No More Cookie Cutter High Schools?

I thought I would mention one last session from the NSBA conference because it captured many of the key ideas pertaining to high school organization and design.

Here are some of the "17 Principles for Teaching the Digital Generation" that were presented by Frank Kelly as part of his presentation, “No More Cookie Cutter High Schools”. The ones that you've heard before are worth repeating.

Learning must prepare students for a world of constant change.  This might seem obvious and somewhat clichéd, but there are important implications for education, such as:

Learning must focus on 21st century thinking skills.

Learning must include 21st century fluency skills. This encompasses a number of areas, such as:

• Speaking & Listening Skills, which include the ability to speak a foreign language; non-verbal communication skills; public speaking; as well as active listening and the ability to change one’s mind.
• Reading & Writing Skills include the ability to read fiction and non-fiction for meaning; to understand & apply the principles of graphical design; the ability to read technical material manuals - as well as write technically. (There will always be jobs for people who can write comprehensible instructions.)
• Information Skills refer to the ability to analyze the context of information in order to discern its veracity, accuracy and usefulness; the ability to ask good questions; the ability to recognize and organize information needs (that is, what is and isn’t known); and the ability to shape & distribute information in ways that make it understandable and useful to others.

(An editorial aside: In my humble opinion, Pennsylvania will have entered the 21st century when these competencies are measured by the Keystone exams.) Which is a nice segue to:

Assessments must encompass both knowledge skills and higher order thinking skills. This goes to the heart of the accountability issue: that is, are we measuring the things that are important, or just those things that are easy to measure?  Fortunately, some pretty good assessment tools are being developed to measure these higher-order skills.

Learning must be connected to the outside world. (An idea that relates directly to the Service-Learning model.)


Several of these principles have implications for school design:

For example, students should have their own personal place to work. One characteristic of "Industrial Age" high schools is that only spaces within the typical high school that students own are their lockers and their backpacks - the transient nature of students is designed right into the building.

The configuration of spaces within the school building must be flexible.

Learning must be interdisciplinary. The compartmentalization of the high school faculty and curriculum is another holdover from the industrial age model.

Learning must engage students. Long before Bill Gates, educators have been stressing the importance of "relevance" - but this concept is also supported by recent brain research. To state what is obvious (but often ignored) when students perceive subject matter as important to them, their learning will be deeper, and have a longer impact.

Learning opportunities should be available 24/7. This has obvious implications for technology, but another of their recommendations was for a 12 month school year, which I think is inevitable.

Time should be flexible. One of the recommendations is for an eight-hour school day, comprised of 20-minute modules that could be combined and organized as needed. Substantial portions of each day should be unscheduled for both teachers and students.

I suspect that most people would be surprised to learn that in countries that have successfully redesigned their educational model - when compared with the U.S. - significantly higher percentages of a teacher’s day is spent in preparation and in collaboration with other teachers. These countries have come to see this as a key element of professional development, and a more effective use of a teacher’s time than spending the entire day standing in front of a classroom.

It should also be noted that our current educational model has very little time built in for “reflection” – which is, as was noted earlier, an essential component of all learning.

Learning must be shaped for the individual. Technology has made “mass customization” possible in the retail world. An Individual Education Plan for every student – hopefully, without the bureaucratic paperwork – is the likely future of education.

Every student should have a close working relationship with at least one adult in the school. Their recommendation was that every school day begin with an advisory period.

Students should assume responsibility for their own learning. Another recommendation for high school is to allow substantial time in the afternoon for project work and independent study.