagnant for the last generation, many other countries have significantly improved. Her article talked about what these countries are doing differently.

An important difference lies is the nature of student assessment: “whereas U. S. tests rely primarily on multiple-choice items that evaluate recall and recognition of discrete facts, most high-achieving countries rely largely on open-ended items that require students to analyze, apply knowledge and write extensively.”

Furthermore: "nations that have steeply improved student learning have focused explicitly on creating curriculum and assessments that focus on the so-called 21st century skills: the abilities to find and organize information to solve problems, frame and conduct investigations, analyze and synthesize data, apply learning to new situations, self-monitor and improve one's own learning and performance, communicate well in multiple forms, work in teams, and learn independently."

I couldn't have said it better myself.

Finally, "these countries do not use their examinations to rank or punish schools" (a primary fault of NCLB) or "deny diplomas to students" (a key aspect of Governor Rendell's GCA proposal). Instead, they use these exams to improve their curriculum.

Clearly, there’s a long way to go, but it’s hard not to be at least a little enthusiastic about the direction we appear to be heading.

Moving towards Common Ground

At the November 19th meeting, the DWMP steering committee saw the initial results of the 2nd Community Dialogue and the accompanying on-line survey. (Details will soon be available: here)

While consensus appears to be emerging around some issues (the K-5 elementary school configuration, and the availability of pre-K education for "all parents who have an interest" were two ideas that have broad support), what I found intriguing were the differences between the opinions of those who participated in the community dialogue, and the 935 citizens (that's a good number) who responded to the on-line questionnaire.

For example, while both groups favored locating the Career and Technical Center on the main high school campus (as it currently is), the level of support for this idea was significantly higher among those who personally attended the dialogue.

One possible explanation for the difference is that we're hearing from two different populations. As one might expect, a greater proportion of educators and parents of school-age children were represented at the dialogue, whereas those who responded on-line better reflected the general population - many of whom lack a direct, personal connection to the schools. (These citizens are sometimes affectionately referred to as "taxpayers.")

Another explanation is that the opportunity to have a conversation with people of differing perspectives informs and impacts one's one opinion, as I mentioned in my last post.

The good news is that we don't need to figure out how to appropriately "weight" these different inputs. In the end, we'll have to find the common ground among all of the community's constituencies.

(As an aside, I wonder if the level of support for pre-K facilities will be as high when the community sees the price tag, but that's a conversation for another day – probably in February.)

90% of Citizenship is "Showing Up"

During Monday's discussion of the District Wide Master Facilities Plan (in particular, the Community Dialogue that was held November 6th), several board members commented on the added value that comes from personally attending the community meetings, as opposed to simply responding to the questions on-line. (Although everyone is certainly encouraged to do that, here: the deadline is 8 a.m., Thursday, Nov.13th.)

I'm also posting this on the PIF blog, because it goes to the heart of the Public Issues Forum philosophy: it is in hearing the perspective of citizens who see the issue differently - and understanding why they see it differently - that is the foundation for finding the common ground on difficult and sometimes contentious community problems.

As was also mentioned during the board discussion, when people sit down and talk face-to-face, and feel that their voice has been heard, they tend to be less defensive of their own position, and therefore, more open-minded.

I have long believed that voting - although clearly important - is only a small part of citizenship. Part of being a citizen is “being there”, interacting with other citizens.

Another Way to Hire the Best

Another outcome of our visit to Park Forest: I’ve become more convinced that the Professional Development School (PDS) partnership that State College has with Penn State may well be the best in the country - and the impact on our students is profound. 

Fourteen out of twenty-two classrooms in Park Forest have PDS interns in the classroom, working with the regular teacher. (Seven of those classrooms are not eligible for the program because the teachers are not yet tenured.) The result – especially after you add in a number of experienced paraprofessionals - is an adult-to-student ratio that is rarely matched in public schools. 

Application to the PDS program is highly competitive, so these college students tend to be enthusiastic and intellectually curious. In addition, interns spend not one (as is typical for traditional internships), or even two semesters in the classroom, but the entire public school year, ending in June. So when we hire a former PDS intern, we are pretty clear about the quality of teacher we are getting. 

Elementary School Citizens

As I wrote last week, I was impressed by a session at the PSBA conference that described one way to give elementary school children a sense of ownership in their education. Those of us who participated in the recent board visit to Park Forest Elementary heard several examples of how citizenship skills and a sense of civic engagement are being developed in our local students.

Project Earth Force is a terrific example of "service learning" at the elementary school level. As in all service learning, the two most important aspects are: 1) student ownership (created initially by having students determine the project), and 2) tying the work to the curriculum.

Some examples of recent Earth Force projects:

•  A project that raised funds to bring one CFL into the home of each elementary student. (For the uninitiated, a CFL is an energy-efficient, compact fluorescent light bulb.)
•  An ongoing composting project
•  Raised gardens tended by the students and their families.

You can find out more about Earth Force, here.

Principal Donnan Stoicovy also gave an example of how elementary schools can begin the process of developing "responsible and involved citizens" – a goal for every State High graduate. Using weighted "five-fingered" voting, the students - K through 5 - selected what they considered the most important school issue.  The result of the students’ deliberation is a new set of lunchroom rules (including, for example: "don't be gross"), which also addressed the students' primary concern about seating policy.

(The principal, of course, had veto power over anything “inappropriate”.)

Culture Shock

Several board members had an opportunity to visit Mt. Nittany Middle School last Monday. We spent part of our time talking to building principal, Jason Perrin – a conversation I always find fascinating and illuminating. When asked what had changed in the seven years he’s been there, one thing he mentioned was that we now consistently get a number of student transfers from outside our area. This can present certain challenges.

In addition to the issue of appropriate academic placement - a seventh grader from another school does not always have the same academic background as a seventh grader in State College – there is also the possibility of gaps in the students “social” experience - particularly if the student comes from an environment that had a different set of behavioral norms.

This difference of experience can result in a bit of culture shock – for the parents, as well as the students. New parents will sometimes ask: where are the metal detectors?  Why is it so quiet in the halls?  Where are the bullies?  It often takes students a few weeks to realize they don’t have to be ready to defend themselves at a moment’s notice.

It is not impossible to create a similar culture at a large urban school, but there is often so much organizational inertia that it requires the presence of a strong no-nonsense leader such as Lorraine Monroe, (former deputy Chancellor of the New York City public school system) who spoke at the PSBA conference last week.

The other way to accomplish this is through conscious and intentional effort, using programs (such as Planet Peace) that specifically address the developmental needs of this age group. This approach reflects the national middle school philosophy, which emphasizes (in addition to a challenging curriculum), comprehensive support services and policies that foster health, wellness and safety.

Hiring the Best

One PSBA session that I did get to attend was a combined presentation of Quaker Valley and Penn Traffic school districts on "Hiring the Best" teachers.

These districts recently implemented a process for hiring teachers that contains the standard "paper" and "personal" phases (resume, references, interview, etc.), with the interview questions constructed around James Strong’s "Six Qualities of Effective Teachers".

What they did differently was to put in place a "performance" component. The performance phase - where the candidate is given a week to prepare a lesson plan around a particular concept and deliver it to a group of students of the appropriate grade level - struck me as an idea that has potential.

An audience member asked how this would work over the summer, when many new teachers are typically hired. The answer was that students are so enthusiastic about being part of the process - their input is highly valued - that finding enough students to fill a demonstration class has never been an issue. There are other schools who have successfully involved students in faculty interviews - the State College Delta program is one - but I was intrigued by the concept of having even elementary students participate.

They did mention one drawback to "hiring the best": the most talented teachers have a tendency to move on to greener pastures. But they decided that having an excellent teacher – if even for only two or three years - is still preferable to hiring a mediocre teacher who stays for thirty.

Their hiring process is combined with an induction period that lasts a full three years, with teacher evaluation and professional development focused on the "qualities" that were the basis for the initial interviews.

The Student Delegate Program

At the fall PSBA conference in Hershey last week, I had the opportunity to assist Lou Ann Evans (a former PSBA president) in a presentation to the student delegates.

The Student Delegate Program has been part of PSBA conference for 30 years, and is, as far as I know, unique. Students choose a "hot topic", examine the issue and propose solutions to a "mock" school board, consisting of school board members, administrators and students in attendance at the conference. During each of five 15-minute presentations, the student presenters respond to questions from the audience and the board, which eventually votes to adopt, reject or table the students' resolution.

Although the delegate program has long been a popular and well-attended part of the conference, until this year there hasn't been a lot in the way of formal training for the students, nor have they had the opportunity to hear the perspective of actual school board members prior to their presentations. We thought that might be useful.

In our thinking, this was an excellent opportunity to encourage the development of civic skills and knowledge among students - long an important goal of education. (In fact, the primary impetus for Ben Franklin's proposal to establish the first public schools in Pennsylvania was "to the end of creating citizens who could make wise political decisions".) What better place to learn the skills for becoming an effective citizen in the larger community?

In addition, there is an increasing body of research that connects academic achievement to the students’ sense of ownership in their school.

An important piece of civic knowledge is understanding who has the authority to make the changes you want to see happen. So, part of our presentation had to do with who school boards are - what kinds of decisions do they make, and how their role differs from that of school administrators. In short, the distinction between "policy" and the implementation of policy.

We then introduced the students to the "26" process - named after the 26th amendment - which they used to develop their resolutions. Once the students identified an issue of concern to them, they brainstormed potential solutions, considering the costs and possible consequences of each. Just as importantly, they tried to identify the key stakeholders, and the concerns they would bring to the issue. (This may sound familiar to veterans of Public Issues Forums.)

Finally, we talked about how to make an effective presentation: the importance of speaking clearly, anticipating questions, and knowing your audience.

While I’m probably not the best person to judge the results, I thought our presentation made a difference. And hopefully, these students will have an opportunity to make use of this experience back in their home schools.

A not-dead horse

You might think that I'm beating a dead horse with yet another posting on the governor's proposed Graduation Competency Assessments. 

The problem is that the horse still isn't dead – in fact, he never stopped running. In spite of severe rebuffs from both houses of the Pennsylvania legislature (22-1 in the House Education committee, 48-2 in the full Senate) and in spite of the language of Act 61 "expressly prohibiting the state Board from further promulgating regulations on the GCA proposal" - as well as a rejection by the state’s Independent Regulatory Review Commission - Education Secretary Gerry Zahorchak immediately issued a letter to school districts declaring that the department would not abandon the GCA plan, and would continue to move forward.

Their stated intention is to begin implementation of the GCAs in the 2009-2010 academic year.

I bring this up in light of two recent news items.

You may have read that a commission of some of the country's most influential college admissions officials is recommending a move away from standardized tests (such as SATs) as the best way to determine a student's ability to succeed in college. Instead, there is a growing emphasis in college admissions on assessments that are more closely tied to high school curriculum and content.

Meanwhile, our next-door neighbor, New Jersey, has joined the list of states to embrace the "21st Century Skills" model for its educational system. New Jersey has become ” acutely aware that the skills needed in the context of the global economy include critical thinking, problem solving, effective communication and proficiency in both core subjects and 21st century skills.”

It seems to me that the horse is running in the wrong direction.

Get in on the ground floor

For the benefit of my handful of readers, and in the spirit of using every available resource, consider this your invitation to attend one of five community meetings, in reference to the District Wide Facilities Master Plan.

This will be an opportunity to learn more about the DWMP process, and to offer your thoughts regarding school facilities, both in your area and district-wide.

Pick a date and location that is convenient for you.

September 23: Houserville Elementary or Park Forest Elementary
September 24: Mt. Nittany Middle School or High School South
September 25: Ferguson Twp. Elementary

All meetings are scheduled from 6:30-8:00 p.m.

Also coming up is the first of three Community Dialogues - the "Futures Conference" - which is scheduled for Tuesday, October 7, from 7-9 p.m. in the Mt. Nittany Middle School cafeteria.

Steering the conversation

Another “duel-hat” post

What strikes me about the process being used to develop the District Wide Master Plan are the similarities to Public Issues Forums. In several respects, the role of the DWMP steering committee corresponds to that of a task force for an issues forum.

The most important thing about putting together a PIF task force is getting all the stakeholders to the table. This accomplishes two things. Because the various stakeholders are likely to have different connections in the larger community, they are individually well-positioned to encourage community participation.

Just as importantly, having the right people at the table helps to ensure that every perspective of the issue is considered. If an issue has been well-framed, acknowledging the consequences and trade-offs associated with each potential course of action, then the public will be able to make informed choices. Deciding what should be done about an issue is not the task force’s responsibility.

Likewise, the steering committee’s role will be primarily two-fold: to encourage community participation, and to provide the tools to help the community make an informed decision; that is, to “steer” the community conversation (or at least help it to stay on track).

At the conclusion of public deliberation at a forum, the moderators – who are often members of the task force – help participants identify areas of common ground, or the lack thereof. The task of the DWMP steering committee will be somewhat different, in that their job will not be complete until that common ground is reached and identified.

Steering the DWMP

Sometimes a motion is so complicated, or contains so many components, that when a board member votes "no", the rationale for that vote is not entirely obvious. So I thought it might be useful to explain why I voted against the motion at the August 25th meeting that established the make-up of the steering committee for the District Wide Master Plan.

Most of the proposed adjustments to the steering committee list passed unanimously, but there were a couple of exceptions. I thought it was a mistake to eliminate the seats for the three building principal representatives (one from each level: elementary, middle school, and high school).  In my view, the experience of principals is unique, in that they understand building issues - including curriculum, staffing and space allocation - from the broader, building-wide perspective; a point-of-view you're not likely to get from anyone else. Principals also receive, as part of their job, a significant amount of community input - they hear both sides of practically everything.

I also think there is value in having a representative from the law enforcement community at the table. Their specialized understanding of safety and security issues would, I believe, greatly inform the community's conversation.

Those two issues were the basis of my "no" vote.

It’s not about the money

Perhaps the last in a series on national education policy.

I have long been of the opinion that when it comes to teacher compensation, for the most part, it’s not really about the money - although compensating those willing to work in particularly challenging circumstances seems like a good investment.

What we pay our teachers, however, is not unimportant - teachers ought to make enough money to live comfortably and have status in the community in which they teach. But the cliché is true: few educators go into the field because it’s a steady job, or because they get the “summers off”. So we ought to be skeptical of the idea that financial rewards for teachers who produce higher test scores are going to accomplish as much as one might hope

Having said that, I’m not opposed to rewarding good teachers for results: perhaps “master teacher” status – and, along with some additional responsibilities for mentoring younger teachers, etc., an appropriate increase in compensation

The big question is: how do we measure those results?  If we base teacher incentives strictly on standardized test scores, then what we’ll get are better scores, but not necessarily better students.

The other point: if we are going to start rewarding teachers for performance – or penalize them for the lack thereof – then teachers ought to have a central role in deciding what criteria we’re going to use to measure their effectiveness. If we’re not going to give teachers at least that much respect, our efforts will be doomed from the start.

Teach for America

I lifted the following, almost in its entirety, from the July issue of Atlantic Monthly, because of its relevance to current proposals regarding national education policy.

Critics of the Teach for America program, which recruits top college graduates to teach in poorly performing public schools, have long questioned whether the program’s instructors are properly prepared, citing evidence that links teacher effectiveness to experience. However, the first study to examine Teach for America at the secondary-school level, recently released by the Urban Institute, finds that its teachers are in fact more effective than those with traditional training—at all levels of experience.

The study measured performance on state exams and found that students of Teach for America instructors did significantly better in all subject areas tested, and especially in math and science. The authors found that even though the program’s teachers are assigned to “the most demanding classrooms,” they’re able to compensate for their lack of experience with better academic preparation and motivation. As a result, the authors say, students are better off with Teach for America instructors “than with fully licensed in-field teachers with three or more years of experience.”

-“Making a Difference?: The Effects of Teach for America in High School,” by Zeyu Xu, Jane Hannaway, and Colin Taylor, the Urban Institute and the National Center for Analysis of Longitudinal Data in Education Research.

Sustainability and Integrative Design

It was clear from the resulting conversations that a lot of enthusiasm was generated by last Thursday's presentation to the board by John Boecker on "sustainable and high performance” school design. The timing could not be better as the District prepares to embark on a comprehensive master facilities plan.

Much of what follows is the result of Jim Pawelczyk's effort to capture the key concepts. So, my thanks to Jim for his co-authorship; perhaps this is precedent setting.

First, even a good idea needs to be well-executed. According to Mr. Boecker, there are three essential conditions to making this work:
1)      A commitment from the entire district (including staff, parents and students)
2)      A team of professionals experienced in sustainable design
3)      The practice of “integrative design” in our building and renovation projects

That last point deserves explanation.  Integrative design looks at the interaction between all systems at the outset.  For example, if spending additional money for windows with a high insulating value means that the entire heating system can be made smaller, we can achieve cost savings in the overall project - while lowering future energy consumption.  Even the choice of paint color is important. (Using paint with high reflectivity means fewer lights are required, at less cost, etc.)

A "green-roof" may cost more to install initially - but maybe not, if it reduces what has to be spent on the storm water drainage system.

In addition to cost, and the impact on the environment, the third part of Boecker's "values triangle" is the effect that design has on people - the teachers and students who will occupy the building. (The reason we're doing this in the first place!)  For example, orientating the school building along an east-west axis in order to maximize "day-lighting" not only reduces energy consumption (and cost), natural light improves the learning environment when done correctly.

An important side benefit is that this integrative approach to design is an excellent model for our students of "21st century skills". 

Jim- what did I miss?

A good neighbor policy

Monday night's discussion concerning a request to waive the District's facilities' use policy – in order to allow a community activity to continue beyond the policy’s 11 p m. deadline - was a great illustration of the type of issue that school boards often face.

There appeared to be recognition by board members that a proposal for an all-night event from a group of local youth church organizations would be consistent with the district's desire to be part of the community, and the importance of supporting worthwhile activities for our community's younger members.

So the issue for the board was not, "is what they're proposing a good idea?" - it was balancing this "good idea" against longer-term implications. For example, would granting this waiver set a precedent that would be hard to live with down the road? We don't want to place ourselves in the position where the board regularly has to rule on requests to waive policy.

The discussion, appropriately, included an examination of the history of the current policy; in particular, the reason it was adopted in the first place. A large part of that reason had to do with disruptions that all-night events tended to bring to the local neighborhood - noise and traffic, especially. Not being disruptive is clearly a part of being a good neighbor.

Most of the issues that drove the adoption of the present policy appeared to be addressed in the proposal, although there was some concern about the potential impact of a midnight concert. (Personally, I think that somewhat goes with living in a college town, but I know a lot of people would disagree with me on that point.)

Finally, one board member noted that if granting this waiver opens the door to a lot of similar requests, this suggests a need to modify the policy, so that this type of request would be covered. It's too soon to know how difficult that would be to do, but in the long term, that seems like the right direction to go.

Know thyself?

The second in a series on last April's public issues forum: "What is the 21st Century Mission for our Public Schools?"

I was struck by a participant's observation concerning the number of people who appear to be unhappy in their jobs, in spite of the 12-16 years - or more - of education that they had invested in preparation.  She also noted that when people are unhappy, they tend to be not very good at at what they do - with the obvious implications for society at large. This suggested to her that "knowing oneself" - what you're good at, what you like to do - is an important, but overlooked part of being prepared to enter the workforce.

Another comment referenced the pre-forum article in the CDT in which Bill Gates claimed that even schools that are relatively well-functioning "are not designed to prepare people to go out in the workforce now."  This raised the question: what does he mean by that? - and how have the set of skills that make for an effective employee changed in the thirty years since the industrial model dominated the economy?

School choice

(Another in a series of comments on national education policy)

The current political campaign has again brought the issue of school choice into the public conversation.

If a school is not effectively educating its students, it seems both reasonable and fair to give parents the option and financial resources to send their children someplace better.

But it seems to me that there’s a problem with the underlying assumption of the school choice argument.  If a particular school is inadequate - and unquestionably, some are, for a list of reasons - wouldn't every parent choose to send their children somewhere else? Are "school choice" proponents suggesting that we build the capacity that would allow every student to opt out of the public school?  If not, who would be left behind?

For example, one current proposal would use public funds to give private school vouchers to low-income families. I would be all for that - as long as there's enough public money for everyone. And it begs the question: what might be the result of investing that much money in the public system?

(It should be noted that if money really didn’t matter, as some pundits insist, per pupil expenditures in the wealthy suburbs of Philadelphia wouldn’t be nearly so high. These taxpayers – the majority of whom one would expect to be fiscally conservative – would not be supportive of high property taxes unless they thought they were getting a good return on their investment.) Perhaps money isn’t the solution, but it’s certainly part of the solution.

It should also be noted that for practical purposes, the rhetoric of school choice applies only to urban communities. If State College failed to make AYP, and its students suddenly had the legal option to go to another school, where, exactly, would they go?  How would they get there? And here’s the ‘secret’ nearly everyone fails to mention: the receiving school is under no obligation to take students from the under-performing school.

I’m sure that some of the proponents of school choice are well-meaning, but as current proposals are structured, it’s hard for me to see them as anything but a sham.

What am I missing?

Looking back - and forward

As the new co-chair of Public Issues Forums of Centre County, I inherited the responsibility for maintaining the PIF blog on the Centre Daily Times web site. Generally, I'll try to keep my blogging hats separate, but since the topic of today's post is clearly educational in nature, I thought it would be appropriate to post here, as well.

So, I'm 'double-posting'.  My apologies if that's a violation of protocol.

I recently had a chance to look at the videotape from last April's public issues forum: "What is the 21st Century Mission for our Public Schools?" The first approach addressed by the group suggested that the primary mission was "to prepare students to be successful in the workplace."

Although the majority of group members consisted of high school and college students, it was two of the 'parents' who opened the discussion by expressing the concern that our educational system is still preparing students for a single-career employment model that has already become obsolete.

Do today's graduates have the skills that will enable them to transition into a completely different career when they're 40?

Will they have the ability to learn what they need to know on their own?

Are they being prepared for an era when "life-long learning" is not just a nice aspiration, but a necessity?

These forums often raise more questions than answers; and these questions were a good way to begin the dialogue.

Defining “highly qualified”

When you ask Americans to describe the qualities of a good teacher, what you'll hear tends to be pretty consistent:  good teachers engage their students; they respect and relate to their students personally; they find creative ways to make course material relevant; and they hold their students to high standards - while conveying a faith in their students' ability that justifies those high standards. The idea that a good teacher should "know the material" is just assumed.

But under NCLB, a "highly qualified teacher" is primarily one who has demonstrated that he or she "knows stuff" - enough stuff to pass their own standardized test in the relevant subject area. 

While "knowing stuff" will always be important - you can't teach Chemistry unless you understand it - this "highly qualified” designation unfortunately says nothing about the aforementioned characteristics of good teaching; nothing about the ability to teach. This is particularly true at the secondary level, where for many years the emphasis has been on content knowledge.

This is what concerns me about a current proposal to increase support for alternative-certification for teachers, particularly since it’s based on the premise that a “Nobel laureate might not be qualified to teach in a public school today.”  Well, let’s consider the possibility that our hypothetical Nobel laureate isn’t qualified to teach.  Has not nearly every college student had the experience of sitting in a lecture hall listening to an obviously brilliant professor – who nevertheless bored them to tears?

It’s one thing to be in favor of having “highly qualified” teachers for every student.  It’s another thing to define that in a meaningful way.

Chalk it up to Luddism?

The International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) recently issued a new set of technology standards for teachers.

The first set of standards, issued in 2000, focused primarily on technology skills - proficiencies in PowerPoint, Word and email; knowing how to “cut and paste”, that sort of thing - as well as the use of technology to collect and analyze data.

The new standards stress the importance of how teachers can use technology to “promote the ability of students to learn effectively in an increasingly digital world”.

As one example, the four performance indicators for “inspiring learning and creativity” are:
1)    Promote, support and model creative and innovative thinking;
2)    Engage students in exploring real-world issues and solving authentic problems;
3)    Promote student reflection using collaborative tools; and
4)    Model collaborative knowledge acquisition by engaging in learning with students.

Most readers will recognize similarities to the “21st century skills” model.

For each of these indicators, the document describes what meeting the standard would look like at four levels of competency: beginning, developing, proficient and transformative. While this terminology sounds similar to the PSSAs, this strikes me as a more sophisticated and potentially useful model for measuring student learning.

By the way, all of this makes me wonder: in this day of digital projectors and electronic whiteboards (not to mention 30-year-old overhead projectors) why are some teachers – and many university professors - are still using chalk on a chalkboard?  Just asking..

Legislative Postscript

In the category of giving credit where credit is due, Governor Rendell should be applauded for his vetoes of SB 1247 and HB 1438, legislation that would have restricted the authority of school districts to appeal real estate assessments.

In his veto statement, the governor correctly noted that when some properties are "under-assessed" that only serves to raise the taxes on everyone else. (File that under "there is no such thing as a free lunch.")

The real solution, of course – also duly noted by the governor - would be to pass legislation that would mandate regular county-wide assessments, perhaps once every ten years.  That would eliminate the inequity that builds up in the system when assessments are not performed for decades on end.

Curriculum and 21st century skills

I was personally thrilled by Monday's board work session on curriculum development with Jay McTighe, who has worked with State College for a number of years.

I have long believed that the district was ahead of the curve with its list of "characteristics of a State High graduate" that so closely parallels the 21st century skills that are such a large part of the national education conversation.

While this list has informed the work of the district’s faculty for over a decade, Mr. McTighe challenged the district to be more intentional, and explicit, in tying these characteristics to our curriculum, and finding ways to measure whether we have succeeded. While some of the things on this list are easier to measure than others, just asking the question (to give one example) “what does ‘a responsible steward of the environment’ look like?” is a good place to start.

From the conversations I heard, there is a general recognition that by focusing on these “higher order” skills, we will continue to be successful on standardized test scores (as we heard about later in the meeting.) That vision appears to be shared around the table.

FYI, the list:
• a responsible and involved citizen
• a clear and effective communicator
• a competent problem solver who thinks critically and creatively
• a productive individual who works independently and collaboratively
• one who demonstrates respects for self and others in an increasingly diverse society
• a user of evolving technologies
• a knowledgeable practitioner of wellness behaviors
• an informed consumer and effective manager of personal and family resources
• a responsible steward of the environment
• a participant in the arts

School climate

"School climate" was the subject of Jonathan Cohen's keynote address at July's PSBA educational symposium in Gettysburg.

Defined most broadly, school climate refers to the environment that makes possible, enhances, or hinders learning by students. At the physical level, this is about proper lighting, adequate air ventilation and classroom acoustics, in addition to safety.

But typically, it refers to social and emotional safety, the result of a complex interaction of the school's rules, norms and values; teaching practices; and the quality of interpersonal relationships with teachers and peers. 

Does everyone is the school - students, teachers and administrators - feel a responsibility to contribute to the physical, social and educational environment of the school?  Does everyone have the opportunity to do so?  Does everyone feel respected and valued?

The greatest barrier to learning is fear - when your brain is in a state of fear, new, complex learning is next to impossible. The degree to which students (and teachers, for that matter) feel "safe" is a critical component of the learning environment.

An illustration to which I expect most readers can relate: does every student feel emotionally safe enough to raise one's hand to say "I don't understand; could you explain that again?"  What can teachers do to create that environment?  (An idea to consider: what if teachers had their students practice saying those words?  Once a day - or as necessary - have each student in the class raise his or her hand and say, "I don't understand” – or some variation - until it begins to feel normal for every student. Just a thought.)

Recent research on school climate has established the connection between positive school climate and academic achievement, as well as teacher retention.

Obviously, measuring school climate is not a simple as a PSSA score, but the significance of its impact on how well students learn makes a compelling case for developing a mechanism that tells school officials and the public how well they're doing.

Legislative update, part 2

The other significant issue addressed last week was, of course, the governor's proposal for state-wide Graduation Competency Assessments.  The good news is that the GCA initiative has been postponed for a year, but like Jason from "Friday the 13th", I'm certain that we've not seen the end of it.

Over the last few weeks, the House Education Committee voted 22-1 to send a letter to the State Board of Education asking them to "re-evaluate" their proposal; the Senate Education Committee voted 11-1 to prevent the State Board from adopting the proposal without authorization of the General Assembly.; and the full Senate passed that bill by a vote of 48-2.  48-2!  The governor, however, does not appear discouraged.

But what got my attention was how the story was covered in the press. According to the AP, opponents of the proposal are primarily concerned with the loss of "local policy making authority."

Frankly, this is typical (lazy?) reporting that frames every political issue as a turf war. Personally, I could care less about the loss of local authority - if I thought that the state had come up with a good idea to improve education, I would be all for it.

So here's the heart of the argument: it seems to me that if you are going to put this much weight on a high-stakes test, you would want to make sure that the test actually measures what it's supposed to - but there is absolutely no evidence that a standardized, fill-in-the-bubble test is a reliable and accurate measurement of whether an individual student has learned - and is able to apply - the material that is being tested.

And - this really disturbs me - there has been no public discussion over what that material should be!  How was it decided that every high school student needs to know algebra, but not statistics; geometry, but not probability; chemistry, but not astronomy? 

Here's a radical, but perhaps more honest idea. When I picture the set of skills that every high school student ought to have, what I see actually lines up pretty well with our 8th grade curriculum. (When business leaders talk about the lack of "basic skills", this is what they're actually talking about.) If the state wants to implement an assessment of these skills, as an addition to local high school graduation requirements, I'm all for it.

Here's something else the state board could do: take a good look at schools that are successful, and give some thought as to how what they do could be replicated state-wide.

Legislative update

The fact that the state budget (almost) passed on time last week is unfortunately noteworthy. But this budget represents a significant step towards state-wide educational equity, so one ought not to complain.

The legislature did well by expanding the governor's proposed minimum increase (for "wealthier" districts) of 1.5%, since local school districts, including State College, had already built the standard 2% increase into their budgets.

However, by raising the minimum to 3% (resulting in a "windfall" for State College of about $90,000) it seems to me that they missed the point - which was, after all, to begin to address the issue of how widely financial resources vary for schools across the state.

What the state giveth, however, the state also taketh away. The smaller increase in special education funding (from 3.1% to 1.7%) will cost State College about $98,000 - but since we only budgeted for 2%, the actual shortfall is about $11,000. (Note: according to PDE, that number is actually $28,000. And - the state increased it's reimbursement for charter school costs from 25% of costs to 28%. This will result in a $174,000 increase for State College, due to our high charter school expenses.)

Also, funding for the governor's Classrooms of the Future grant was cut in half.  It's too soon to know whether that will affect the next phase of State College's laptop initiative. 

Classrooms for the Future

State College was in the right place at the right time to take advantage of the governor's "Classrooms for the Future" grant that supplied 569 laptops to the classrooms of 46 English and Social Studies teachers at the high school this past school year. Hopefully, the next year will see the initiative extended into math and science classrooms, as well.

At Monday night's presentation to the board, both students and teachers spoke to the value of collaborative tools such as Google.docs, and the impact on writing skills. It used to be that one or two edits of a writing assignment were about the limit of what teachers could expect. Technology, however, has created an "anytime" paradigm, with the result that student collaboration and multiple drafts have become the norm, and students can add to their learning by editing one another's work. (A lot of teachers are also discovering that student blogs are an excellent way to encourage writing.)

Discussions that in the past would have occurred only in the classroom – where often, only about a third of the class participates consistently - can now also occur on-line, where participation often reaches 90%. 

Access to technology is also expanding the definition of "literacy": to be literate in today's society means being able to "read" a movie or a website, as well as the newspaper. (What's that?)

A terrific example of a service learning project that was enhanced by access to technology was Deb Poveromo’s "Local Sites of Memory" assignment, for which her students researched a local historical site to learn its significance - as well as determine the extent to which the "story" is accurate. As the students described it, technology greatly enhances the ease and potential depth of their research.

Another example of technology’s impact on research was a project that asked students to examine African history from the African perspective (rather than from the European point-of-view, as it’s traditionally taught.) In the past, such an assignment would have been extraordinarily time-consuming.

As you well know from experience, such assignments typically conclude with a "report" that makes use of the traditional communication skills of writing (and occasionally, speaking) - but students are beginning to ask themselves: "what is the most effective way to communicate my message?" The answer often involves the creative use of iMovie, Powerpoint and music. In the process, we incorporate another important 21st century emphasis: the integration of the arts into the curriculum - while we demonstrate the principal that there are multiple ways for students to exhibit their learning.

With tight schedules and departments stretched across two buildings, opportunities for collaboration are often hard to come by, so the professional development that was provided as part of this initiative was essential. Particularly noteworthy was the enthusiasm that was generated among the faculty by the opportunities that technology provides for collaboration both within and across departments.

GCAs, again

Of the several interesting topics discussed at Monday's board meeting, the most urgent dealt, once again, with the governor's proposal for new state-wide Graduation Competency Assessments (read: exams).

The public comment period to the State Board of Education runs until June 16th. (Comments should be sent to: Jim Buckheit, at: jbuckheit@state.pa - you are welcome to borrow from my comments, here.)

That, however, has become almost irrelevant.  Since the state Board of Education appears to be firmly committed to approving the GCA proposal beginning with the fiscal year that starts in July, (the money for it is already in the governor's budget), it is actually more important that citizens contact their state representatives as soon as possible concerning recently introduced legislation that would give the Legislature the sole right to impose the new graduation requirements.

Yesterday, the Senate Education Committee voted 11-1 to approve this legislation, sponsored by Sen. James Rhoades. The full Senate could vote on the bill as early as Wednesday.  Similar legislation is also under consideration in the House Education Committee, on which local representative Scott Conklin sits.

Astonishingly, the chairman of the State Board has taken offense to the proposed legislation, "it's unfortunate they are doing this rather than continuing to engage in the debate."

Can you say "chutzpah?"

Teacher of the Year

A recent American School Board Journal interview with national Teacher of the Year, Mike Geisen, reinforced what are becoming some familiar arguments regarding the limited value of standardized testing and the impact the "standards movement" is having on the development of 21st century skills.

A seventh-grade science teacher in Oregon, Geisen began the interview talking about the importance of relationships; that in order to create a quality atmosphere for learning, students need to feel that they “belong” in the classroom, regardless of their natural aptitude for science - and they need to see science as fun.

He went on to claim that the typical approach to science education – with its emphasis on the logical and the analytical - is like “forced right-handedness”. Not all of his kids come to him with mathematical inclinations; some students seem to have brains better wired for creativity. (Personally, I think every student is potentially both “left” and “right”-brained, and that we need to do a better job of developing and integrating the two approaches.)

Explaining why art and creativity have such a prominent place in his classroom - he regularly plays his guitar - he said students need to understand that the most influential scientists and inventors have (also) been right-brained.

Speaking specifically about his role as a science educator, he said "we've got to educate people to be whole-minded thinkers" - as opposed to Jeopardy contestants (not that there's anything wrong with that).

He also talked about how we tend to define achievement too narrowly, constrained, in part, by the tools we have to measure it. Standardized testing is effective at measuring skills - knowledge, primarily - that were important in the 20th century, whereas the critical skills for the 21st century will include innovation, empathy and synthesis. (Empathy - the ability to see things from another person's point of view - is becoming a recurring "21st century" theme.)

Echoing the argument of Daniel Pink, Geisen noted that these are the skills "that are not going to be replaced by a machine overseas." And as Tom Freidman would say, the United States is in prime position to capitalize – if we don’t get carried away by the current craze for testing.

GCAs and “basic skills”

The two hot topics of the recent PSBA legislative conference were, of course, the GCAs, as well as the governor's proposal to overhaul the state funding formula for school districts. The speaker at one session was Dave Broderic, assistant to Senator James Rhoades (probably the strongest advocate for public education that we have in Harrisburg.)

Mr. Broderic was quite eloquent in his comments concerning the GCAs, which the senator opposes, and then quite incoherent on the proposed funding formula, which the senator also opposes, being a Republican.

But be that as it may, he caught my ear when he mentioned that part of the justification for the GCAs are comments of business leaders who claim that high school graduates lack "basic skills". Afterwards, I asked him what they mean by that. What are the basic skills that high school graduates appear to lack? (He told me he rarely got an adequate answer to that question.)

It was in this context that I read a recent Newsweek article on the lack of financial literacy, even among the highly educated. They gave this example: you have $200 in an investment earning 10 percent per year, compounded annually. How much would you have at the end of two years? (Answer below!) Only 18% of adults were able to answer correctly.

And so it struck me: This is what business leaders are referring to when they complain about the lack of basic math skills – along with the inability to balance a checkbook, read a profit/loss statement, or understand the terms of a credit card or mortgage.

Allow me to point out the obvious: none of this will be solved by requiring every student to take algebra II. As Newsweek noted, somewhat sarcastically, “some principals resist adding personal finance instruction to schedules already crowded with really useful classes, like trigonometry.”

What I find so disturbing in this rush to “add rigor” to the high school curriculum is that there has been no discussion about which specific skills and knowledge high school graduates actually need for them to be successful.  (To which I would include a basic understanding of statistics - how many adults understand the meaning of “+/- 3 percentage points”?  I would guess less than 18 %.)

(By the way, the answer to the question is $242.)

Rule Change Assignment

Last week I was privileged to receive an invitation from one of Kathy Yingling's 11th grade English students to hear a presentation on a proposal to allow junior and senior students to go off-campus for lunch.

In fact, I was the target audience.

The concept of the “Rule Change Assignment” was to have each group of students pick a rule they would like to see changed, do the appropriate research, arrive at a solution, and then present their proposal to someone with the authority to do something about it.

One group suggested having more cafeteria registers open for students getting breakfast in the morning, in order to avoid students having to choose between eating or being late for class. This was presented to the food service coordinator, and will, in fact, be implemented next year.

Other presentations were made to building administrators, and even the superintendent, involving rules about hats, cell phones, and parking.

Not only is this another good example of service learning – embedding curricular content within a project initiated and “owned” by the students, with implications for the wider community – it was an outstanding example of how to teach practical civic skills.

In my mind, civics education is not just about understanding “the three branches of government” (although that’s good to know), it’s about having the skills and knowledge to bring about positive change in your community, however that’s defined. (As I have argued previously, the school community is a logical place for students to become civically-engaged.)

Some of the civics issues that we discussed: What is the history of the current policy?  Why was it implemented?  Have conditions changed since its initial implementation?

Where is the policy; that is, is this a school policy, within the discretion of the principal, or is a district policy, which would require action from the school board?

The students had done a pretty good job of reaching out to the various “stakeholders”. Not only had they discussed this with the principal, they talked to business owners who might be affected. They had also given some thought to issues of liability, how infractions might be handled, and what parents would think of it.

Importantly, they framed their proposal as a solution to a problem that is of interest of the entire school: over-crowding in the cafeteria.

We also discussed who else they might want to try to bring on board, and how the involvement of student government might give their idea more weight. And finally: change seldom comes easily or quickly. Did they have the persistence to see it through, even if it would be their younger brothers and sisters who reap the benefit? 

Young Scholars/ world language instruction

One of the last sessions I attended at the NSBA conference addressed the issue of developing “global competency” from a somewhat different perspective. This presentation spoke primarily to the value of teacher exchange programs – both from exposing our students to teachers from other countries, as well as giving American teachers the experience of study abroad.

But the speaker really got my attention when he began by saying, “the traditional high school foreign language program is a failure.”

My response was to cry “uncle”. This was about the sixth person at the conference to emphasize the importance of foreign language instruction at the elementary level – something our own students have told us they support. And so I have come to the conclusion that the question is no longer whether this should be done, but how.

And you have to admit he has a point. How many of us took four years of foreign language in high school – primarily because college applications required it - and it’s now almost a point of pride that “we can’t remember a word of it.” 

If foreign language study doesn’t result in fluency, what exactly is the point?


Which brings me to today’s board visit to the Young Scholars charter school.

When the Pennsylvania charter school legislation was first passed, the concept was that this would provide an alternative to the “regular” school system, where these new schools – funded by, and still part of, the public system - would have the freedom to try different approaches to education. The expectation was that if these experiments worked, some of those ideas might be incorporated into the larger system.

It has not often worked out that way. In practice, the state provides very little oversight, and there is almost no insistence that these schools do anything differently from what the public school is already doing.

Young Scholars is clearly an exception. We had the opportunity to speak with a half-dozen articulate fifth and sixth graders, who told us what the liked - and didn’t (“not enough time for lunch”) about their school.

High on the list of what they appreciated was the opportunity to learn two additional languages – Spanish and Chinese. By second grade, each student receives 45 minutes of daily instruction in each. (Part of how this is accomplished within a very full curriculum is by teaching art in a foreign language.)

The school board has been sufficiently impressed by the success of Young Scholars that they were approved to expand into the seventh and eighth grades.

Civic Engagement through Service Learning

An important aspect of the presentation at NSBA by the NCLC (the National Center for Learning and Citizenship) concerned how service learning projects could be used to enhance civic engagement.

One of the recurring themes of the conference was the growing public recognition that the teaching of citizenship skills is central to the mission of public schools. In recent surveys, “citizenship” ranked behind only basic academic and critical-thinking skills in relative importance, and about even in importance with employment preparation. 

From the recently published, “Still at Risk” (the sequel to “Nation at Risk”): “the first mission of public schooling in a democratic nation is to equip every young person for the responsibilities and privileges of citizenship.”  And from Sandra Day O’Connor: “As civic learning has been pushed aside, society has neglected a fundamental purpose of American education, putting the health of our democracy at risk”.

There is a lot of evidence to suggest that the generation currently in school is more distrusting of the political system, and has little knowledge of civic and political affairs.

Here are some relevant findings from the NCLC’s research on the effects of service learning projects:

• Service based learning develops a connection between students, community and schools.
• Students reported feeling that they had an impact on their community.
• There was an increased sense of personal and social responsibility.
• The largest increases in student engagement were found in “at risk” students.

There were also some results relating to academics:

• Improvement in language arts, social studies and writing.
• Positive trends in standardized testing.
• Students were more cognitively engaged.
• Higher scores on attitude toward school.

And finally, relating specifically to civics:

• Students were more likely to indicate an intention to vote.
• Students acquired more civic knowledge (the understanding of what it takes to make a difference).

One point that was emphasized and re-emphasized: the quality of the project is critical. A project that is seen as “busywork” or lacks student ownership may actually have negative effects on student engagement and academics. This is the one of the risks inherent in community service projects that are not directly connected to instructional goals.

Creativity and Innovation in the Workplace

Two sessions I attended towards the end of the NSBA conference dealt with the importance of creativity and innovation in the 21st century workplace, and the implications this has for education.

In just a couple of centuries, we have moved from an agrarian economy, through the industrial to the information age, and now we’re beginning to transition into what Daniel Pink calls the "imagination" economy. That is, the "value added" of the best jobs will not be in “what one knows”, but in how one uses that knowledge in creative ways to solve problems.

As Einstein said, "imagination is more important than knowledge."

In the "World is Flat", Tom Freidman noted that we still possess a competitive advantage in our ability "to integrate art, music and literature with the hard sciences." Even China – a key driver in the changing world economy - has acknowledged that "it is an economic imperative to teach our next generation to think creatively and be more innovative."

In its research, 21st Century Skills.org discovered that business executives consider creativity an essential skill for the next generation workforce - comparable to critical-thinking skills. (As an aside, these executives also believe that the greatest impediment to creativity is office politics. I suspect this says something about the importance of organizational culture.)

Pink told the following anecdote: years ago, a typical parental admonishment might have gone something like: "get your law degree, so you'll have something to fall back on". This was pretty good advice at the time, but Pink suggested it might not be as true for the generation entering the modern economy. Consider how much medical and legal work has become routine, and can be done ourselves or outsourced (examples: drawing up a standard will, analyzing an x-ray, etc.) Consider how much medical - and now, legal - information is accessible on-line, mitigating the need to call a doctor or lawyer.

Said another way, analytical intelligence (the subject of most standardized testing), while still important, is no longer enough to guarantee a successful career. Just as the last generation witnessed the demise of routine "blue-collar" work, the next generation will likely see the loss of a significant number of routine white-collar jobs.

A major implication for how education is "delivered" is that the role of the educator will continue to evolve from lecturer (the imparter of knowledge) to that of team coach, facilitator and mentor. 

But one of his most powerful and important ideas was that – contrary to popular assumption - creativity can be learned, and that this often happens incrementally. An example of the value of incremental creativity is the fact that few patents are given for revolutionary “new” ideas; most patents are currently issued for modest – incremental - improvements.

In the future, "successful intelligence" will involve the interaction of the practical, the analytical, and the creative.

Service Learning

Back again to the NSBA conference.

The most important thing to understand about service learning is how it is distinct, conceptually, from community service.

Community service is certainly worthwhile and has been part of the State College graduation requirement for a number of years. It connects students to the community by giving them a sense of the community’s needs, and how students can contribute as citizens.

What community service often lacks is a direct connection to classroom instruction.

By comparison, a service learning project should be fully integrated with the academic curriculum and have clearly identified learning objectives. 

A good service learning project begins with the students. The students identify the need, research the problem, agree on a course of action, and implement the solution, exercising and reinforcing skills learned in the classroom. Finally, students should have an opportunity to reflect on what they have learned.

We are fortunate that State College has received national attention for a couple of excellent examples of service learning: Kathy Yingling’s Stepping Stone project (see blog post from Oct 23rd), and Paul Heasley’s agriculture class that converted used cooking oil into biodiesel fuel.

Service learning is a terrific vehicle for teaching a number of “21st century skills”, such as collaboration; students are more engaged because the project is initiated by them; and it connects directly to brain research that states new learning must be acted upon in order to be permanently established.

"This Feels Weird"

I was drawn to Laura Vernikoff’s presentation at the PDS conference, "’This Feels Weird’ - Talking About Race and Other Differences in a High School English Classroom” for two reasons: because of the impact we know that school climate has on the quality of the learning environment, and for the implications I saw for the issue of “global competence”.  (How can students develop the ability to work "cross-culturally" on a global basis, if they haven't learned to interact with the people in their own high school?)

It also seemed particularly relevant in light of the current controversy over the comments regarding race by Reverend Wright and Senator Obama.

In one assignment, Laura asked her students to draw a “social map” of the high school – what groups of students tended to hang out together? As you would expect, the students identified the usual subgroups: the “jocks” and the artsy types, but also groups based on ethnicity: African-Americans, Koreans, etc.

What this exercise brought up in many of her students was the unspoken fear that by consciously acknowledging (writing down) what everyone saw, but wouldn’t say - that students tended to self-segregate along several criteria, including race - that this act of acknowledgement made them racist. Thus, a typical comment: "this feels weird". 

It’s the learning to talk about the weirdness that I think has the greatest potential value. It seems to me that part of the responsibility of public education in producing competent citizens is in giving them the skills to have these conversations.

She also talked about the popular misconception that "minority" students receive most of the benefit from “minority” studies - which, of course, missing the point completely. We do a disservice to all our students – particularly in this “global age” - if we fail to expand their horizons beyond their own cultural experience. As she said, “one of the purposes of a multicultural education is for students to use other ways of thinking, not just talk about them.”

21st century skills: Global competence

Another in the series of NSBA conference sessions relating to "21st century skills" spoke to the issue of global awareness. "Global competence" was defined as including the following: 1) knowledge of international issues; 2) the ability to work in other cultural environments; and 3) language skills other than English.

What makes global competence important is the significant share of future economic growth that will come from overseas markets, and the fact that 20% of future jobs will be tied to international trade. In addition, most of the big issues that will demand the next generation's attention have obvious global implications; solutions will require global knowledge and the ability to work cross-culturally.

So how do we go about teaching global competence? Typically, the most efficient way to help students develop these skills will be to imbed it in the curriculum that is already there. The access to global resources that technology has made possible obviously makes that another important component.

Consider the implications for world language instruction, not only of online courses - not many schools can afford to hire a Mandarin language instructor - but also of classroom-to-classroom video conferencing with sister schools in other countries. As we heard numerous times throughout the conference, we'll need to find ways to implement foreign language instruction in the elementary grades.

(Here’s a modest, but interesting idea that came out of the Teacher Inquiry Conference. Kyle Bentley used the time of the “daily opening” to teach his 2nd graders one word of Spanish per week. While that’s obviously not enough to develop fluency, it does expose the students to another language while it begins to lay a foundation for future study, without cutting into curricular time.)

Clearly, global skills would become an increasingly important component of professional development and a potential criteria in faculty hiring decisions.

Another useful free resource developed by Apple: the Learning Interchange (ali.apple.com). "Ali" is a social network for K-12 educators that has content ranging from lesson ideas to in-depth curriculum units.

Professional Development School

What I consider to be an extraordinary annual event occurred last Saturday morning at the Park Forest Elementary School in State College: the 10th annual Teacher Inquiry Conference. This is the culminating event of the Professional Development School - a joint venture of the State College Area School District and the College of Education at Penn State - which places about 70 teacher interns in State College classrooms for an entire school year.

As part of their internship, each student addresses an "inquiry" around an educational issue of personal interest, and then reports on the results.

Deciding on which five out of seventy sessions to attend is challenging, but I began with Morgan Bracken's "Student-Led Class Meetings: Passing the Power to the 1st Graders". I was interested in the implications for integrating 21st century skills - such as communication, leadership and collaboration - into the classroom experience of even young students.

When her students returned from Christmas break, she had observed an increase in "classroom community" issues - cutting in line, "tattling", etc. - and she wondered if giving her first graders ownership in the classroom - allowing them to identify classroom issues, and propose their own solutions - might help. Would student-led classroom meetings affect the sense of community and personal responsibility among the students in her class?

So, each week she chose four students to lead a class meeting. Those students would decide on the issue to address - selected from notes dropped in the "grievance box" - and then lead a discussion on potential solutions.

She found that while her students needed some training in how to lead a meeting (a practical civic skill that one that not every adult has), many of her young students flourished in the new role – and that it was not always who you might expect. (This has been a consistent finding in research, and suggests the value of providing multiple and various leadership opportunities to students throughout their academic careers.) Even some students who had felt uncomfortable speaking in front of the entire class were enthusiastic about being placed in this leadership role.

The class as a whole demonstrated that first graders are able to talk about social issues on their own, as well as develop appropriate solutions.

So, there were a number of positive outcomes. One thing that didn't change significantly, however, was actual behavior!  While there was agreement on what should be done, the students didn’t always follow through. Perhaps this is an age/emotional development issue; certainly a question for future inquiry.

Among Morgan’s other conclusions: these meetings are more effective when held “as needed”; and the “grievance box” was a useful tool for helping students take responsibility for classroom issues.

Innovating the 21st Century High School

ACOT2 is the next phase of Apple’s ACOT initiative that investigated how the routine use of technology might change teaching and learning. The recently released ACOT2 is more specifically focused on how to create a learning environment that will support the teaching of 21st century skills. The result: “Six Design Principles of the 21st Century High School”.

1)    First, but not trivial: understanding what is meant by “21st century skills and outcomes”.

2)    Relevant and Applied Curriculum  Educators increasingly understand that they need to be able to answer the question: “why do we have to learn this?” In addition, the 21st century classroom will be more project-based and multidisciplinary.

3)    Informative Assessment  This was another example of the convergence that was evident throughout the conference. Informative assessments were central to the session on “Assessing 21st century skills”.

4)    A Culture of Innovation and Creativity  Another concept that was reinforced throughout the conference related to the importance of developing the creative abilities that are inherent in every student. Teachers can help create this environment by providing opportunities for students to engage in deep, complex thinking in an environment that is positive and tolerant of failure.

5)    Social and Emotional Connections with Students  It was somewhat surprising to hear this from someone from a technology background, but one of the key design principles for the 21st century high school is providing students with a social and emotional connection to their school, in order to fully engage the learning process – which relates back to the first session on brain research. As an example, she told a story of a principal who made a point of identifying how every student was connected to the school, either through a particular teacher, coach or adviser.

6)    Ubiquitous Access to Technology  It almost goes without saying that students need 24/7 access to information, resources, and technologies in order to do research and analysis, to communicate, and to publish their work using a variety of media to varied audiences. This recognizes that the typical student experience is one of collaboration and being always connected.

While it could be said that Apple has a vested interest in this – for many years their products have been recognized as well-designed for educational purposes – their work struck me as another example of doing well by doing good.  In that same vein, Apple has begun to assemble a vast array of public domain educational resources that they have collated at iTunes U. (This can be found at the iTunes store, and can be searched by subject area, or by source provider.)

Assessing 21st century skills

Back to the NSBA conference:

As inevitably happens at these conferences, at some point you wish you could be in two places at the same time. So I missed the session on "Assessing 21st century skills" - an important issue that I've mentioned previously - but I did manage to get the notes and capture some key ideas.

First, a brief mention of what is meant by 21st century skills, and why it's becoming important.

Most people understand that many of the jobs requiring routine manual labor have left our economy, and those that remain are not well paid. What fewer people realize is that many of the jobs involving routine cognitive skills are leaving as well. (For example, x-rays are now typically "shipped" overseas electronically, where routine diagnoses are performed for a fraction of the cost.)

The consequence for the next generation is that the best jobs are going to require highly developed communication and critical thinking skills. So how do you "teach" these skills - and how do you measure what you've taught?  Not only does there have to be accountability to students, parents and political stakeholders, teachers need to know whether their teaching has been successful.

Educators and business leaders are increasingly questioning whether current educational assessment systems – which rely primarily on multiple choice exams - focus too heavily on whether a student can recall discrete facts, rather than the ability to complete complex thinking and problem-solving tasks.  Nor are these assessments typically designed to measure how well students can apply what they know to new situations.

So, in addition to the "summative" assessments to which we've become accustomed, we need to develop effective “formative" assessments, in which the assessment becomes part of the learning process. This provides immediate and continuous feedback to both the student and the teacher. Other benefits of formative assessments are that students tend to become resources for one another, and they are more likely to take ownership of their learning.

A number of these “formative” assessment tools have already been developed, such as “mClass” for mathematics and the TerraNova Performance Assessments, but there is clearly more to be done.

A postscript from the spring issue of “Threshold”: at Stanford Medical School, they use gaming to teach emergency room teamwork. (Collaboration is another important 21st century skill.) In the interactive game, each student treats the “patient” working through an avatar whose decisions can be analyzed after the exercise.

Public Issues Forum – What is the 21st Century Mission for Our Public Schools?

Before it disappears from the C-Net rotation - the last showing is scheduled for this Sunday, April 20, at 8:00 a.m. on channel 98 - I wanted to mention the most recent Public Issues Forum, which was held in Schlow Library on the evening of April 10th.

Centered on the question - What is the 21st Century Mission for Our Public Schools? - this forum provided the community with a rare opportunity for a public conversation - that is, one involving community members of varying perspectives - on a complex topic.

There are two aspects of a public issues forum that make it fairly unique, and which can be explained by what it is not. First, it is not a panel of experts, with the public observing from the audience. In fact, for the purpose of the forum, there are no experts; the central purpose of a forum is for the participants to listen to one another, in order to come to a better understanding of why someone might see the issue in a different way.

Neither is a public forum a debate, where one "side" wins. Rather, it is a deliberation, in which the participants weight the trade-offs imbedded in the various approaches to the issue and identify what is important to them - and why - and then look for areas of common ground. There are no "sides."

The portion that I heard contained some fascinating insights from high school and college students, parents and business people, as well as educators. It was certainly clear to me that we need to find a way to continue this conversation. I'm sure I'll have more to say about this later, but in the meantime, I encourage you to watch it for yourself.

Park Forest Middle School

Everyone who attended the board visit to Park Forest Middle School came away impressed by what they saw. I particularly enjoyed the tech ed classes and a sit-in on a PRIDE lesson (a worthwhile investment in school spirit which on this day involved students from all three grade levels.)

But I’ll single out one creative idea to share with you. On the afternoons of the PSSA exams, which occur in the morning over three days in April, teachers and administrators had noticed that the stress and adrenaline left over from the exams made it a challenge to get the students back into the usual routine.

So they decided to schedule the school's annual Health, Community Service, and Multicultural Fairs on those three afternoons. Not only does this provide a break from the routine, many of the activities give the students the much needed opportunity to blow off some steam. (In response to student feedback more physical activities were scheduled this year.) Another result that came out of the post-event student surveys: students began to report that they "looked forward" to the PSSAs. That's quite an accomplishment.

Sandra Day O'Connor

The remarks of general session speakers are not always entirely relevant, but that was not the case this year.  This was particularly true for Justice O'Connor, who made an articulate argument in support of civics education.

Appropriately, one of the speakers preceding O'Connor's speech made this observation: "public education does not serve the public, it creates the public."  Or as Kofi Annan was quoted by another speaker, "No one is born a good citizen".

O'Connor fully got my attention when she said, "I believe civics should be one of the most dynamic subjects that can be taught." (A pet peeve of mine: I have often noted, at least half-seriously, that teachers who make history or math boring have committed a crime against humanity.)

I was thrilled to hear her say that we need to build a civics curriculum that is "interactive", "learned in context" and "used in real-life situations".  The goal of civics education is not for students to memorize a set of dry facts, but for them to "develop a toolbox of skills of practical value" that can be used in volunteer work, jury duty and community organization.

One example she gave of a successful curriculum: students who studied the philosophies of the "Founding Fathers" and then applied those arguments to current situations. (It is fairly clear to me that not very many present-day citizens have a clear understanding of those philosophies.)

Another example: in Kennebunkport, Maine, where it it is being demonstrated that a student-driven approach to school climate issues is preferable to a top-down strategy that depends on rules, monitors, and punishments. Instead, students are allowed to evaluate teachers and to collaborate with other students in exploring how to make course work more relevant.

In other words, students are learning how to have a meaningful impact in the environment in which they spend much of their time.

And the student jazz band that performed prior to O'Connor's speech was extraordinary - almost as good as ours.

Brain Research and the Learning Environment

Recent brain research also supports the growing awareness that we need to provide students with opportunities to become emotionally connected to their learning. In addition to creating an atmosphere of safety and security, this can be accomplished, in part, through physical spaces that support a sense of student ownership.

Anyone who has walked the halls of an elementary school is familiar with “public displays of student work”. Still evident in middle school, they are often hard to find in a typical high school. But it turns out that student display areas have an important role in helping to create a sense of student ownership. It is also important for students to have gathering places that promote social interaction, and learning spaces that support collaborative groupings of varying sizes.

Sterile learning environments are not conducive to creative thinking. (This probably says something about the ancient habit of arranging student desks in nice, neat rows.) Facilities’ design should take into account how color and texture can create a sense of warmth, as well as stimulation for the brain.

The physical classroom environment should be seen as part of the school’s overall educational strategy. In fact, the quality of that environment has been shown to have a greater impact on learning than the educational level of the classroom teacher.

A finding that runs counter to an assumption from the old days when I was in school: having a view of living things (such as the outdoors) aids student concentration. In fact, having efficient access to outdoor learning areas is being seen as increasingly important.

Brain Research and Curriculum

Another part of that first presentation had implications more for curriculum than facilities.  As the brain develops, it builds connections wildly and randomly until about the age of six, at which point it begins to prune what isn't used. ("Use it or lose it.") This has significant implications for initiatives to implement foreign language instruction at the primary level - something our students have told us that they strongly support.

As I mentioned yesterday, learning begins as sensory input.  It then cycles through the different physical areas of the brain responsible for reflection (what does this mean? what is it similar to?); abstraction (new ideas, hypothesis development); and finally, action, where the new learning is tested - another application of "use it or lose it". This is the part of the brain that establishes learning as permanent, and is the aspect of learning that is often short-circuited by standardized testing. 

This profoundly demonstrates the importance of integrating into the curriculum opportunities for students to physically demonstrate what they have learned, either through presentation, performance - integrating the arts? - or teaching what they have learned to others

Brain Research and Facilities

The first in a series of posts about the NSBA conference last weekend in Orlando:

The first session, "What Brain Research and Neuroscience Tell Us About Educational Facilities and School Design" provided a scientific and research foundation for a number of ideas I've held more or less intuitively. As it turned out, it also set the tone for the entire conference.

To start with the obvious: all learning begins as sensory input (aural, visual, etc.). The important implication is that educational facilities should be designed to maximize the quality of that input.

Audio: in a typical classroom, a student will hear only about 75% of what the instructor says. (Imagine reading a book with every fourth word redacted. Then imagine taking a test on it.) Of course, this will vary considerably depending on the teacher, the student, where the student sits, and the acoustical qualities of the room.  Facilities’ design - including room acoustics and quality voice amplification - can impact that last item significantly and largely overcome the previous three. The implications for foreign language instruction - an important 21st century competency - are obvious.

Natural and flexible lighting: research has demonstrated a "clear correlation between the availability of natural lighting and improvement in test scores." Natural lighting has also been shown to reduce stress (which inhibits learning). Flexibility and consideration for limiting glare are important, given the increasing use of classroom technology. Flexibility adds additional value because even modest variations in the physical learning environment help to stimulate the brain.

Discussions about air quality are often limited to concerns over air borne contaminants (mold, etc.), but it is more than that. Outside air acts as a brain stimulant, and adequate (but quiet) air circulation keeps the oxygen/CO2 level at a proper balance. This may also seem obvious, but it's often overlooked: high carbon dioxide levels put people to sleep. One idea I had not heard before: displacement ventilation. Air flow that enters at the floor level and exits through the ceiling is far more effective than traditional ceiling input/exhaust systems.

To be continued..