Worth Waiting For: Design Thinking With Real Pay-off for Students and Teachers:

Some time ago I had the pleasure of writing an article for Phi Delta Kappan, entitled “Connecting the Dots” about the emerging understanding of the power of visual literacy, which included commentary on the work of graphic design doyen Kristina Lamour Sansone. Her stellar work with classroom teachers had always impressed me, and I was happy to recently learn that, beyond her broad set of design assignments and consulting both here and abroad, she’s re-booting her work with schools. Those allured by “design thinking” have made lots of promises but have had little impact in public education, so the re-emergence of Design Instinct Learning is really good news.

Recently, as part of that reboot, Lamour Sansone was tweeted at the  2020 AIGA National Design Conference speaking about how Cheryl D Holmes Miller’s work has influenced her own practice and understanding of the field and serves as a touchstone for her anti-racism and equity work.

I’ve had my frustrations with the “design” conversation and its billing as “the” solution. Just google “design in education” and you’ll get page after page of resources — people who will help guide you through a transformative processes, “change by design” deep dives that will bear solutions reaching into the arts, instructional technology, construction of new facilities, STEM (of course! that’s where the money is), and even in school district administration, of all things.  As expressed recently in Atlantic magazine, “there are many flavors, colors, and brands of design thinking for educators to choose from”. So, one must ask, how come I haven’t seen it making much of a difference in classrooms? The noise level is high, the impact not so much.

Data visualization by Brandon Waybright referenced in Print Magazine titled Black Designers: Forward in Action (Part IV) by Cheryl D. Holmes Miller

In 2009, Tim Brown’s Change by Design opened the floodgates for bringing “design thinking”, “design innovation”, “design strategies” into education (and most everywhere else). Almost overnight, if you didn’t include the word design, one couldn’t possibly create, innovate, or seriously attempt to address big challenges. By the early 2000-teens, it seemed everyone was hosting design thinking events, expounding on how they employed it as would-be leaders in the field. But it seemed to be an in-bred conversation with little impact on schools and classrooms. I wanted to see if I was missing something.

Digging deeper, more provocations began to appear. A  presentation by Natasha Jen, speaking to other ground-level designers, rued  the fact that the  “design” fad had become just that —a fad— and core principles and practices had been lost. An Atlantic article,  also surfaced familiar themes and I also read some of Lee Vinsel’s commentary as well. His distaste for the design rage is quite apparent.   

Design thinking can make a difference, I want to be sure to add. It provides a helpful set of principles and practices. It can move us beyond our traditions and blind-spots. Its no panacea but we should be using it as part of our reimagining schools. And on occasion, I do see many of those ideas doing well in some early-years programs for those who can afford them, in arts-based lab schools, and in some independent and “American” schools abroad. But the question of why all these big ideas seem to be absent from instructional thinking in our “regular schools” has remained a personal irritant. So, a year ago when I heard similar recognition of those critiques from Lamour Sansone at a Froebel conference she had helped to organize —“Essential components of design education are not being understood and utilized nearly as well as they might in our schools”— I had a hunch, and a hankering, that she might have in mind to re-open her shop to schools and educators.

Lamour-Sansone’s Design Instinct Learning work is informed by the notion that schools are too often squandering helpful ideas and proven approaches, and that we have to bring them to bear in a serious and organized way. That is precisely what she learned to do some time ago, and now plans to get back to in a larger, more potent way with the reemergence of Design Instinct Learning, including collaborating with ERC as a part of our emerging Innovation and Redesign Network. And as mentioned above, she brings with her skill and expertise a strong commitment to anti-racism and equity and a new prominence in that dialogue among her expert peers and the younger, up-and-coming camp.

Lamour Sansone is gifted at working intimately with teachers and classrooms to boost the right stuff—engaging students through use of the imagery that is so prevalent on the screens and devices of this generation, helping them make connections and critique in disciplined ways their own work and the work of others. This kind of collaboration at high levels is core to the “21st century skills” stuff we want to see in schools, but which remains elusive. She shares:

“Educational reformers want to understand ‘design thinking’ and ‘studio thinking’, but it’s beautiful complexity cannot always be codified. Most approaches I see adapted for K-12 classrooms do not recognize or give space to the pedagogical listening, deep observation, visual research and acuity, and critical analysis found in a bona fide design studio critique.  Moreover, it’s not solo work. Teachers need critical friends, intellectual and visual learning advocates, in the classroom to first recognize, then draw out their design instincts. Those instincts inhabit all of us, and they can be cultivated in school on the page, screen, classrooms outdoor/indoor.”

Lamour Sansone has brought her methodology to schools in New Haven, Austin, San Francisco, Providence, and to Boston, during their dynamic years of High School Renewal and Pilot Schools. Her compelling “case studies” from each collaboration show the breadth and depth of her work, as well as the impact of her approach on classroom learning. Her work in urban classrooms has shown her ability to help teachers find the key elements of “design instinct” that draw students in, prods them to make connections, sparks their curiosity for more examples and deeper exploration. Hers is the kind of work that makes good on many of those unkept promises mentioned above. DIL offers concrete ways to integrate much of the best thinking and practices from these arenas into planning for and teaching in public sector classrooms.

Social Justice Academy Humanities teacher Carole Teague’s, story is highlighted in Lamour Sansone’s, “Using Strategies from Graphic Design to Improve Teaching and Learning”.

Lamour Sansone would be modest about her accomplishments, insisting that most, if not all, educators carry with them a design instinct, albeit it’s often been largely put to sleep by experiences moving up through the grades as visual literacy, artistic thinking and design concepts drop away from “academics”. Her job she believes, through interviews, observations and analysis, is to surface that instinct, that voice and vision, in adults:

“I cultivate these instincts using modern design teaching continually tested in professional art and design schools and studios. Unlike one common myth, good design doesn’t always mean to simplify. Good design can be messy and circuitous. It suggests making the user curious, it doesn’t over-simplify but it also doesn’t overtell”.

One thing I’m particularly interested in, especially in the time of COVID-19 is the powerful interplay of nature, thought, and feelings. More attention is now being paid to the field of biophilic design and its potential in architecture, planning and beyond, utilizing the framework it offers for relating the human biological science and nature. Lamour has really embraced that potential, and her synthesis of the work of Rhoda Kellogg and the emerging influence of biophilic design is typical of her ability to integrate important concepts and ways of seeing into her mental framework for working with front-line educators. She explained to me,

“Rhoda Kellogg's theory and the ideas behind biophilic design share the same belief that living things need structure to survive and make meaning within.  Think highways, the grid on a newspaper page, honeycombs, camouflage, a winding river. These are all grid structures for living, for the natural world. Children naturally draw within these structures This synthesis between and among text, image, sound, and movement as one simultaneous language is the essence of Design Instinct Learning -humans making meaning through structure and analysis. We can't survive without street signs in urban planning, web interface, restoring our bees, birds and threatened species, air traffic control, etc. Graphic design concepts allows learners to speak across these languages using these structures to communicate visually, and I would argue, adopt a language that is universal and cross-cultural.” 

Besides her work as an esteemed professor teaching in a variety of design fields and in several institutions, I recently found her exploring new approaches to support teachers who work with new-to-our-country English Language Learners. So many of those students have come recently from countries that offer inconsistent schooling, at best. Others have seen crime, gang warfare, poverty, or estrangement from loved ones. Worksheets and multiple choice don’t do the job of inviting them into intellectual endeavor. These are young people in need of more sophisticated pedagogies to bring them more rapidly and successfully into both academic programming and into the new culture into which they’ve been catapulted.

The critical thinking capacities that derive from the Design Instinct Learning approach also come with key PYD (Positive Youth Development) aspects of self-expression and commentary, active participation and mastery. That’s a key reason her work with teachers consistently gets results and I’m envisioning the field of English Language Learning being dramatically improved by beginning to more deeply understand and employ Lamour Sansone’s experience and expertise.

ERC is proud to renew our partnership with Design Instinct Learning, one that will seek out opportunities to bring this generative thinking into schools and classrooms and to build momentum for improving learning and youth development. You can visit her website here designeducator.com and as always we here at ERC educationresourcesconsortium.org are thrilled to connect and make introductions.

Dr. Larry Myatt
Co-Founder

ERC Holiday Interview: Jacob Hess: White Mountains Regional High School

A First Principalship in The Time of COVID- December 2020

Jacob Hess stepped into the leadership of White Mountains Regional High School just as the COVID pandemic took hold. We wanted to check in with him and see what life was like for him, and to ask him what he was learning and doing. 

ERC- Jacob, what a way to break in to a visible and demanding role. How has it been getting going?

JH: “I’ve learned that the job is huge, super demanding, but also really gratifying. One thing I had going for me is the fact that I’m somewhat of a veteran of the school, having taught here and then being the Assistant Principal for three years. White Mountains is an ambitious school, we’ve been doing a lot to continue to serve our students and families at a high level. We ask a lot of our faculty and staff, so I was expecting a fast pace, and I have history and relationships to build on. Being in the leader’s seat, I’m also discovering some resources I didn’t know were there and assessing how best to use them.”

 ERC-What’s something else that you’ve learned?

JH- “Well, the pandemic has resulted in more students and families leaning on the school for all kinds of support and continuity. Its shown us that we’re not really built to be the center of mental health and wellness in the community, like other schools are finding out. But we are. Times have changed and the world has changed over the past 10-15 years, COVID has just intensified that, and we have to come to grips with a different, additional role.”

 ERC- What does that mean for your work?

JH- “As you know, we’re using some of the ERC tools to begin to assess our capacity to meet the social/emotional demands being placed on us. We want to be sure to recognize all of our assets as well as gaps. We know that we will need more and different resources and tools to bear this burden, and that redesigning all of that will take 3-5 years, so rather than just saying we can’t do much with the weight of COVID on us, we’re at least auditing, so to speak, our systems, structures and practices. We know that there are a number of key elements in that work and we need to pay attention to all of them. There is no way for a school to look at achievement without looking at social/emotional development, and vice versa. We’ve started that work and it will be on-going throughout the year.”

ERC- Are you able to focus on any instructional initiatives this year?

JH- “Obviously, we’re doing our best to make remote learning as strong as we can. The hybrid schedule has forced us to realign the school year, our schedule and our teaching practices and that’s a lot to keep up with. We don’t have the in-person meeting time for our staff, something that’s been a huge asset over the past 3-4 years. We miss that, but I’m doing my best to keep us building in places where we know we it counts- Humanities, our Seminar program, adding Integrated Math/Science to our initial sequence, adopting WhatIf Math spreadsheets in those and other areas, blending the best of AP Environmental Studies with our Career/Tech strand, continuing on with arts integration.

“We’re working steadily to implement key aspects of the ERC Inquiry Tool Kit, the Grand Challenges, practices that support student agency, giving students real choice and rigorous work. There’s a lot going here on even with the pandemic.”

“I’m also obliged to continue the quest to establish a vision of what we call ‘The Regional 2025’, meaning what will be the structures, practices and programs that define us, in just a few years, building on our core values and our Image of a Graduate work. Changing and improving a school is slow, gradual work, so we know we have to be building towards that, and inviting the community into that work. I’m in full agreement with my predecessor, that just saying the date “2025” lends urgency and importance to the work. I’ve learned that as principal you have to hold the past, the present and the future all at once. I have to, we have to, imagine the school in 2025 at its very best and work backward to build it.

“We’re looking very closely at the ERC “Reimagining School” prototype. It’s a really compelling vision of what a modernized school can become. One that works for students, teachers, families, and blends the best of the old with the new. I think it’s a great fit for White Mountains. I’m happy to share more about why I’m so fond of that model and why I think we should study it.”

ERC-Anything else you'd want to share?

JH- “I want to make sure that we have student voices involved in our planning, and taking the temperature, so to speak, now and in the future. There’s a fair amount of national data that says students at the secondary level feel they don’t have much voice in what and how they learn, and in shaping their environment. A recent Yale study revealed that school can be stressful at times and boring at others for a majority of high school students. Being told what to be excited about and memorizing lots of facts no longer gets the job done, and they’re not high-quality learning. Those are things that we can address.”

“We’re hoping to work more deeply on the idea of portfolios, not just random collections of work, but a sophisticated set of processes and rituals to curate our work, and to use it to assess our quality of life and quality of learning. That will take time. And in order to do that work we have to dedicate significant time and thoughtful collaborations at every level. Lots of schools have portfolios but too often they’re not really integrated into the life of the school. It’s a way for students to continuously reflect on what and how they’re learning, and the same for our adult professional staff.  We want portfolios to be an everyday part of life and learning. The more that all members of the community are learning, reflecting and growing, the more likely it is that we’ll perform at a high level.”

ERC- Jacob, hats off to you for your resilience and for a job well done!

What Now? Big Questions About the Future of School: Five Powerful Education Figures Respond

It certainly feels like a moment.

We’re talking about race, pretty much everywhere. 70% of us now think Black Lives Matter. We’re asking questions about policing, about healthcare, about our commitments to each other. People are in the streets, peacefully but forcefully. Heroes are passing away while others step forward.

The moment feels new, and volatile. Some students have drifted away from school. Online offerings are often thin, and relationships with adults have frayed in the vacuum. Perhaps more than anyone, young people are organizing and asking for change. Students of color especially are speaking about their experiences with racism in their schools, saying things that we might have heard before with any serious listening.

These dynamics are bringing big educational issues to the surface. We’ve heard the question, is this the beginning of the end for standards and testing? At the community level people are asking, is it time for an overhaul of the ways our schools operate? With COVID fraying so much of what we once thought of as “school”, can we rely on the educational establishment to respond to the moment?

ERC is deeply engaged in a number of these cross community dialogues. To guide us, we asked five people with deep knowledge of schools, their inner workings, their shortcomings and their successes to comment on the moment -five leaders with their hands on the pulse in different places and at different junctures. Here’s what they told us:

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For so many, their schools pre-COVID were not working well to begin with. Now the pandemic has highlighted huge gaps in how we serve young people, especially along the lines of race and class. The way we’ve organized our schools, and continue to organize them, has been outdated for some time. There’s little argument about that. The content we’ve chosen is socially constructed, and we’ve married outcomes to certain standards, and now we’re finding out those ideas have put us in a serious bind. 

In many locations parents and caregivers see schools as places to be avoided. How do I not have to send my children to that school, or that school?  We’ve extended the free market notion to schools, so if you have the means, you can escape the predicament by virtue of where you live or the school you can afford for your child. Testing is for those with no alternative, and we know that many if not most of the problematic places are those that serve poor, black, and brown children.

We’re kind of throwing out some of the rules these days in other areas. Re-thinking how we want to conduct our business. Now COVID has rocked our sense of the traditional school day, relationships among adults and young people, the idea of grades, even where and how we can be in contact with young people, Again, things in our schools pre-COVID were not working well to begin with.  Like many others, whose voices are increasing, I’m not sure the educational authorities can or will respond to this moment, and we may not see a moment like this again for a long while, if at all.

There is a lot of energy in the air. I hear students, families, teachers looking for something different. People want to be heard and we need to hear them. I think an important step would be the creation of more community-based schools, schools where partners provide the services we know students often lack, and where families and residents have a large measure of control over how they operate, how they are supported and how their success is measured. And not to spend years talking about that idea. It’s going to be hard for some people to wait with a hand out for the educational establishment to provide the opportunities and permissions. It’s not unreasonable for people to want new and better schools for their children now, not down the road.

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George Floyd and Breonna Taylor's deaths sparked a national uprising. Schools and districts, like other institutions are on their heels.  They are reacting by getting "equity" training for their faculties, trying to provide racially sensitive curriculum and consider teaching in culturally sensitive ways.  All good, but not getting at the real problem we face—much of what we do, much of our system is based on a potent but unexplored premise --that poor kids of color are problems.  And, that somehow their communities are unworthy.  The solutions we create are based in "fixing" the problem. 

The real question we should be asking is, how can schools help make our communities healthier and more prosperous? Real and enduring equity will not happen until the communities where young people live are valued and educators see their job as to employ the resources and programming of the school to make that happen.   We should be talking to people in the community and asking, "how would you know if the school in your neighborhood was making this community a better place to live?" 

Racism is kicking our collective ass right now and we're not going to deal with it until we start to reframe and ask new questions.  I'm fond of quoting Einstein, "you cannot solve a problem within the same consciousness that created it."  Forget standards, testing and the damn performance gap. Focusing on that has gotten us nowhere.  It's the wrong frame, and it’s not big enough for the unjust world that we have created and are handing to the next generation.  

One evening, I was in an adult religion class meant for parents to refresh their faith while their children were preparing for Confirmation.  There was a guest, a Jesuit priest, who told us that the church had it all wrong when they talked about the idea of confession.  He told us, "you shouldn't ask for forgiveness for the bad things you’ve done. Instead, you should ask for forgiveness for the good things you didn't have the courage to do."  I mention this because I don't think the people in the education sector are really able to take a hard look at the last two decades and the damage we have done.  Let's admit that we don't have the answers, the forces are outside of our control and we need to start thinking much differently about the role of school.  It's time to ask what it would take for schools to make our communities more just and better places to live, which is much more important than improving some outdated notion of school performance that was intended to oppress the kids who go there.

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We face huge challenges in education related to inequality and traditional approaches to the way we organize schools and serve young people.  Now is the time to devise new strategies to respond to the needs of kids and society.  Universities can play a role in developing these ideas in partnership with practitioners.  Having spent 30 years in academia and working closely with schools throughout the U.S, my goal as Dean at Rossier is to have it serve as a thought partner with teachers, policy makers and educational leaders on how to address the major challenges facing education in this new moment.  

My hope is that this predicament and our responses can move standards in a different direction.  Instead of using standards to direct schools on what to teach, we should think of standards as a way to ensure quality in learning opportunities so that all kids have access to a high-quality education regardless of where they live or go to school.   Approaching standards in this way would be more like the way we conceive of standards for airports.  Regardless of size or location, all airports must conform to certain safety standards.  Similarly, regardless of where a school is located, all schools should provide students with an education that makes it possible for them to participate fully in society.  

I am concerned because most of the focus related to the reopening of schools is focused on the logistics of keeping them safe from the virus.  It’s understandable and obviously important, but it’s not sufficient.  Beyond health-related strategies, I think the most important thing schools can do now is to ensure that the online learning they make available to kids is excellent and engaging.  As we are seeing and hearing, if what we provide is not meaningful and interesting, many kids will tune out.  Sticking with what we’ve always done will not suffice. I don’t hear about enough schools working on how to create learning opportunities for young people that tap into their curiosity and motivate them to learn.  

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Well, I wish I could be more tuned in to the life of schools and school people. I miss the conversations, I miss the Coalition (of Essential Schools), and the progressive people and ideas. I was lucky. I feel like I was present at a time when there was a lot of hope, a feeling that we could make a difference, that our commitment to a democratic education had places to land and to shape the work. When we were in our 30’s, if we wanted to be good educators, we could feel a certain spirit of possibilities.

Thinking back to some of the things we’ve done over the last two decades, in New York City, and nationally, the bureaucratic approach, thinking that a technocratic approach could fix things, and structured to minimize the influence and control of people closer to the students has, again, gone nowhere. And with testing, if you have people feeling ashamed of their scores, or doubting their children and communities, no one will make a fuss about schools not being democratic.

Of course, schools have to manage the health threat from the pandemic, but beyond that I see quite a lack of imagination. I’m surprised that there isn’t more talk about schools and how to re-shape them for learning, and for democracy. I saw a nice piece by Marion Brady, who I’m delighted is still at it. And you’re (ERC) still at it. And Pedro is still at it, and others, thankfully. We have no idea of course, what will happen in the 2020’s. In the 50’s we had no idea about the 60’s, and in the 80’s we knew nothing about life in the 90’s. But I don’t hear that much that’s interesting, to me.

 The common good seems up for grabs right now. There is, no doubt, a certain restlessness in the air. It could be that something could come of that.  If we still take democracy, the common good, “we the people”, as well as Black Lives, seriously there is a path forward.  Demand a nation-wide discussion, a version of which takes place in every community’s public school on how we define democracy? Do we see democracy as a fundamental public purpose of education? Do we persist in raising our future “citizens” in what is a thoroughly undemocratic institution?  With those questions, we could start such public discourse anywhere and everywhere.  Let all join in.  

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Our thinking about post-COVID schools and schooling does not seem, to me, to be up to the demands of our time. The health concerns are great, yes, but I think there is a danger of being too focused on regaining old ideas and feelings of “school” as we knew it. And not focused enough on engaging young people in more authentic learning that extends beyond “school”, and even enlarging our ideas of what schools are for.

In some places, people are beginning to ask, are we seeing the unraveling of standards and testing? And, should we be? And I think the answer to both is yes. So much of what we’ve heard in the discussion of schooling over the past two decades has lacked a real sense of purpose, the result of which is perhaps best summed up by Einstein: “Education is that which I learned after all that I had been taught was forgotten”.  

How big is our opportunity? As big as we want to make it, I think. There are certainly bigger questions to be asked than most of what I’m hearing: Are we ready for new kinds of schools right now? Should we be abandoning a fair share of what we currently do? This is a golden moment to support true voice and ownership from students, families and their communities. Schools need to be much more in service to their communities and as a result, this is the time to redesign learning and “school” as we currently know and experience it. I want to be a part of that work.

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There you have it. Calls for action, for hard questions. Calls for communities to elevate the dialogue, and take the lead in making decisions about their schools.

We hope you will pass on their commentary and the ideas they espouse. Let’s stir up some good trouble together.  A gracious thanks to our respondents. Thanks for their time and energy and yours as well.

If you’re inspired, take a journey to a school that’s different.

educationresourcesconsortium.org/reimagining-school

Please feel free to contact us! Stay healthy. Help others do the same.

Larry Myatt

Co-Founder

From the Field: School Snapshots from Six Regions

May 1, 202- We’re well into the new COVID-19 reality for schools, students, and families. We wanted to check in with some of our regular ERC friends and clients to see where they are at, what’s being recognized and the beginnings of looking ahead. Some strong themes are beginning to emerge –the importance of community, and of professional collaboration, some students hard to reach while others doing better out of school, and above all, the hope for a deliberate and sustained chance to make sense of it all when on-the-ground school resumes. 

Here are snapshots:

Steve Siciliano

Director of Special Education/Senior Teacher

Health Leadership High School

Albuquerque, NM

“This event has had a profound impact here, for some similar to 9-11. Our school community is very important to our students, so now that it looks like learning on-line will be ‘school’ for the near future we’re trying to figure out what are the best elements of that. We have had remote learning going, and we’re picking up the pace as we move forward. I can imagine some on-line schools saying to themselves, what’s all the fuss? But for traditional, on-the-ground schools this has had a major impact, been a gigantic disruption. I think that many of us may be looking back and asking, did we make the most of social relationships when we were physically together- in the hallway, the cafeteria. I know we’re appreciating just how much we miss our facetime.

“There will undoubtedly be pressure to ‘make up for lost time’ and get back to ‘business as usual’ as fast as we can. But I think that would miss an opportunity to see how we might come out better in all of this- how can we be better teachers? have better support systems for students? know more about what matters to each other? When the time to gather comes, we need to make time for students to re-settle, and to address big questions –what was it like for you? what mattered? how did your family do? and now, what does it mean to be ‘back in school’?

“It’s becoming clearer that a number of things will need to change but its also hard to say precisely what those changes will be. I can’t imagine that social/emotional support for young people, and attention to youth development are not going to come up as far more important, paying more attention to Maslow. That will likely have some impact on time and structures, and what we do in the school hours, and what we think of as the most beneficial use of time together.”

Jennifer Gillis

Asst. Superintendent of Schools

Manchester, NH

“From a district level, we have to be asking the question, when school re-opens what exactly will we be coming back to? We’re realizing the importance of our community partners, so perhaps some of those lines that separate families and community organizations will begin to be erased. We’re feeling good about the interplay and operations among community members and agencies here, much of it due to Emergency Management planning we did that closely involved our schools and partners. We’ve moved some mountains in a very short time. Now we can count on a driving core of people we know well when it’s time to get meals out, to help locate students and families, to problem-solve and take care of basic needs. We have excellent communication with our building leaders and that’s made things easier. Teachers, administrators, and community volunteers are showing up to be part of delivering meals, checking on families, and it’s a reminder that so many people are good-hearted and want to do the right thing.

There will be competing passions once school resumes, and we have to make sure we take time to explore those, to see what needs to be done, and thought about, differently. We’re realizing that for all the kids that miss the social contact we are also seeing many students doing well, some better in an on-line scenario, so we don’t want to lose any lessons in that. I think it’s also going to have an impact on the way we’ve traditionally thought about grading. Many of our values may be shifting and becoming clearer, and that’s where leaders have to step up and make time to assess what’s needed for the new reality. There will undoubtedly be some positive opportunities that will have come about if we’re on the look-out for them.  

James Pope, Jr.

Dean of Students

SW Early College High School

Memphis, TN

“Our first and main challenge remains getting -and staying- in good touch with some of our students. We have students from all over the city and varying levels of connected-ness in homes. I’m setting up an ‘Ambassadors’ volunteer program so a group of our students who are very social and well-connected and know the different networks can get in touch with -and keep us in touch with- students who have been hard to locate.

“We’re offering Literacy and Math instructional components and we have our three-times-a-week Advisory block, a check-in which now, like everything else, happens remotely. We’ve developed a routine for Advisory so we can check in on well-being, keeping up with studies, but also asking questions about their habits --exercise, use of time, and work or free time routines. We know its going to be very different student to student without the framework of being at school.

“I’m from the relationships and wellness side of the house, so its been a learning curve for all of us from that world to get up and running comfortably with all the technology systems and tools. This is likely to be ‘school’ for a while, so that’s going to be good in the long run. We’ve also re-learned how important that face-to-face time with adults is for many of our students –the check-in, the pat on the back, the jokes and laughter. We can feel how much some students miss it. We’ll probably treasure that more when we get back towards old-fashioned school.”

Katie Brownell

Grade 4 Social Studies/Language Arts

Hoosick Falls, NY

“I’m really happy to be a co-teacher. Having a teaching partner is helpful, to share the load and be a part of planning and follow-through. We’ve worked hard to communicate and we’re pleased with the level of student participation. We’re trying now to look at the work we’ve been giving out and making sure we give them high-value learning. ‘No filler’ is our new slogan, only high-quality work.

“I became the ‘Yoga Lady’ a few years ago during a district-wide focus on wellness and social/emotional health, after I started doing it in my room, then different classes, even in the community. So now I try to keep offering that as well as making sure we build in face time for meditation, mindfulness, etc. during our Morning Meetings and at other times when I can. Morning Meeting was revived a few years ago as part of the wellness work with ERC and has become a main event and culture-builder, so we’ve built a virtual Morning Meeting into our daily schedule with students. We’ve tried to provide a version of school that has some of the routines they’re used to, so we offer a schedule with reading, math, arts, and music, and often games or special activities. We’ve noticed distinctly that students who can and do join us for first-thing Morning Meeting generally stay with us throughout the whole day’s activities, more so than students who tune in for later offerings.

“We’re also noticing how some students are more engaged and doing more critical thinking on-line, than when they’re in classrooms. That’s something we’ll need to remember and explore. It’s also been somewhat easier to plan for some of the differentiation needed to support students. We’re getting good help from many parents and I think students are taking advantage of seeing us and each other every day, even if it’s on a screen. I’m trying to take the long view, thinking that this might be a good thing in some ways, and that students can get in touch with themselves in different ways, including how they learn, that will help them be more motivated and confident going forward.”

Elizabeth Melendez

Feinstein Elementary at Broad Street

Providence, RI

“We’re feeling pretty good about our remote learning work. Teachers are stepping up and coaching each other, especially around the technology aspects and how to achieve certain tasks on-line. We’re about 5 weeks in so we’re going to take a pause soon and see what’s going well, what issues need attention. We want to refresh our efforts and prune the ‘busy work’ so we can focus on deeper learning.

Each teacher has daily class blocks in the core areas, from 8-11 a.m. and then again from 11:30-1:00. We’re also noticing that a number of students who in ‘regular school’ are frequently challenging with their behaviors or socially awkward, suddenly stepping up on-line, doing much better and now beginning to help and support their peers. That’s been great to watch and something we want to pay attention to when we get back together –why are many succeeding outside of ‘physical school’?

“We’re reaching out to the parents of students that we know may need support, and we’re really appreciating all the prior relationship-building we had done with families, it has made communication a lot easier and now we have families contacting us to ask for support and advice. In a way, this new reality has improved our relationships with many parents and caregivers.”

Jamie Linscott

Counselor

Amesville Elementary School

Amesville, OH

“We’re a rural district in a part of Appalachia, so internet service, wi-fi, even phone connections can often be few and far between. Its just not something we can count on in many cases, so we’re asking the question, ‘how can we resume schooling as well as possible in the absence of reliable technology?’ One way is that we’re being creative and using our bus drivers as primary deliverers, helped out by teacher volunteers and others to deliver learning packets along with food deliveries. We’re delivering 12 meals a week, so the lessons come along with that. And those drivers and volunteers help us with the ‘eyes on kids’ work, so we can surmise what’s going on out there by who they see and what they hear.

“We are not asking for a lot of academic work back right now. But that doesn’t mean we’re not being thoughtful about learning. We’re paying attention to the quality of the work we send out and the frequency as well, trying to keep students connected and in touch. We also strive to plan activities that can help students stay both mentally and physically active, with lots of ideas to get kids outside.

“I’m spending a lot of time making phone calls, as you can imagine. There are issues and challenges that we help parents with all the time at school that will now fall on their shoulders. We’re teaming up across grades and networks to connect with families. I’m part of several networks and a county-wide counseling coalition so we derive a lot of benefit -connections, information, and new ideas.”

Larry Myatt   Wayne Ogden

ERC Co-Founders

LEARNING IN A TIME OF ISOLATION: WHAT ARE TEACHERS MAKING OF IT?

Note: We want to wish everyone the best in the midst of

this unprecedented health challenge.

A reminder to do your part to help others when the opportunity arises.

—Wayne Ogden and Larry Myatt, Co-Founders

For educators, we’ve entered a new and highly challenging time, doing our best to help young people (and each other) learn.

 As teachers face empty classrooms and weeks, potentially months, without seeing their students, what will teacher-student interaction look like? How will students interact with each other?  In a time where less will have to be more, what aspects of the curriculum will we keep? What aspects of school may give way entirely and what things will give way to the new or different?

 In Boston, for example, the teachers union and district officials have yet to come agreement on what “online learning” will look like and the elements it will require. A district official was quoted as saying, “As we move from classrooms to a dependence on technology, we are aware that some of the plans are quite unsustainable and levels of experience with remote tools are very different.”  Other districts are convening staff to firm up ideas on the implementation of new systems and procedures, while in some locations, the work has begun.

A fond recollection

Websites for teacher curricula and planning are being electronically dispersed each day, more all the time, sent out by schools and districts, networks, state DOE’s as well as companies eager to establish or enhance a presence. Curriculum content abounds, it seems. What we’re curious to know is what teachers are actually thinking and saying to each other in the midst of all this, how they are making sense of it.

A lot of assumptions have been made over the past fifteen years about the nature and tensile strength of on-line learning, asynchronous and otherwise. Everyone has added and now counts on a bevy of technology/machine-dependent things to undergird our work --credit recovery, “e-school”, all manner of LMS (“learning management systems”), Google Docs & Classroom, Power School, Skyward, on and on.

Dr. Katrina Kennett, strategic planning at White Mountains School District, NH

But, suddenly, as demonstrated in Boston and likely elsewhere, much of this world is being revealed as unexplored and untested.  We knew we needed to fasten on to someone who could help us make sense of all this. Who better than our esteemed pal and ERC Consulting Practitioner, Dr. Katrina Kennett, link here. who frequently and expertly shines a light into that unexplored world? Since she routinely contributes to and monitors teacher planning in lots of far-flung places, we asked her to engage with us, and to begin by sharing themes she’s noticing. Here’s what she had to say:

Teachers are using their content expertise to connect students to “current events”- Hardly anyone can claim expertise with COVID-19, so few, if any, educators are able to retreat to the traditional role of “teachers as the source of knowledge”. I love seeing teachers using their skills and interests to rise to the challenge, a sure sign that their teaching is likely to improve.” 

I’m helping some math teachers look at math-related COVID-19 activities / resources and evaluate which might be helpful for different groups of students, given skill level prior knowledge, interest in the subject matter, etc. Social studies teachers of course are reaching for materials on the 1918 and Polio pandemics, among others, while ELA teachers trace narratives of the virus using the perspectives media literacy offers.  I’m interested to watch if science educators who may have “covered” such issues as infections, viruses, bacteria, pathogens, the immune system, will choose to dig in to them again, try to go deeper, or presume the knowledge base is firmly built. And I’m wondering who will guide those decisions.

Dr. Katrina Kennett

I can’t resist commenting on how of many the content conversations I’m seeing overlap naturally, and as teachers work together, will they be asking, why keep English separate from history, or science from math or sociology? To me it’s a superb time for interdisciplinary, urgent, Grand Challenges kind of work. link to ERC Grand Challenges blog.

Teachers reaching out far and wide 

I’m seeing more teachers beginning to network, and in a bit of a hurry, to find resources and trade ideas. As routine as we think this might be, it’s still new for a majority of teachers and the levels of comfort and familiarity differ widely as educators working at home alone reach out to others in and beyond their usual contacts.

So many lists already exist, and more are being created as we speak –pedagogical approaches, digital tools, platforms, virtual field trips, synchronous tours, etc. Some are using educational chats like #sschat to reach ‘wide,’ and also Google Classroom to connect ‘in-house,’ teachers around the country are finding their footing as they prepare to offer students remote learning experiences.

Conversations like these lead the way to critical, active discourse, often difficult or unattainable in conventional school schedules. As you, my colleague Larry, are fond of saying, if a Martian came down and examined how our schools are designed, they would determine that adults are made to work alone, in private practice, largely apart from other adults. This crisis could begin to crack that, and one can now perhaps find and welcome places where others help you see your choices in light of student experience and the learning choices you provide. High-performing schools are places where the level of high-quality adult collaboration is high.

ERC Co-Founder and Head of Executive Coaching, Wayne Ogden

Teachers are designing “away-from-school” assignments that favor more student choice; addressing the self-organizing challenge.

It’s interesting to see how many teachers are creating assignments that give their learners more control over time, “path” and pace, using video chat to schedule and offer office hours, and looking for other digital tools to structure peer feedback groups. These learning structures offer teachers one-on-one and small-group meetings to address questions and coach students’ critical thinking. What we more routinely see is that almost all classroom choices are made by the teacher, and even that much of student choice-making is trivial. The last decade of student voice research confirms that clearly. But, here’s a post that shows how  we can engage students more deeply via their own proclivities and tastes. See link.

Teachers are also recognizing the opportunity to send their students to places they wouldn’t have time or opportunity get to in daily classroom life: explore Smithsonian Open Access, the Digital Public Library of America, tour the Museum of the American Indian, going to visit animals as zoos give tours. Building on one-unit-a-year projects (ex. Youth Participatory Action Research, oral histories, etc.), we’re seeing teachers encourage young people to be primary recorders of history-in-the-making as the primary work going forward.

I’m eager to track how students are allotting and using time without being in the thoroughly controlled environment of school. Will they attempt to mimic class periods at home? Doubtful. I’m also expecting to see more young people doing their best to address the need to reflect and self-organize as their teachers give them increasing opportunities to make choices in completing their assignments. All without the immediate presence of an adult who “sets out the pre-determined answers to the puzzles they must solve”, as a critic of industrial age schools put it.

Students reading period, Calcutt Middle School, Central Falls, RI

Some students, of course, already have the skills to self-organize and are comfortable with a range of “meta” and on-line strategies.  For some of them the “boxes” into which their thinking must fit are likely to be constraining. For others scaffolding will be helpful, even critical. I wonder what the discussions about this will reveal when we resume a more normal school life.

Teachers are reminded of differences and variables involved in student learning

Of course, school folks are always reminded of this. It’s probably the most relentless challenge classroom teachers face. Not a huge surprise that teachers have shared that as they begin to send out assignments they have some students answering questions and completing tasks almost immediately, others less so. Some students who are barely able to reply, requiring a different approach, more time, a certain learning cue, an exhortation, a warning of sorts. Teachers know how they might support these students face to face – now the question is how to do so from afar.

As teachers face the daunting task of designing remote units according to each grade level and separate course, I expect we may see more integrated, multi-grade projects. We know from teachers who already teach in multi-age environments that students can help each other understand and learn – within and across grades. Age doesn’t determine the level of intellectual engagement – interest does.

Teachers are questioning the efficacy of tests and tests

Entire states are cancelling their preferred versions of standardized testing; SATs are cancelled; AP Exams, too, look to be in peril. In conversations I’m privy to, teachers are quietly asking each other about the logistics, sometimes even the usefulness of “grades” at a time such as this. I think these “purpose and meaning” questions have a space and urgency right now we haven’t allowed for in during business-as-usual school days. It’s another subject for our “parking lot” of discussions to have as we reflect on these weeks and months.

The standing logic is that without tests and grades, kids won’t be held accountable for their learning, that they need strong incentives or disincentives to engage. We do our best to cling to that brand of compliance logic, but I hear some notes of despair when I listen to teachers asking ‘why am I sending home this packet?’ or ‘why should I make them do this?’ This new reality is likely to expose weaknesses in our grading logic: all over social media we’re seeing examples of young people teaching themselves – and each other – without the ‘incentive’ of grades. When and where educators are able to connect for adult discourse, I’m counseling a pause to consider the difference between “grading” and “assessment” -how is the learning going? Many schools conflate grading and assessment. That’s a major mistake for professional educators, one that shortchanges many students.

Dr. Larry Myatt, Jeffrey Liberty and Deborah Meier in Boston

We know from our own experience as well as from the research, that learning is curiosity-driven, and is at its most robust when authentic incentives and relationships exist, compelling subject matter, community import, an inviting sense of future, new and different POV’s, etc. Examining the efficacy of the “test-and-grade” paradigm as we try to keep our sea legs could help us shift our thinking more toward the idea of the classroom as a place where practices, structures and systems enable students to construct more transdisciplinary knowledge. And I would argue, that’s more naturalistic knowledge anyway, emerging through a prism of differing content areas, including some we seldom acknowledge or employ –psychology, sociology, the arts and design, etc. 

Educators are paying attention to stress 
Finally, a conversation I know we are bringing to schools that work with ERC is that for more and more students, schools are stressful places. This is not a new realization, but the degree to which students are feeling less able to tolerate school is striking. Link to Yale study. We are likely to find that for some loneliness and isolation will have a substantial impact, while possibly for others, there may actually be some relief from the grind described in current student voice research.

In Brookline, MA an elementary principal has invited her students and their families to an hour of reading and story-telling each night to provide “a sense of stability and belonging.” In various regional newspapers, interviews with students about what they miss most almost always begins with socialization -friends and classmates- and increasingly, expressions of surprise about how much they miss their teachers!

Some teachers are using the new reality to design healthy work schedules. I just talked with a teacher who has scheduled her Zoom office hours for students, but also an hour for lunch for herself. Teacher quality of life – something we know grinds down many aspiring educators – could be a positive reality even in these trying times.

I know that in our ERC schools network, we’re involved in a long-standing conversation about how we can make schools saner and more supportive for all involved, so I’ll be anxious to see what students will say down the road about not having to “be there” each and every day. 

---

Quite a reaction to our query! Thanks, Dr. Kennett.

So, we’re taking in what Katrina has had to say and share. Things we’ve taken for granted will no doubt be substantially changed.

Will there be some important re-examination when the Corona virus clears, some reflection on lessons learned? Our hopeful side imagines so. Can we carry any lessons beyond this crisis, or will it be back to business as usual?  We’ll be paying attention to what happens now that they’re seeing that they don’t “have” to go to school.

We also wanted to end this post with an uplifting tale. One of our family members who lives in NY with his wife and 4-year-old daughter, sent a copy of a text that he received from a friend who works in NYC in the world of banking and finance. The essence of the text was, "ok, I just spent the last 30 minutes trying to teach my seven-year-old her school’s online curriculum, in use while schools are shut down. I am now totally convinced that all teachers should be paid a million dollars per year!"

We hope this has been a good read for all of you out there.

If you’d like to network with us, investigate some of our answers to these questions, explore our “Nine Elements of a Strong Social-Emotional Platform”, the New Architecture of Learning, our Inquiry Tool Kit, the Grand Challenges, or get to know our coaching and consulting work, please be in touch. We’d welcome a conversation!

Again, our best wishes to everyone for your safety and comfort.

Wayne Ogden and Larry Myatt
ERC Co-Founders

ERC: The Future of Math Education: What If?

Happy New Year 2020. We at ERC are excited to share news about a new partnership for our Innovation and Redesign Network.  This one with What If Math, folks with big ideas, with huge potential to change the way we look at math. Read on!

I’m excited about math! For the first time in a long time. And it’s because I think I’ve seen a really significant next step for math education.

First, though, full disclosure: I had a tough time with math myself, almost all of it that I encountered after the 8th grade. My skill with arithmetic, which had won respect, now hardly mattered, and my standing on the math normative scale plummeted (even as it rose in world languages, history, writing, sports, music, etc). Years later, as a school leader and coach, I learned to bite my tongue about math --all the things I’ve seen, the missed opportunities, the foreclosure on numeracy, the use of math primarily as a sorter of young people. (Let me pause to say I greatly envy the skill of the able, deep, mathematical thinkers–you’ll meet two in a paragraph down the page—and I put a supremely high value on what engineers, scientists, programmers, and others have done and will do for our planet. So, math cognoscenti, bear with me, please.)

These days, apart from the beauty and utilitarianism of math, it’s most often referred to narrowly, as a tool for measurement of school performance. Math scores have come to represent a simple --and ineffective—approach to understanding schools and their improvement. Those scores, by the way, have been mostly flat for almost 3 decades while we keep doing pretty much the same thing. We make a little room for a marginally different, “new” math curriculum or “blended” approach every 4-5 years to show we are doing due diligence about those low math scores. But generally, the topic of math among policy makers is rare and elusive.

You don’t need me to tell you how most (lay) people react when the subject comes up again, math mavens, bear with me, please—“Oh, I didn’t do well in math”, “I really struggled with math”, “I’m not a math person”, or, “I’ve always had math anxiety”. A frequent disclosure runs something like, “I took History of Math to get through college”. We make it ok to feel this way—“Well, you really don’t need a lot of math to well in most jobs” or “you know, most math is really not related to the real world”,

Here’s a sample of routine commentary:

• more kids fleeing from math, right from the start: from Psychology Today, link here

• high-paying jobs for people who hate math, link here

• teachers aren’t the problem, link here

Right? It’s this huge math irony we’ve learned to live with for generations. It’s there but it’s not a topic of discussion. We learn to live with it—until we have to discuss it with someone we care about in some capacity. Then, the vast majority of us, have to apply one of the above quotes. Additionally, I think we have to acknowledge the degree to which math, despite its critical role in critical fields, is a white elephant we can’t afford to keep feeding.

But bringing that discussion into a district, a school, a classroom, a Guidance suite, a PTA meeting? Never. Teachers? Who’s asking them? Besides, for any of these people, one has to know a lot of math to even dare to critique it.

Paul Lockhart’s A Mathematician’s Lament, 2002.

To help cope with my frustration, and to be clearer in my mind, about the rare earth of “school math” that disturbed me, I began to read and follow people with differing ways of seeing the world—Thomas West; Faraday; Eames;  Kristina Lamour Sansone, whose Design Instinct Learning work in classrooms has always shined, and, of late, Froebel and Rhoda Kellogg. A dynamic Science teacher in Providence, David Evans, turned me on to Paul Lockhart’s A Mathematician’s Lament. A brilliant critique by a stellar mathematician and humanist. It inspired me that something might be done (although i must note it's almost two decades old now). So, I kept my math thoughts to myself, hunkered down, focusing on other deserving elements of the work, looking for an opening.

That opening came when I met the Math Guys. To be more specific, the What If Math guys—Peter and Art.  These guys are seriously smart, have put a ton of sweat equity into ideas they want to share, and—I love it—they want us to think about math as a lab science! That got me right away.

Peter Mili is a long-time math instructor and coach with lots of years in a public-school setting. I like the chalk dust he brings, and he’s been recognized as a Teacher of Excellence by the NEA Foundation and a Pearson Foundation Global Learning Fellow. As well as thinking about the math involved, Peter has a sharp eye for when kids are engaged, and a deft touch for finding just the right starting point with teachers of varying experience and comfort.

Lamour Sansone showing child art researcher Rhoda Kellogg’s diagram illustrating the evolution of a child’s design development from scribbles to graphic form.

Co-founding partner Art Bardige seems to me to be quite a polymath. He’s all about revolutionizing education, and math along with it, and he’s not shy about saying so. Art started out teaching physics, then moved on to develop education films, developed a middle school math curriculum, then started his first company, Learningways.  He’s well-known as a premier independent educational software developer, so it’s no accident that he’s gone in big with What If Math. (Here’s a link to his new book—Make it Real )

I’m excited about what ERC and What If Math" can do together. We’re hoping to introduce and include them in our new “innovation space” conversations, places we work where the status quo experience of school is not good enough, where they are thinking more seriously about actual redesign.

So, just what’s in the secret sauce?

A core premise of What If Math (link here) is that, outside of schools, the tools of our digital age are enabling us, and increasingly forcing us, to rethink problem-solving. At What If Math, they’re using a problem-solving process out of the worlds of business and design. They call it Functional Thinking because it builds models using functions on spreadsheets. They think, and so do I, that their approach, applied consistently and systematically, is likely to foster many more proficient, creative problem-solvers, many of who right now don’t care for math or things associated with it. That’s a significant promise to math educators.

Something else I’ve noticed about the What If Math approach is the potential for young people to find joy in the struggle and the over-coming involved with numbers and logic. I love to watch the furrowed brows and occasionally confused looks convert to a slight smile or a high-five. Its catching. As Jacob Bronowski observed, "The most powerful drive in the ascent of man is his pleasure in his own skill. He loves to do what he does well, and having done it well, he loves to do it better." And of course, if relevance, something that Art and Peter quest for relentlessly, isn’t part of the learning recipe, it’s probably not going to stand up well with students. That drive for “real-world” is easily seen in their ideas of utilitarian lessons and concepts.

Mili’s answer regarding the What If name, says a lot about their approach:

“Much of the mathematics students are asked to do is school is focused on answering a question of the type ‘What is ….’  For example:   What is: the value of this expression? the solution to this equation? the slope of this line? the area of this triangle? the vertex of this parabola?

“One of our ‘mottos’ became to ask, “What If…?” instead of “What is…?”  Using spreadsheets to create mathematical models for expressions, equations, linear functions, geometric shapes, quadratics,  more advanced functions, recreational mathematics, and problem solving allows for doing a “What if” kind of analysis.  We use parameters in our models so students can explore mathematical topics, solve problems, and answer questions like, What if: you increase the coefficient in this equation?—how do the solutions change?  is there a pattern? What if you want a see a steeper line in your graph?—which parameter do you change?  what change makes the line steeper? What if the base of a triangle decreases by a factor of 2 but the height is constant?  -does the area decrease by a constant factor?

“We believe that these are the kinds of questions that engage students, and then, more importantly, help them want to know and do more, and prepare them for using mathematics outside of the classroom.”

When I asked Art and Peter what I might see in a place where WhatIf Math had been around for a while, here’s what I heard:

“If we walked into a 10th-grade classroom that had been thinking about math as a lab science, I’d probably see that class would start with every student engaging in some task that builds on key prior learnings. This would be very individualized and/or small team based.  The balance of classroom talk would be in favor of students sharing, connecting, critiquing, with seamless technology usage. In the What If approach, tech tools are there to develop critical thinking skills, including coding, with spreadsheets and access to the web in the forefront.  One can imagine an art studio in which students are creating, doing quantitative reasoning and problem solving.” 

“Teachers are much less in front of the classroom, and much more among the students, desk to desk, table team to table team,  as they explore and experiment, guiding, clarifying, questioning, connecting. And, of course asking, ‘what if?”  And, ideally, the teacher would be part of a teaching team, collaborating frequently with colleagues, with time to do just that.” 

I wanted to know more about how the Math Guys had come on to these ideas and where they see it going. Art recounted some aspects of What If’s development:

“We found that even the most difficult concepts in Leonardo’s math, like variable and function, became transparent and concrete in Spreadsheet math and available to much younger kids. We visualize a function as a table of values, simply a row or column of numbers, concrete and easy to manipulate. We visualize and focus a function as paired columns, one containing input values, the other starting with an = sign to build a rule and thus producing an output. As students experiment and become familiar with functions, they can learn iteration where the output of a function becomes its input. We found the power of iteration when we discovered a new way to solve any quadratic equation without the quadratic formula. We’re convinced this math will turn students on because it turns us on. Students can think of math as a place they can also discover new things.”

That’s a key part of the vision—making learning environment a place for discovery. I relish Tyack and Cuban’s critique of our industrial classrooms as places where students encounter “proven facts and pre-determined answers to set puzzles they must solve”. What If gives us something different.

“We keep being surprised at the power inherent in this relatively new technology, but then we should not be surprised because new technologies make hard things easy. We have to bring that simplicity, that power of functional thinking, to our students,” says Bardige.

WhatIf Math? spreadsheets.

There it is again, Bronowski’s theorem – that learning and growing are innate and dynamic. The fact that students see so little of this kind of joyous struggle underlies headlines such as these from Education Week and USA Today a few years ago – “Gallup Student Poll Finds Engagement in School Dropping by Grade Level”. (link here)

For Bardige, the idea of math as a laboratory science is only the point of the lance of their strategy. Bardige shares in his book that he stands for a complete rethinking of the math curriculum:

“The old stuff, Leonardo's Math, that we teach our kids is obsolete. There is no serious reason for our kids to learn it. On the other hand, the math used in business, science and industry in the 21st century, is largely spreadsheet math, with functions as the primary math element and thus functional thinking—model building—as the essential method of problem solving. The What If Labs we’ve designed so far represent a significant step in representing that vision. Recapturing the time spent today in classrooms on paper algorithm practice, we open the way to focus on the future, preparing students to be problem solvers and to use functional thinking as an essential quantitative part of that process. Moreover, it will integrate the disciplines. STEM will be thought of not as a a club of four --science, technology, engineering, and mathematics—but as an integrated approach to creatively solving interesting problems.

“Until that Utopian future arrives I like to think about What If Math as part of a “STEM Problem/Project-Based” approach, where spreadsheet math and functional thinking are used to enable students to deal with big databases and to build and experiment with quantitative models and modeling. Tools like Google Sheets and Microsoft Excel are free to schools and enable students to not just build models but to communicate and collaborate as well as to experiment which enables them to think creatively and critically. In addition, spreadsheets are coding and model building platforms. Problems and projects using spreadsheets—powerful computational tools—allow students to explore authentic issues and to test real world models. Such projects can be done as separate courses or as a portion of science or even math courses.”

Mili, however, would not limit the use of What if Math Labs and spreadsheets to only “revolutionary settings”, commenting “I believe they can be used in any classroom setting, given a teacher with the mindset to do it. He is cautious about “curriculum overhaul wars” with math educators, having seen them before. He believes a deeper focus on the how of K-12 mathematics teaching could be more productive for many schools, and move the dial in a bigger way,

“What I feel is missing is in the field is a coordinated effort to understand how the ongoing revolution of digital technology should inform our mathematics education efforts, and how to integrate technology into the practice of teaching and learning mathematics in an effective, authentic way. He, like Bardige, is particularly excited about rethinking the use of all the time spent in today’s classrooms on paper algorithms.”

This future oriented What If Math vision has resonated strongly with me and with the ERC team, the notion of strategic “letting go” of unproductive practices and replacing them with better structures and systems. That’s the essence of our growing network of innovation and redesign -IRN- people and places committing to what Ted Sizer challenged us to do in 1993- to evolve the systems, structures and practices that promote learning. It’s about time we got back to that. Now that we’re fully aware of the Math Guys, we’re talking about how to move forward together, both in and around schools. As a part of that growing collective, we’re driven to help schools find new ways to think about math, about school innovation and redesign, and about school (and policymaker) accountability. 

Sir Isaac Newton’s mathematical thinking.

What If Math Labs are free, and work on Google Sheets and Microsoft Excel, and there’s no sign-in required for students and teachers. There are 125 now across all age and grade ranges and the team is constantly developing new ones. Art and Peter encourage and support any teachers who want to use their Labs in their classrooms, and if you register you can receive blog posts on mathematical problem- solving and the new Labs they publish. A Spring 2020 event will bring interested explorers together.

I’m also fond of What If Math because its so consonant with ERC’s vision of an emerging, dynamic curriculum approach, The Grand Challenges (link here) Thinking differently about what a “core curriculum” is and should do, is way overdue, something funders and innovators should ponder and use to press policy-makers. What If Math is just the kind of approach to help propel that redesign work in STEM fields and beyond.

Check out the What If Math website. It’s wonderfully abundant in ideas to get your mind going. Their work can be a huge catalyst at a time its most needed. If you want to engage with them directly, it’s easy. Or I’m happy to tell you more and have ERC be a connector. I’ve seen a big chunk of the future of math education. Come on down.

Dr. Larry Myatt
Co-Founder
Education Resources Consortium

Innovators for Purpose: Inspiring a New Generation

If you were making a list of global STEM/high-tech hot spots, you’d have Massachusetts high in the rankings, thanks to the density--Cambridge and Boston, MIT and Harvard, Kendall Square, Rt. 128, etc. Our economy is humming. Our high schools have some great test scores, and we’re full of colleges and universities. On and on. It’s part of why we in Massachusetts often tend to think of ourselves as the best and the brightest.

If you care to look a bit deeper, however, you’d discover a deeply rooted equity challenge. Opportunities for high-quality learning remain unevenly distributed across the Commonwealth. Achievement measured broadly remains unacceptably low in too many schools, and what goes on in our schools and classrooms looks remarkably as it did before the 1993 Ed Reform Act passed. Resultingly, many of our high-tech giants do the bulk of their recruiting in other regions, even other countries. There’s a case to be made that we, as a larger Massachusetts community of K-12, higher education, commerce and community organizations, are not doing a great job at inviting a cross-section of our home-grown youth into serious, well-designed, extended programming to prepare them to join in.

That’s why people here or wherever a similar situation exists should know about Innovators for Purpose. If it concerns you that so many young people are bypassed by a world of high-tech careers -biotech & pharma, programming, aerospace, finance, climate change technologies-- there are lessons in what iFp does and how they do it. If you have STEM programs in your schools or community that seem to only reach the best and the brightest, we can do better. I’ve seen it first-hand. When I was asked recently for a quote about iFp’s work, here’s what I said: "There are few initiatives nationally that combine a commitment to youth and career development AND the sophisticated learning platform to support the scholarship required in the high-tech fields. iFp has proven that they're unique and high performing in that critical realm.” And I believe every word of it.

iFp is a great American story. Three years ago, I first heard about Michael Dawson and Innovators for Purpose. A former engineer who left a stellar career in engineering and high-tech sales to found iFp, Dawson has put together a posse committed to developing young hearts and minds while introducing them to a new world of possible careers. Positive Youth Development meets STEM.

Soft-spoken and thoughtful, Dawson grew up in the shadow of the space program in Cocoa, FL, watching in his under-resourced neighborhood as NASA rockets blasted off, hardly imagining that he might someday have access to the math and science careers that undergird that world.  As he recalls, an 11th grade guidance counselor suggested that he check out a new program after school, collaborating with RCA, Corp.  to introduce young people to electronic engineering. The math that he had been strong in, now had an application that appealed to Dawson. He began to connect the dots as he moved easily in two worlds –his neighborhood and his new world of talented minds, scholarship, design, collaborative thinking, making and building. As he moved on to the University of South Florida, he made two friends who shared similar stories, including the same penchant for engineering, and a third friend was made when he came to Massachusetts in 1987.

 Dawson explains: “The four of us had grown up in under-resourced communities, and like today, sports and entertainment seemed to us to be the way to a better life. But somehow -one of life’s mysteries- the four of us had discovered engineering, gotten good at it, and it changed the trajectory of our lives, in a big way. It gave us the access, the resources, the experiences and connections to be part of a career world we hadn’t imagined.”

“Despite our success, whenever we got together, we always ended up asking, how come there wasn’t greater interest in STEM careers among young people coming up? It seemed to us, four men of color who were succeeding, that key elements were missing. Concepts, connections, and possibilities germane to our own experience, somehow weren’t being made available to many of today’s youth.”  

“So…. I had spent 20 years in engineering, marketing and sales in high-tech. That world had appeal on so many levels --the high-level problem-solving, smart colleagues, the excitement of big-league sales, the expense accounts --how could I walk away? But we needed to take these issues on and I suddenly found myself in search of a calling. What could we do to spark student interest, to help young people -especially those in under-resourced communities- imagine a future, an identity, as a professional in the STEM world –a world where so many critical 21st century careers would be found?”

In March 2014, Dawson founded Innovators for Purpose with those same long-time friends.  With no fanfare, or any institutional or financial backing, iFp was born.

The mission of Innovators for Purpose (iFp) is to spark student interest, especially those in under-resourced communities, to develop their identity as professionals in Design, Science, Technology & Entrepreneurial careers; becoming producers in the fastest growing sectors of our economy, while simultaneously changing the trajectory of their lives.     

To build the organization he envisioned, Dawson realized that he had to tap into the brillant minds walking the streets of Cambridge.  His pitch was simple.  iFp provides a rare opportunitiy to do incredibly creative work, helping young people who are typically the last ones to receive such cutting-edge instruction.

Through that outreach, lots of coffee and persistence, he brought together an an all-star cast of players including: Mark Ottensmeyer, an MIT PhD, who directs MGH Medical Device and Simulation Laboratory provides robotics instruction and support; Ela Ben-Ur, an MIT graduate, Olin College of Engineering adjunct faculty member and former IDEO designer informs the design methodology underlying all iFp programming; Matt Kressy, Founder and Director of the MIT Integrated Design and Management program has been an iFp mentor and partner since day the early going; and MIT graduate Joe Diaz, Program Coordinator for MIT’s Office of Open Learning, helps integrate advanced math and science hands-on learning --and that’s only a small number of the many iFp contributors. The iFp posse committed its efforts to reimagining how STEM is taught to “non-traditional” STEM learners. And, through its work, aspires to reveal the magic of innovation, in the belief that innovation not only can help society progress, but also help the innovators themselves.

Michael’s wife, Donna Dawson, joined the founding team later in 2014 to lend her expertise in arts education and youth engagement. Her reputation for promoting caring, safe and inclusive learning environments helped shaped the initial projects and process. iFp’s intent is that youth remain engaged in their programming from initial introduction in middle school through high school graduation. Donna’s work is critical in building those long-term relationships.  She serves as iFp’s Director of Student & Family Engagement and Creative Director.

Dawson explains, “It’s important to note that although we use the acronym STEM, it’s mostly out of convenience.  Our preferred term is integrated creative problem solving (iCps).   STEM historically has been taught in a very siloed manner.  In the design of our iFp learning activities, the lines between Math, Science, Social Studies and other subjects are erased. We start with areas of student interest --music, art, movies, as well as social & community issues.  From there learning takes an unexpected, yet fundamental turn introducing underlying STEM concepts relevant to the topic. We have found this approach extremely inviting to non-traditional STEM learners, increasing the pool of would-be engineers, scientists and problem-solvers.”

The Cambridge Public Library which initially served as a program host, has become a major friend and partner. iFp is helping the library build its STEAM Academy as part of a citywide STEAM intitivative to enhance and expand students’ access to quality STEAM learning experiences. Additionally, iFp students are creating a communication campaign to increase awareness of the library’s new makerspace. The teens are using a variety of communication tools including social media and XR technologies to ensure the messaging reaches new audiences.

Over the past five years iFp has worked with hundreds of students and dozens of friends and collaborators reimagining how STEM subject matter can be taught.  In their programs, from initial introduction (usually at the middle school level), through high school graduation, students work intensively with professionals doing hands-on, real-world projects. That process helps students discover their passions while developing analytical abilities, creative capacities and furthering an intrinsic drive.  

Donna and Michael Dawson

IFP now divides its programming into two facets: iFp Labs for middle school students and iFp Studios for high-school students. Dawson does his best to lead with compelling, student-oriented approaches. Rather than straight-up robotics, developing machines that vacuum or haul packages, iFp poses an inquiry framework such as “How Robots Make a Difference?”, where students conceptualize, design and build machines that assist people with disabilities, medical challenges and/or unique needs around the home or outside in the world. In iFp, students are drawn to themes that ask questions about fairness, about social and economic justice.  

Another person who thinks big about developing our nation’s youth, Ron Walker, founder and Executive Director of  COSEBOC had this to say about iFp:  “I think they cover a wide territory that is critically important. The future success of America rests in its ability to widen and unclog the pipeline of opportunities for every student and especially those who are the cities’ most marginalized, undervalued, and underserved. The genius that is in these students, resides within walking distance of Cambridge’s innovation and technology zone.”

iFp Teens work is increasingly visible in Cambridge. The Looking Glass a 5-foot aluminum sculpture installed in the heart of bustling Kendall Square, serves as a permanent testament of iFp Studio’s capabilities. In response to a call from the Cambridge Redevelopment Authority for creative interventions in the built environment, iFp Teens designed an interactive sculpture to showcase the city’s transformation from an industrial powerhouse into a biotech and tech mecca. The sculpture is linked to a website with a growing repository of stories to help inform the city’s visitors, workers, and residents of its rich history and exciting future. A smartphone app that will enable participatory audio will soon be added.

Kendall Square, Cambridge

From initial design through installation, the Looking Glass was a 2-year project.  Several students from the original design team persisted for the entire 2-year process, learning and practicing habits that are difficult to mimic in traditional classroom learning .  In May 2020, another 2-year project, called the Genius of Main Street will be installed. The Genius project recognizes the inventive spirit of Kendall in an inclusive manner.  The hope is that all visitors will see themselves in the installation and will one day make their own mark in Kendall or elsewhere.

Dawson concludes, “We’re well under way, but of course we’d like to have more friends, more innovators on our team, and more places to spread the seeds”.

You can follow them on Instagram or at InnovatorsforPupose.org to witness the magic of innovation, to join the crew, or to get iFp for your school or program. I’ve become one of those friends Michael was looking for, and one of his board members, by the way. I hope you’ll take a look as well. There’s a lot to learn from their inspiring work.

Dr. Larry Myatt

Co-Founder,

ERC

How We (ERC) Spent Our Summer

Hello to our many friends as we hit the ground running for School Year 2019-20. We were busy over summer and want to provide a flavor of some of the work we see as vital and meaningful.

New Friends

Artesian Schools- Memphis, TN

Co-Founder Larry Myatt and Chicago-area ERC Associate, Kothyn Evans Alexander spent time getting to know Artesian School’s Southwest Early College HS in Memphis, TN. Founder and Executive Director Ashley Smith has made a move to the inside of the school, becoming interim Principal alongside her ED role.  We love the Artesian motto and mission- link here – the idea that the talent is here, the soul and spirit and will are here, waiting to be tapped. What a great idea for a school!

Larry Myatt & Kothyn Evans Alexander at Artesian Memphis

Smith made a supreme career jump, leaving a successful decade and reputation in pharma sales and development to found a school, a school that had to be in Memphis, and that would build on the local people and wisdom. She has added two seasoned and highly talented new Curriculum Facilitators and is taking a first-hand role in re-thinking the school’s social-emotional development/youth development platforms. SWECHS is adding, over this coming year, a thoughtful Advisory setting to the weekly schedule, restoring PYD activities, reaching out beyond the school to create a learning community built on pushing for higher standards –for students, staff and families—while providing the support to get there. Staff will be working from a “guided discipline” lens to support student growth and achievement. It’s a turn-around of sorts but the future looks good, she is raising expectations, and is an open, energetic and super committed leader! We’re all in with her, her team and with Memphis!

Pembroke, NH Innovation Academy

Dr. Katrina Kennett with Pembroke educators

Pembroke (NH) Innovation Academy

Last spring, I had the chance to meet with old friend, Chris Motika, Director of Curriculum,. Instruction and Assessment in Pembroke, NH. Chris and I had worked closely in Manchester, NH and he introduced me to his new colleagues – Headmaster Paul Famulari, Curriculum Director Dan Morris, and Dean of Students Amy Parkinson—from Pembroke Academy. They were excited for their high school, to explore new ideas and practices to engage teachers and students, even in a context where students are doing quite well by traditional measures. We had an energetic late afternoon two hours in March as we explored possibilities and they prepared to present to their school board the idea of an Innovation Academy, where students and teachers could explore deep inquiry practices, project design that goes beyond “PBL”, and create new systems and structures, as  a sort of “R&D” segment of the school.

They soon got the okay they were after and a large number of staff came forward to populate the teaching ranks of the Academy over the next 2-3 years. My Inquiry Colleague, Dr. Katrina Kennett, and I were invited to work with their team for an initial kick-off in June. The first cohort of teachers brought energy, curiosity and high hopes. Busy school administrators and other teaching colleagues in the building freely sat in and participated, boding well for a growing investment in more sophisticated and engaging teaching to reach and go deeper with all learners. We dug into our ever-growing Inquiry Tool Kit, introducing EdCafes, our Grand Challenges and Curiosity Key to the PA Innovation team. We’ll be headed back as they rev up for opening!

Calcutt Inquiry Academy, Central Falls, Rhode Island

Calcutt CIA Summer PD

Six summer days brought together teachers and hands-on Principal Tim Milisauskas from Calcutt Middle School to get a jump start on building the school’s Inquiry Academy. The Academy will encompass almost all of the school’s eighth grade, is completely heterogeneous, and includes a sizeable number of students learning English as a second language. It’s a high-stakes venture but the team and the administration show every sign of being ready. The CIA team explored tried-and-true ERC tools and strategies, such as Learning Murals, EdCafes, meeting protocols, and Viewing Groups as well as working on hands-on activities, collaborations and visits beyond the school and an interesting set of organizational development “working principles” to guide their work when the going gets tough in the new team ecology.

ERC will continue to work directly with the CIA as well as providing full-faculty professional learning in the areas of positive school climate, inquiry tools, and school redesign as Calcutt moves into implementation phases of its district change initiative.  

On-going Coaching and Consulting

ERC Co-Founder and Head of Executive Coaching, Wayne Ogden

Co-Founder Wayne Ogden continued his stellar work supporting leaders coaching in a number of settings. We’re not ashamed to say that he’s prominent among a handful of highly experienced experts on teacher supervision and support. Helping in-service administrators to keep priorities in order and provide granular attention to developing a high-performing culture remains in demand. As Wayne reminds us in his “Six Myths” (link here), “20% of newly hired school leaders leave their position within two years of employment, with some districts routinely report principal “failure rates” of almost 50% within the first five years. Who’s NOT going to invest in support for people at that place in the organization?”

Wayne’s coaching work took him, among other places, to the Tiverton, RI Public Schools to continue his long-time collaboration with Superintendent Dr. Peter Sanchioni and where he mentors new and early-career principals at the middle and high school levels.  He does similar work with Natick, MA Superintendent of Schools, Dr. Anna Nolin, working with principals at the elementary school level.

Wayne also concluded a long and fruitful coaching collaboration with Buckingham, Browne & Nichols, working with their lower school in ERC’s once-home town of Cambridge, MA. The school continues to thrive and Wayne enjoyed a number of productive coaching relations at the school.

Also, among continuing work, Wayne provides leadership and capacity building support at TEC Connections Academy in Walpole, MA also known as TECCA. TECCA is one of Massachusetts’s two public k-12 virtual school districts. And serves approximately 2,300 students. In its fourth year in 2018-2019, the school is led by superintendent Adam Goldberg. Ogden supports the fast-growing school’s efforts by facilitating a “New Leaders Group” and serves as a confidential coach for members of the school’s new Leadership Team.

Woburn MA Public Schools

A teams of ERC consultants led by Wayne Ogden pitched in to support Superintendent Matt Crowley in this Boston-West suburb by conducting program reviews at both the Joyce and Kennedy Middle Schools. The reviews offered a deep and comprehensive look at the curricular and co-curricular offerings at each of the two schools including classroom observations, student and parent surveys, document reviews and interviews with teachers and administrator in order to assist in shaping a professional development plan for each school. Joining in the work in Woburn were Dr. Jim Marini and Dr. Judith Malone Neville. ERC provides a range of services that help districts and leaders assess the work of their schools. (link here)

White Mountains Summer Institute, NH 

Scenes from White Mountains Summer Institute

White Mountains Regional HS conducted their first Summer Institute thanks to a generous grant from the Barr Foundation. Principal Mike Berry invited ERC’s Katrina Kennett and co-founder Larry Myatt to co-design and facilitate the three-day event and to provide mini consultations to teams in the areas of Humanities, Integrated Math/Science, Environmental Studies, Sophomore/Senior Seminar, STEAM and more. It was an impressive professional outing. Staff were cranking despite the midsummer heat outside and food trucks provided fun and nutrition to a staff hungry not only for lunch, but more importantly, for professional growth, intense collaboration, and re-committing to the idea that the school serves as the intellectual center of a community--“doing more for more kids”, as they like to say. Hats off to the Spartans!

Albuquerque Middle Schools

Eight middle schools from Zone 1 in Albuquerque came together to explore plans to raise achievement and build positive culture by better supporting students’ social-emotional development. Assistant Superintendent for Zone 1 Gabriella Blakey is a friend and colleague from prior endeavors in the Duke City and we built our two days of work around ERC’s Eight Key Elements of a robust social-emotional and positive youth development (PYD) setting. Principals from the eight schools brought school climate data, as well as information on their instructional and support teams and community connections. Key ideas from our working theory are that high-functioning teacher teams offer greater insights and support for students, that adults engaging young people with a PYD lens can bring out the best in young people, and that community organizations working in schools must play a larger role.  We keep saying it, wellness is an achievement strategy, and we hope for good things for these eight schools.

“Just In”-- Manchester West 2019 STEAM data

Dr. Larry Myatt leads a data discussion.

A note sent along by old friend Bob Baines, former Mayor of Manchester, NH and founder of STEAM-Ahead NH indicated that our professional development and coaching at West HS had paid off in a big way. (see link here)

He passed along data that confirmed that our different approach to STEM, to professional development and to deep, inquiry projects paid off. Among the highlights:

• a 96% graduation rate for STEAM Academy students

• STEAM students are attending college and earning Honor Roll report cards at significantly higher rates

• 7 STEAM students finished in the top 13, although making up less than 20% of the school population

Congratulations to the hard-working faculty of Manchester West HS STEAM!!

Those are some of the places the ERC team showed up this summer. The myth of educators having the “summer off” is just that -a myth. These are schools and districts that we can be proud of and we’re happy to work with them.

Happy Fall to all!

The ERC team.

“The Place to Be”: A Middle School Reimagining Itself

I’ve been enjoying my experience watching the Calcutt Middle School as it looks to reimagine itself and I’m just one of many people who are excited about the possibilities.

Principal Milisauskas and the new outdoor lunch area

Located in Central Falls, Rhode Island, Calcutt has launched a voyage to become “the place to be” in the community. I really like that phrase from new Principal Tim Milisauskas. Its short and sweet but I hear it as a promise to the students and families.

Milisauskas brings a history of teaching in NYC’s progressive schools, a deep interest in inquiry learning and Reggio Emilia and strong expertise in instruction, having been a math coach before joining the ranks of principals. He’s excited to be in Central Falls and committed long-term to the growth of its students and its practitioners.

The Calcutt student body is a beautiful tapestry of languages and heritage, and as with most middle schools, the kids come in all sizes, shapes and flavors, so to speak. To greet them at the front door each morning is inspiring, with their diversity and enthusiasm on full display. Sports, support for new arrivals from other nations, and a strong team that manages after-school activities and tutoring are becoming more central elements of the student experience and fund-raising has begun to add more to the menu, including efforts led by the students themselves. And the faculty have dug into some key aspects of a strategy for raising achievement, which I’ll get to.

But how are they doing with that mission of becoming “the place to be”? One data point from the winter months, a time that can be challenging as cold sets in and days get shorter, was when an estimated 300 families attended this year’s Family Game Night. The evening included all manner of board games, popcorn, pizza and drinks. Even Santa Claus was available for gift requests, small talk and photos with each and every family.

Thinking back, Assistant Principal Katie Gomes felt especially good about the event, recounting inside stories of families enjoying each other’s company, including some recently reunited, eating together and playing board games. Many students whose parents could not attend, came with friends or other relatives, lending the hoped for family feel.  Especially cool was that people were persistent in asking when the next such event would be. While in the past, similar attempts to engage caregivers often resulted in low turnout, the energy this time around was positive and appreciative. Close to three hundred families! Seems to me that one milestone was achieved in identifying the school and its staff as people who want to take good care of this rising generation of Americans.

 I find being around Central Falls to be relaxing and comfortable. These working people are clearly hustling but most take time to greet you, and unlike our home base in the Boston area, they routinely let your car enter at busy intersections. There are some great Latino restaurants and bodegas as well as good burgers. But it also can be said that Central Falls is a community that, to Milisauskas’ point, needs more positive places, given its chronic high unemployment and an ever-growing influx of people looking for a good place to set down roots. Historically, levels of school achievement have reflected low income, lack of familiarity with English, and frequent relocations experienced by many families. (Here is where I have to point out that, since the 1930’s beginnings of achievement testing, the one relentless scientific correlation regarding test performance is with income --one’s ZIP code. If your family has the means, you will be likely be well supported in learning and achieve at higher levels. There are occasional short-lived exceptions, but it’s a given that students in privileged, economically well-off communities outscore others on tests.)

Santa at a Family Game Night

A centerpiece of the Central Falls School District’s improvement efforts is a refreshed and revitalized Calcutt Middle School, including some structural changes and an investment in collaboration and professional learning for staff. I’m pleased to be supporting the Calcutt administration and its newly minted Principal Leadership Team (PLT) as they take stock and plan next chapters. I’m also working on behavioral climate with the school’s Restorative Team and ERC will be assisting with the design of an Inquiry and Innovation Academy, similar to work we have done elsewhere, building on an inquiry-approach to learning and breaking some of the bonds that have limited STEM results in other places.

Students enjoy an “luncheon out with reservations, menus and reading” with teachers Justyna Barlow and Laticia Biggerstaff.

Calcutt’s Principal Leadership Team examines data together

The new Calcutt Principal Leadership Team has worked closely with Milisauskas to employ a Design Studio approach that ERC has used successfully elsewhere to take stock of current conditions -challenges and assets from user perspectives (students, staff, families), identify key levers, research effective solutions and pose potential modifications and pilots for the faculty and staff. The work requires careful analysis and consensus, and of course time, which schools never seem to have enough of. But Special Educator and teachers’ association representative Danielle Laferriere says the school is moving in the right direction after an extended era of challenges, “I think our staff sees us leaving ‘survival mode’ behind. There’s lots of work ahead of us, not just improving academics but coming together as a faculty, supporting each other and growing together, but I’m optimistic”. In addition, a new school-based communications team (SBT) helps to monitor progress and engage the community for input and dissemination.

To guide the Calcutt Design Studio work, Milisauskas posed the driving question, what are the elements of an optimal middle years learning environment? To gain thought partnership and perspective in pursuing that redesign question, members of administration and the PLT have been on visits to other middle schools in the northeast region. Milisauskas has been steely-eyed on the benefits of such visits. Historically, funders and intermediaries have built on visits to other schools, hoping for adults’ conversion to new ideas, replacing old pictures of school with new, and relying on a small group of travelers returning to oversee the dramatic conversion of the sending schools. Being the former leader of a school that hosted hundreds of visits a year, I would say the return on investment was, and remains, remarkably low. Milisauskas however has applied ERC’s School Visit Guide and expanded notions of visiting other schools as a learning adventure, with an accent on metabolizing the adult experiences and take-aways for smart use back at Calcutt.  Link to guide here. The PLT members visited East Side Middle and High School and Lenox Academy in New York City where they were impressed by the students’ ability to pursue their own learning with strong academic habits and language.

As a veteran of many similar “make-over” efforts I’m curious as to how a school re-design quest can reflect newly abundant data about key elements: mental health, exercise and mindfulness, reading science, and positive youth development (PYD), among others. I’m also focused with Principal Milisauskas on the importance of adult mindset regarding organizational behaviors such as intense teaming and collaboration and working with students with starkly different language and cultural backgrounds. As I’m fond of noting in presentations, improvement in schools with histories of low-achievement has been shown to depend a great deal on educator mindset --belief in one’s colleagues, in their students and in the mission--- and on skilled leadership, rather than on more instructional, “technical fixes”, especially in the early stages. Those can come later, built upon a strong set of agreements among elements of the school community.

And then, of course, we’re asking what lore is there to draw on regarding the past century’s history of middle years education? Middle schools have often been a neglected or murky entity since their advent in the 1920’s as “’junior’ high schools”. In 1910, only one out of every ten students were finishing high school. The middle years experience was perceived to be at fault, but that failure was attributed to differing rationales -a rigid, narrow emphasis on academics; a curriculum insufficient in its organization and rigor to prepare students for the upper grades; a missed opportunity for steering numbers of students into vocations; or the neglect of a growing understanding of pre-adult psychology. Some believed junior high schools should be places to prepare students for the academic rigors of high school; while others considered young adolescents to be a group at risk requiring, above all, support and understanding. Tyack and Cuban, in their stellar history of American public education, Tinkering Toward Utopia, describe it this way:

“The very ambiguity of purpose and comprehensiveness of these aims made the junior high school idea a reform to conjure with during successive decades of the 20th century. Although the junior high school did not become distinctively different from the high school and came to be seen as a rather troubled part of the American educational system, it did sponsor changes that became hybridized in various ways.”

Calcutt STEAM workshop

 To Tyack and Cuban’s point, varying visions of effective middle school organization still compete today. The stark differences among students in their size and physicality, social and emotional growth and development and location on the puberty continuum, as well as disparities in developmental reading abilities and academic skills have made it challenging to sustain supportive middle years environments that consistently address such a chasm of needs. Some states and districts, with good intentions, have even divided academic services and support in the middle years into two “levels” -grades 5/6 and grades 7/8, but this often means unhelpfully dichotomized programming, schedules, achievement targets and educator certification requirements. Such delineations too often fail to account for the afore-mentioned developmental and academic differences, can limit creativity and flexibility in teaching and learning, and constrain vertical collaboration among staff --the law of unintended consequences at work.

Calcutt’s Restorative Team reviews data

Back at the school, Noel Grant, who coordinates Calcutt climate with the skilled “Restorative” team, has also noted progress, especially among 8th graders. His notion is that although challenges remain, the investment in strategies that build a healthy climate is beginning to show, and as younger students climb through the grades, they will be bringing positive habits and relationships with them, paving the way for higher achievement.

“Calcutt Reads” -students read before gym class

Two central initiatives were inaugurated this year – “Calcutt Reads”, an effort to make reading central to students’ lives by making it central to conversations in the school, as well as a central focus on vocabulary. Teachers committed to these two vital efforts with vitality, and now, along with candid color pictures of students and teachers that have sprung up in formerly barren hallways, signs indicating what books staff are reading and “key words of the week” are everywhere. Students now answer, most without hesitation, questions about what they’re reading as well as new words they’ve learned and practiced. Again, this in a school with many students new to the language and culture of literacy, so these are purposeful and promising efforts.

WhatIf Math

As one more sign of the school’s renaissance, May visitors to the school were Arthur Bardige and Peter Mili, Co-Founders of WhatIf Math, a powerful new approach to making math problem solving more of a concrete, consistent, and understandable process across the discipline. With the goal of helping students become more able problem-solvers, WhatIf Math is finding a foothold among schools looking for an inquiry-based approach to learning math for the digital age.  Milisauskas, who was a math instructional coach in a prior life, is excited about their approach to preparing students for high school and far beyond and is in negotiations with Bardige and Mili about concrete next steps over the summer.

As a finale to a special new year, the Calcutt staff offered a “Lock-In”, a supervised and fun-filled overnight for students at the school. Adults were there in force, some for shifts and others for the whole night! The social media post below offers a glimpse of the fun.

Calcutt “Lock-In’s” social media post

As an onlooker, as well as a veteran coach of many similar efforts, I’m impressed by the commitment and understanding of school change leadership that Milisauskas brings to the work --he’s a key acquisition for Central Falls- and by the vitality and increasing buy-in of many educators at Calcutt. Key faculty are stepping up –some with special activities in the classroom, others participating in school leadership, others communicating with families. For many, this is what they’ve been waiting for.

All in all, Calcutt is a very different school from the one I visited only a year ago. It’s making parents, students and staff proud to be part of it. It’s a school becoming “the place to be”.

Larry Myatt

Co-Founder

Serious Meddling in New Hampshire’s North Country

Being a school principal, if you work hard enough and enter with the right motivation, can be one of the best possible jobs around. I did it for 21 wonderful years. It’s also relentless, grueling, exhilarating, vexing, work that sometimes seems to defy gravity. Max DePree once defined good leadership as serious meddling in other people’s lives. I think he was right on, especially about leading a school. Its an element of the job that eludes many.

Mike Berry has been doing serious meddling for almost a decade now in a village in the North Country of New Hampshire, principal of a regional high school that has become a mecca for good teachers, new ideas, and most significantly, a place families can count on to take excellent care of their children. That “taking care” of young people, and of each other is something you can feel in and around the school and it takes many forms.

WMRHS Students' inquiry in action

Over the past three years I’ve appreciated the chance to watch Mike’s work and see some of the outcomes. White Mountains Regional High School is a New Hampshire “School of Excellence” and Berry himself was recently named one of five New England NESSC 2018 “State Champions”, an award given to a select group that push for equitable learning for all students. In Mike’s case, I know specifically what that work looks like, doing more for more kids in his words. 

At White Mountains, beware Mike’s serious meddling in your professional life. Its not okay to be complacent. But also expect his energy and support, any unique resources you might need, and pats on the back at just the right time. To work at WMRHS is to choose an active professional life and major commitment to growing your practice in a public setting. That’s some of the magic there, you don’t get to work in private. Berry has converted several classrooms into Silicon Valley worthy collaborative spaces, with all the tech supports needed for documentation, and curation of work. If and when a teacher leaves, their legacy of curriculum thinking and instruction will remain behind in their portfolio of work, intellectual property to be treasured and kept in play.  I’m reminded of the wonderful Ivory Coast proverb, “when a teacher retires, it’s like a library burning”. Its not likely to be that way as much at White Mountains.

Among big ticket items, the school has converted to a Humanities approach in grades 9-11 rather than separate disciplines in social studies, history, literature and language arts. That move was based on Berry’s teaching experience, achievement data from Boston and elsewhere, and the simple notion that big ideas and questions are the best way to avoid learning silos. You can find the arts, classical readings or political theory, social media, contemporary issues and more in those classes.  An Innovation Academy, focused around STEM and STEAM ideas, will occupy a portion of the building next year. The Spartan Steam Innovation Academy (SSIA) is pushing the frontiers of inquiry teaching,  experimenting with alternatives to traditional groupings, scheduling and curriculum thinking, extending beyond the veneer of “PBL” to deeper, more authentic projects, problems and scenarios. Two central ideas of SSIA are, one, to push for more rigorous, long-term individual and small team projects by using the ERC Grand Challenges link as a different and more engaging approach to presenting content; the other is a focus on building each student’s intellectual and inter-personal “tool kit”, skills that help with research, presentation, teamwork, reflection, inquiry and curation.

STEAM faculty Rick Grima and Dan Hubacz, who mentor the new Robotics team, joined by ERC’s Dr. Katrina Kennett

ERC is proud to be consulting to these efforts, as well as supporting Berry and his Leadership Team in their plans to keep growing and improving and maintaining smart risk-tolerance. Mike has really latched on to two of our big ideas --“moving to a culture of learning” (much harder than it sounds), and living out the old innovation mantra, “first different, then better”. He’s taken those notions and is running with them, cooking them into the work of the school with help from lots of eager staff. His team recently presented their work at the NESSC Conference in Norwood, MA, drawing large attendance and great reviews. They talked about the evolution of their work, and how working in collaboration and in a public setting has fueled their work. On that team with Berry were Molly Campbell, Patsy Ainsworth, Abby Roy and Melissa Jellison.

The White Mountains team presentation at NESSC 2019

In more good news, the school learned recently that they will become a regional center for TRRE, a program from the University of New Hampshire that prepares teachers to do high-quality work in rural settings. Practicing teachers from around the region combine 15 months of graduate degree coursework with a full-year teacher residency and initial NH teacher licensure. Having White Mountains Regional High School as a North Country center for TRRE students will allow them to be in one facility under the tutelage of supervising faculty while they focus on creating inquiry-centered classrooms.

And there’s more! Other developments include a new 9th grade Integrated Math & Science initiative, and, one I was pleased to help prompt, a growing collaboration between the school and WhatIf Math out of Boston, see link an exciting new approach to thinking about, teaching, and learning math. Co-founder Art Bardige is headed to the school this spring to work directly with the Math Team and the SSIA. Berry hopes to be among the first high schools in the nation to fly the WhatIf Math pennant, looking ahead to a different, more utilitarian and engaging approach to math.

WhatIf Math is beginning a collaboration with the school.

In another innovation, Berry now employs two school-wide “integrationists”, versatile thinkers and do-er’s with private sector experience who can inject concepts and skills from art, design, music, social media and beyond, to enhance engagement, research and presentation. That’s a job description I hope we will see more of as schools cope with the research on student disinterest in traditional classroom learning. A recently added “elective”, Progressive Styles, taught by Mike Martins, has become a hot spot for students with a range of musical and artistic interests and not one, but two White Mountains students were recently admitted to the prestigious Berklee College of Music in Boston.

The Spartan Van kicks up some dust down Boston way -Berry, on the left, with Jellison, Roy, Campbell and Ainsworth

As you can see in this last picture, the WMRHS Spartan van is getting around. Serious meddling is paying off. And the winners are the students, families and professionals of a school on the move!

Dr. Larry Myatt,

Co-Founder

Education Resources Consortium

THREE STORIES FROM LAST YEAR TO GUIDE US IN 2019: ERC Wishes You a Happy New Year

Greetings--- As we roll into 2019, here are three education stories worth revisiting and talking about with colleagues:

1- Teachers Leaving the Profession at Record Rates

One of the things ERC does regularly is to facilitate school-based “new teacher groups”. They’ve gotten high praise from principals and from participants. We’ve been around and have learned to pay attention to the issues surrounding the attrition of young teachers. We see groups like these as a critical investment. Disturbingly high percentages of educators leave the profession after a brief foray, especially in poorer schools and low-performing settings, and despite a major financial investment in a teaching degree. We base our approach to working with new teachers on the fact that many people leave teaching not because they can’t master the technical aspects – organizing content, planning lessons, using computer programs, etc. but because of isolation and loneliness, on-going anxiety, lack of professional support, and the amount of time and emotional energy consumed by just showing up every day for school. We’ve also noticed over the past 4-5 years more complaints about the grind of getting scores up, a focus on trivial results over more engaging teaching, a relentless march through textbooks and standards to keep pace with demands for “coverage”, and the associated impingement on creativity that led many to consider the classroom to begin with.

 Now we can add meager pay and competing opportunities to that list:

 Teachers Quit Jobs at Highest Rate on Record

2-Facebook is not our friend

My instincts always made me leery of Summit Learning. Purchasing that platform seemed too much like a capitulation, an acknowledgement that a school can’t organize its curriculum, design lessons to connect with and motivate students and spark curiosity, or function as a “living system” with the capacity to recognize and address its own shortcomings. The Summit educators I met were largely unable to cite a theory of action, explain their role in making critical decisions about student learning, or comment on how the Summit approach fostered professional collegiality (remembering that adult learning and collaboration are the #1 predictors of a high-functioning organization). I attended Summit events where a common answer to any serious question about teaching and learning was, “oh, just have the students click here”. I also heard thoughtful educators rue the program’s reliance on cartoons and videos to explain and/or teach skills and a trivialization of serious historical and contemporary issues of class, race, gender, and equity.

I wasn’t surprised last year when more reports began to surface about students and families who had those and other issues with the Facebook-backed, Silicon Valley incursion into classrooms. Designed by pseudo-educators to make a buck and expand customer base, its unsavory aroma began to spread. Here's one story, and we think it’s cool that NYC’s Urban Academy, a public high-school bastion of rigorous, inquiry-based teaching and learning and attention to issues of social justice was one of the schools whose students led the way.

Students protest Zuckerberg-backed digital learning program and ask him: ‘What gives you this right?’

3-We Knew It All Along: More Pressure is Not a Solution

 Sadly, but predictably, the “School Turnaround” effort has largely been a costly failure. Few schools have ever turned around, and those that did had short-lived, marginal improvement. Policy-makers under duress, living apart from the reality of schools, have too often tried to address the wrong problems. An emphasis on technical fixes and programs to raise scores, many delivered as part of the proliferation of “school management” organizations (for both charter and traditional public schools), combined with low district capacity to identify and address root causes to make the turnaround approach a major loser for schools and taxpayers (but a boondoggle for “providers” --see Meyers and VanGronigen’s So Many Educational Service Providers, So Little Evidence.) This retrospective look raises questions about whether the meager gains were worth the political controversy, and the educational costs of putting a greater focus on test scores:

Pressuring schools to raise test scores got diminishing returns, new study of No Child Left Behind finds

Looking Ahead

Front-line educators have work to do. We have to do our homework and we need to know our history. We have to ask harder questions, and commit to engage the pubic on the issues that matter to us and to our students and families.

Here’s to a healthy and rewarding 2019.

Larry Myatt and Wayne Ogden, Co-Founders

Education Resources Consortium

EdHistory 101 Project- Volume 2- December 2018- Our Industrial Legacy

Why do schedules, bells and teaching routines in our schools feel so machine-like and industrial? So relentless and repetitive? It’s not by accident. And it’s certainly not good for learning. In this edition of our EdHistory 101 Project, we look back at the roots of some of the unhelpful correlations among time, learning and subject matter that persist today.

One summer a few years back, at a shoreline vacation spot bookstore, I picked up a volume called Six Lives, Six Deaths. The book related the lives, and as the title suggests the manners of ritual death of six notable figures in Japanese history. As the book unfolds and relates stories from the 19th century, it so happens that a favored practice in a late-1800’s, “newly-opened”, Meiji Japan was to send promising military men abroad for study in Germany, England, France, and the United States. Notably these were the world’s major coal-powers, and the goal of these study tours was to keep abreast of exploding Western developments in science and technology.

At that point in time, the accelerating industrial revolution was advancing into new frontiers, including an area that became known as “management science” -the detailed study of work and factory production.

In the first half of the 19th century the requirements for precision in the finishing of machine parts increased sharply as steam engines spread and machine-building developed. This brought about the rapid development of industrial measurement technology. The works of Carl Gauss, who had developed the  method of “least squares”  and  the “absolute  system of units” (CGSE), became foundational. New principles and theories abounded, and the field of metrology was established, including the metric system, to insure uniformity of scientific research and production.

As the new field of management science matured, it quickly developed its own canon and lore, ascending into prominence in the burgeoning world of capitalism. Attention turned to how newly-recognized “improvement principles” in industrial settings (i.e. factories) might be applied to other important dimensions of a nation’s growth and development. Industrial technology science was most often applied first to a nation’s military infrastructure, but then its principles began to branch out to other aspects of public works and government services. It seemed that wherever the Japanese visitors travelled a consistent component in the quest to create a secure, wealthy and high-functioning state was the application of “measurement technology”.

In America, concepts from this field soon began to impact the design of a new wave of larger and more uniform public schools, beginning by impacting the beliefs and practices of the educational administrations that shaped and tended schooling “for the masses”. Reading reports and records from that time period concerning the nature of those “scientific” developments I was struck by their potent impact on end-of-19th century thinking about school.

At the turn of the 20th century powerful metrological institutions were founded in industrially-developed countries where their technologies swiftly meshed with emerging knowledge bases in other fields. Some contemporary educational graduate courses (I hope) still spend time on the impact of thinking from Frederick Winslow Taylor (1856-1915) on the organization of our work force, and later, on our schools. He was convinced that with study, observation and analysis -and the application of new concepts in measurement science- the "one best way" to do things in almost any arena could be discovered.

Taylor is perhaps most remembered for his stopwatch time study, the findings of which combined with motion studies (now able to be captured on film for analysis) to become the larger field of “time and motion study”.  Just as with factory machines, he could break a job into its component parts and measure each to the hundredth of a minute!  One of his most famous studies involved shovels. Taylor observed laborers shoveling varying weights with the same size shovel. After analysis, Taylor concluded that the shovel load with which “a first class man would do his biggest day’s work” was 21½ lb., and therefore fabricators could design shovels that, for each material , would scoop up exactly that amount.

At this point, it’s worth noting that among Taylor’s aficionados were Elwood Cubberley –arguably the most influential figure in shaping the early 20th century’s school routines and organization (Link to EdProject 101) Cubberley as well as 1930’s-40’s Soviet economists who built much of their social-industrial planning on Taylor’s  ideas and studies. In America, Cubberley, citing the threat from other nations with competing philosophies and economies (and armies), drilled home the ideas of schools as “factories where the raw materials can be shaped to meet the various demands of life”, institutions that demanded “efficiency in all endeavors”.

The extension of that thinking among school-designing policy makers was to use the schools as a “grading” device, so that the top 10% of school performers would become our leaders –the bankers, professors, statesmen, generals, inventors and entrepreneurs – and the rest would be directed where they were “suited”, a paradigm that, despite our rhetoric,  exists today. Other distinct hallmarks of that historic intersection of schooling, capitalism and industry remain largely without examination, such as the “report card” which mimics quarterly reports of production, profit and loss, and stock value to boards and shareholders, and which resembles an accountant’s ledger to quantify “learning” and behavior. Others include the calculation of grade-point averages and the reporting of “class rank”, suggesting the social “class” within which one is likely to fit.

So, there it was, and so it remains. The result of that era’s machine-age thinking was the solidification of an industrial model school, which, as intended, remains separate and apart from daily life, and as Peter Senge articulately pointed out in Schools That Learn, poses the problems which students, families and teachers struggle with to this day. Beliefs from that era include that knowledge is fragmented and arises in separate, distinct categories; that the school should therefore be broken into “pieces” managed by specialists; that there are smart, fast kids and slower, not-smart kids, and when the machine moves forward some students will lag, others fall to the side and require some sort of label addressing their inability or difference. The list goes on, but the upshot of these beliefs is that every day secondary teachers face the impossible task
of addressing dozens of learners in hour-long settings, and consequently, many learners and
their families struggle to fit into a system that is built to impede “fitting in” and a degree of
success for all.

And the brilliant Yale psychologist Seymour Sarason pointed out, the system can degrade the motives and performance of teachers as well. (The Culture of School and the Problem of Change, Sarason, 1996) He writes convincingly that, despite their proximity to children, most educators work largely alone the vast majority of the time, and too many can experience a kind of professional isolation and loneliness. Many suffer the negative effects of prolonged, relentless routine and repetition, similar to those of assembly line workers. Others lose faith by internalizing some of the impact of the failure and “buy-out” they see with many learners, year after year.
As a consultant to scores of schools, these are symptoms that are all too common but seldom discussed, even surprisingly, by groups that represent our teaching corps.

As we close out 2018, growing student disinterest in what we offer as classroom learning is increasingly well-documented. Two decades of flat achievement and our inability to move beyond repeating the same list of failed strategies ought to lead us to look more deeply at the model, and ought to be disturbing enough to make those who guide our policies decide to revisit the 19th-century “science” that has given us the schools we have.

At the very least, we ought to know where these lingering ideas come from.

Larry Myatt, Co-Founder

Now! A More Useful and Engaging Curriculum Framework

We're really excited about some new curriculum thinking that holds huge potential for kids and schools. Here's how we got here.

The first time I got really provoked about curriculum issues was when Coalition of Essential Schools Founder Theodore Sizer visited our school in the early 90’s. He spent most of a day and seemed to have had a great visit, roaming around the school on his own for several hours, asking students about their experiences. On his way out, after a few glowing remarks about the climate, he asked, with a curious look, “You know, schools are funny. I wonder why we’ve decided to offer American History in the morning, but American Literature in the afternoon?” He asked it lightly, in a tone that suggested he wanted me to think on it more than he wanted an answer. That would be Ted.

As a busy high school principal, I didn’t give it a whole lot more thought that day, but it came back to me that evening, and again the next day. That simple question from Ted led to weeks, and ultimately years of thinking about how we order things, how, in Jal Mehta’s words from The Allure of Order, we attempt to “rationalize” human learning and school behaviors. Ongoing deliberation on his question led our school to move eagerly to a Humanities format that included those two traditional fields, or “classes”, that Ted mentioned, but also social sciences, music, art and design, themes re-cast in deep exploration of issues that matter to us all, that go beyond simple notions of “inter-disciplinary”.

A decade later, I, like 15 million other viewers, chuckled and nodded through Sir Ken Robinson’s TED Talk- “do schools kill creativity?” Of course, they do. We know that. They are meant to instill conformity instead. But in his delightful skewering of our industrial model, he not only reminds us that the traditional curriculum is wildly unhelpful, he traces its origins to the desires of late 19th century policy makers to prepare a small percentage of learners for academia and the professorship, another small batch, the would-be doctors, lawyers and generals, and the rest for work and various levels of drudgery.

So began my long road of nagging doubts about the effectiveness of the traditional “math, science, history and English” line-up. My experiences as high school principal, college professor, school coach and consultant repeatedly unmasked school as limiting and often discouraging. At each stop along the way I was reminded me that people crave connections to their own “mysteries”, want to ask their own questions and chase big ideas, to find out more about things that really matter, not bounce around each day in a world carved into four or five thin slices.

In agreement, and likely somewhat out of pity, a good friend, the late and great Ron Wolk, founder of Education Week (he was an early and persistent Jiminy Cricket of our disappointing “standards” movement) urged me to read Marion Brady’s work. Brady’s rich library of thinking on curriculum and standards added perspective and substance to my own from-the-trenches critique. See link.

That talk with Ron, who had his own rich legacy, inspired me to put my mind in a more focused way to contributing to school redesign. Serious redesign. The kind we imagined with Ted in the early 90’s. Not the silver bullets we’ve seen come, go, and repeat themselves --mastery learning, “PBL”, “blended” learning, competency-based instruction. They’re helpful but insufficient, adaptive approaches that accept most of the current “arrangements” of school. Our schools need the kind of redesign that doesn’t skirt the core issues and problems of our school “architecture”. I wanted to surface the hurtful impact of our industrial approach to school on learners and families, issues such as the false correlations between time and learning, the smothering limitations imposed by age-alike cohorts and overly simplistic cognitive and social/emotional development paradigms, reductive concepts of the locus of learning, and above all, the CURRICULUM. The curriculum that’s like carbon monoxide, that puts us to sleep without our knowing. A curriculum whose origins we can’t cite, that seems to have no agreed-upon aim or over-arching purpose and disregards the seamlessness of human perception. As Brady points out, our traditional curriculum thinking "accepts short-term recall rather than logic to access our memory banks, has few criteria for determining the relative importance of what' being taught, relates only occasionally to real-world experience, and fails to encourage creative thought".

I had a breakthrough moment in 2013. I had the good fortune to read a short yet especially thoughtful article, “Synergies”, by G. Wayne Clough, then Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. His insights in to the urgency of organizing human thinking in a collective effort moved and excited me just as they had inspired his colleagues and collaborators at the Smithsonian. Finally, here was a way of making sense of our intellectual efforts, our potential as social and thinking creatures, and doing so in a way to make for a better planet and a better “civilization”.  See link.

The Grand Challenges presented themselves immediately to me as a framework for re-igniting the passion and curiosity kids bring to the early grades but which are mainly lost as they learn to conform and to please, solving predetermined puzzles, a framework that can help us dig out from under the glut of competencies, do-now's, etc. that no one wants to come to grips with, but which is link here to Gallop poll putting kids to sleep.

Over the past two years, my ERC colleague Katrina Kennett and I and a small but growing number of teachers and schools we work with are helping us to deepen our understanding of the potential of The Grand Challenges. We’ve developed powerful visual provocations and entry events that correlate to the Grand Challenge topics and issues, as well as new tools to organize and expand the learning environment. We have imagined a unique learning landscape and developed a glossary of terms that explain those new structures and practices. Our “New Architecture of Learning” includes the elements of an ecology that can sustain more robust learning and activate powerful affinities among people, places and ideas, in the spirit of the original Grand Challenges.

Along the way, we’ve also learned that dissatisfaction with the traditional curriculum is not unique to us, is quite long-standing and comes from a wide variety of historical figures and intellectual fields. Link here. 

This new collective energy gives us increasing hope that people can begin to slowly put aside our tired approach to “curriculum” and replace it with explorations and activities that use the Grand Challenges as a framework for learning, activities that erase some of the unhelpful boundaries and structures that inhibit passionate learning. Whether you use it in an existing unit of study, as a larger scaffold, as an alternating curriculum, or as your basic framework, you’re helping us move the dial.

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White Mountains Regional HS STEAM Innovation Academy

So, if you’re ready, here’s the Grand Challenges “primer” you’ve been asking for, link below. Check it out. Imagine new, place-based, YES IN MY BACKYARD additions to the Challenges that resonate where you are and far beyond. Join our network, connect with others and help us move forward to meet the needs of our people and planet! Link here to see primer.

Serious School Redesign: ERC Efforts Moving Forward

We’re proud to announce that an ERC-led team has been selected to participate in the upcoming Mass Ideas Summer School Design Studio, a three-day working session for teams that want help to create innovative school models (whole-school redesign or new school design). The experience is intended to support teams to apply key levers for high-quality, innovative learning design and develop action plans for continued work following the event.  According to their website, Mass IDEAS “supports bold education thinkers across the Commonwealth to turn their ideas for reimagining school into reality, and with interest in any Massachusetts public school governance options”.

The team consists of ERC Co-Founders Wayne Ogden and Larry Myatt  joined by community partner Michael Dawson of Innovators for Purpose (iFp), strategy advisor Sharon Lloyd Clark, and Kristina Lamour Sansone of Lesley University, College of Art and Design who brings graphic design for learning expertise. Dr. Katrina Kennett, ERC Consulting Practitioner for Technology and Professional Learning, will join the team as needed moving forward.

Many of the ERC team’s ideas are guided by redesign and inquiry efforts well under way at White Mountains Regional High School and Manchester’s McLaughlin Middle School, through a STEM partnership with STEAM-Ahead NH. Both schools are moving ahead with a strikingly different approach to organizing for learning, adopting a novel framework and practices that the ERC Design Team will seek to refine in the Summer Design Studio. ERC in particular is looking for community collaborators seeking more inclusive, high-performing STEM programming and who are excited about new designs to achieve that.

Beginning in 2020, Mass Ideas will offer implementation grants for school teams who are ready to launch their designs. Mass IDEAS is part of an initiative launched by Next Generation Learning Challenges (NGLC). Since its founding, NGLC has grown to include a burgeoning group of organizational and philanthropic partners who are actively expanding the adoption of innovations that completely reimagine K–12 in their regional communities and nationally. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, the Broad Foundation, Michael and Susan Dell Foundation, Oak Foundation, and the Barr Foundation are among the key funders.

The ERC group has built its approach around “six big ideas”:

1-the equity challenge: high-quality opportunities for learning are distributed unevenly in Massachusetts (and elsewhere); achievement is unacceptably low in many schools

2-a core challenge in secondary schools is student disinterest in classroom learning; loss of curiosity, choice and engagement explain flat achievement

3-the traditional curriculum is increasingly problematic; the allotment of time, adult roles, assessment schema, student groupings and pedagogy that accommodate it prevent and undermine truly “student-centered”, personalized learning

4-a more engaging curriculum framework is available

5-re-ordering key elements of learning will yield greater student engagement and achievement

• start with curiosity and thrill

• hands-on, experiential activities and multiple inquiry efforts propel learning

• learning with generative, big questions, and the uninhibited pursuit of learners’ “mysteries"

• emphasize skills in a “learning team” context

• unpack and negotiate a more suitable and generative place for standards

6- a new, comprehensive learning management framework is required and is part of our design

For more information on the ERC Redesign and Grand Challenges efforts, please email wayne.ogden@gmail.com.

White Mountains Students Join to Help Bees Prosper

In this time of peril and hope for our global bee population, we can’t help but say that one of our ERC Grand Challenges Network schools is creating quite a buzz! The Spartan STEAM Innovation Academy (SSIA) at White Mountains Regional High School, teaming with the school’s Agricultural Science program, recently was awarded a Whole Foods BEE-cause Grant.   

Things began to hum this past winter, when a White Mountains High School team consisting of plant science and horticulture specialist Rick Grima, SSIA Teacher Leader Melissa Jellison, and science and math specialist Daniel Hubacz joined a bee-keeping workshop at the Rocks Estate in Bethlehem, NH, teaming with White Mountain Apiary and local Beekeeper Janice Mercieri as a Bee Mentor. Beekeeping books, bee-made products, and tools for the hive came from the Savannah Bee Company as a part of the Whole Foods grant through which the program’s students will become co-creators and eventual owners of an on-going project to bring their winged friends to White Mountains Regional High School in New Hampshire’s North Country. Once they have studied where bees are happiest, they will find a permanent and suitable location, measure and clear the land, build the facility, and with their new state-of-the-art bee suits, will activate two new hives to host a bee population provided by the White Mountain Apiary. The goal is to ultimately host 40,000 honey bees. 

Using the Grand Challenges as a framework for exploring past, present, and future challenges to planet Earth, STEAM Innovation Academy students are in hot pursuit of scholarly, experiential ways to understand where bees fit in sustaining our biodiverse planet. See ERC's Grand Challenges Network link here. WMRHS is poised to become the first and only school in New Hampshire to have and keep bees, beginning with a summer work program to maintain the hive when school is out, track bee health and supervise honey production. Grima, who splits duties with SSIA and agriculture sciences, and is one of the Bee program founders told us, “By September we should be in great shape to utilize the hive regularly with students taking over all aspects of the maintenance and monitoring.”

For staff and partners, two chunky Grand Challenge-related learning objectives sit at the heart of all this Bee commotion:

• Improving understanding of and access to the biology and natural history of the species, their evolutionary and ecological place in global ecosystems, and the processes responsible for population declines and extinction.
• Developing concepts, theories, tools, and models that contribute directly to halting biodiversity loss, managing species and their habitats, restoring ecosystems, and mitigating threats to the environment.

Scholarly standards such as these are high, but the kids themselves are just raring to get out there and get with the bees. Front office staff and passing teachers get a kick of Grima and his students in bee suits with bright orange "Bee Buckets" as they had out each morning like clockwork. As word spreads, students have already begun to research and develop products at school and in “home food labs” with the beeswax scraped from the first sampling of the frames, including lip balms flavored, so far, with eucalyptus and lemongrass.

As hoped for, curious community helpers are materializing. Geoff Gaddapee, manager of a local hardware store and a beekeeper himself, provides support, hardware and tools and NH Fish and Game biologist Andrew Timmins visits to work with students and monitor bear activity around the hives. Each hive is expected to produce around 300 lbs. of honey every year, so students will suggest unique labels, flyers and develop marketing and advertising plans for honey sales, all of which will underwrite the on-going hive operations. Popular WMRHS Culinary Arts Chef Matt Holland hopes to utilize the homegrown honey in as many recipes as he can.

Next fall SSIA will kick-off with a survival unit that includes food growing as part of living off the land. The math department will support student team projects revolving on population estimates, calculating population growth in the hive each day, and using scales to track the weight of the hive as the bees build and work inside. Down-the-road plans include working with the local Cooperative Extension and USDA office to create a SSIA Bee-related website, a global resource hub with updated-daily information about local bee keeping, bee projects, bee health and science, explorations of pesticide effect and attempts to rejuvenate bees world-wide. NH Fish and Game could possibly add a link on their site to be managed by SSIA student teams. Although SSIA generally only hosts visitors once a month, staff are arranging for the Lancaster and Whitefield Elementary STEAM programs to visit periodically and work with high school student mentors on several projects across the school year.

All in all, its an exciting time for the Spartan Steam innovation Academy which expanded from its original two-year STEAM-Ahead program, with more students and staff and a range of new learning activities, project teams, inquiry and learning management tools. Principal Michael Berry has been a champion in supporting the effort to create a culture of intense and engaging student learning through greater collaboration among teachers and, with support from ERC, innovative practices in inquiry learning. His motto of more success for more students is increasingly becoming a reality as the school’s reputation grows and continues to attract new, motivated, high-quality professionals to the school.

Keep your eyes and ears open for more news from NH’s newest bee keepers! For more information on the bees and/or SSIA contact jlabounty@sau36.org

School Shootings: Things Overheard

In schools that I visit, here are some things I’ve heard teachers saying:

•  I try not to, but I’ve had to think of how I would respond if I heard gunfire down the hall
•  my wife/husband says good-bye to me differently now each morning
• I have students who don’t want to leave my side
• teachers have speculated about which might be the students who would come after them
• students have been asking me if I want to carry a weapon; if I say “no” I wonder does that mean they think they can’t count on me?
• we say our school perimeter has been “hardened” but in casual conversation we’ve ID’d three easy ways to get into the facility
• where would I keep a gun?
• in the cafeteria, I overheard kids predicting which of their peers is that kind of dangerous
• I never dreamed of discussions like these in my school
• I had “active shooter” training in my undergraduate teacher education program, so its not a new idea to me
• if first responders swarm our school and we have multiple people with multiple weapons, who are they going to target?

Spending a lot of time in many different schools, it’s been impossible to avoid the myriad feelings and emotions brought to the surface by the Florida (and other) school shootings. The reactions have been surprising in their breadth, sobering, moving, alarming, and, frankly, new and unanticipated to a veteran educator who did NOT have to confront such issues while leading my school.

But, on the positive side,  here's a huge reason I believe in our kids and in K-12 schools. Check out this video. Go to link.

Dr. Gil Noam, PEAR founder,  speaking at Albuquerque Sign Language Academy

Finally, for the past four years, I’ve appreciated being a working partner of and  of and with the Partnerships in Education and Resilience (PEAR) Institute. Their work helping schools to know young people is more important than ever. PEAR Founder, Dr. Gil Noam, has responded with this thoughtful piece and I think it’s a critically important perspective. Go to link.

Stay safe.

Dr. Larry Myatt

Co-Founder

Treating Students with Dignity

This past August I had the pleasure of attending some professional development activities organized and presented by educators within the Central Falls, Rhode Island school district. One workshop was being presented by David Upegui, a science teacher whom I knew from my days consulting in the district years ago.

David is a big thinker with a huge heart, always active doing things for young people and the community, see link. He’s well-known in the state, see link and I wanted to make sure I took the opportunity to see what he was up to, what he was saying of late.

His workshop was full of great ideas and his unique provocations. It reminded me of how much work we have to do to nourish the spirit of young people. And how important it is, each and every day, to remember the powerful role we have as educators in treating students with dignity. I asked David to recap his workshop in this following essay.

 Larry Myatt
Co-Founder
Education Resources Consortium

David Upegui

It so happened that I grew up and went to school in the most economically disadvantaged city in Rhode Island. Even more than I realized at the time, I was in dire need of guidance, support, academic discipline and most importantly, a sense that I mattered, that I had a future. I was among the few and the fortunate to find that one special teacher, one that understood how that idea of agency would determine my future.

Now, as a teacher in my very same alma mater, I see it as my turn. I work as diligently as I can with a new generation of students, trying to provide for them that same sense of agency that freed me from economic -and intellectual- poverty. I had left my job as a researcher at an Ivy League university in hopes of igniting minds, in that very same place I had once sat as a student.

My son was born with an extra chromosome in each of his cells. Life with and learning from a young person with Down Syndrome is not what I had expected when I became a parent, but my son has taught me more than I learned in any class. My work became making sure that he would be treated fairly, with equanimity, and that he would have positive school experiences. It reminded me in the most powerful way of the power of each human being, and the fundamental belief that ALL children can and should learn. That’s what drives my teaching now.

So how do we do our best as educators, every day, to ensure that all our students are empowered and treated with that kind of dignity? Here is a short list of things I try to do that have shown positive results for my students --simple but important things—some having to do with the environment in my classroom and others more specially about my content teaching.

I call students by their last name. As simple as this may sound, this enables all of us to address each other with respect. When some students first hear me say “Ms. Rodriguez” or “Mr. Hernandez”, they are confused – it’s new to them. But I tell them that I try to look beyond their current status, that I see them as significant right now, that they will become even more important as they grow in our community.

I greet all students as they come in to the classroom. As an American-Latino, salutations and recognition of the other person were of importance growing up in my household. It may seem like a small gesture, but a smile and a hardy hello can have a profound impact. Even though I teach students that are in their final years of high school, I still begin each class with a “good morning/afternoon” and I expect the whole class to repeat it – it has become our custom. 

Being prepared with lesson plans and materials. This may seem like a no-brainer, but one of the simplest ways to show respect to the students is by being prepared for class. When we are prepared we send subtle messages that let our students know that we are thinking about them outside of class. When we are not, that resonates as “he doesn’t take us seriously”.

Discuss the “rules” for all (including teacher). The rules that I have settled on are very simple: be prepared, be present and be respectful. They apply to everyone in the room, including me (and this is stated). It’s our way of agreeing on how we can be at our best with each other as we learn.

Introduce and value student questions. As a way to demonstrate the importance of questioning, I try to acknowledge and reward “good” questions. I have to make time for them, to go with the moment of curiosity. Over time students begin to notice the significance of questions and provide each other with encouragement.

Play music. This may seem trivial, but music can have a great effect on the culture of the classroom. I select playlists that not only have baroque musicians (studies have demonstrated the effect of this type of music on learning) but also include music that represent the wide variety of background my students bring. For example, I may play Sara Tavares or Mayra Andrade (both Cape Verdean), or Carlos Vives and Pedrito Fernandez (Latinos) and follow that with Air Supply, Olafur Arnalds, and Bach.

Regular communications. Some of these exchanges may be in-person or email, and regardless of method, communicating with students about their work, their academic performance, their strengths/weaknesses, dreams and plans, enables students to feel valued and important.

Explicit democratic voicing. I tell my students not to believe anything and everything that people say (even me!), unless evidence and data are provided. In other words, I want my students learn to be skeptical of “beliefs” and begin to recognize that their voice and opinions matter.

Bring in outsiders to the classroom/bring the classroom outside. Our classroom has many visitors each year. Any given week may include visits from college professors, nurses/physicians, graduates of the school, engineers, a swami (to teach the physiological effects of meditation on the body), or scientists. When visitors spend time with my students, everyone wins. My students begin to recognize that there is a larger world that wants them to succeed. And the visitors are inspired by the potential my students hold. Also, I try to take my students out of the classroom as much as possible – even it is just around the block – they are part of a greater community.

Storytelling/circle time. As unusual as this sounds, I hold “circle time” with my seniors in high school. I stop the action and call my students to bring up their lab stools and sit around a circle so we can all see each other. This works for many reasons including the fact that storytelling is the oldest form of communication and education (as well as being able to see who has their cell phone out). The stories I tell may include specific stories about science like the stories of Rosalyn Franklin, Lynn Margulis, Michael Faraday or Alhazen; stories which speak about perseverance, overcoming obstacles and using curiosity as an empowerment tool. Other stories may be my personal experiences or just about inspiring people such as Wilma Rudolph or Michael Jordan. Regardless, stories connect us as humans.

Specific lessons that address liberation. A powerful examples is what we call “race”. I introduce the science underlying that notion. Skin coloration has historically been used to segregate and discriminate people, but what if we take a look at the data of ultra-violet radiation (UVB) and human skin pigmentation patterns? In this light, students begin to see that skin coloration is based on where our closets ancestors lived: the closer to the equator, the more skin pigmentation they had (as a natural protection from damaging sun rays). Once students appreciate that natural variation, they can begin to question why skin pigmentation was erroneously connected to human capacity. My students leave my class knowing that we are in fact only one human species (otherwise we could not successfully breed and have viable offspring). Undoubtedly, there are tons of lessons in all content areas that can be developed, delivered and shared with our students – we just need to consider them as what they truly are: the future stewards of the earth.

What we do as educators is never trivial. In front of us each day are the future problem-solvers of the world and it is up to us to enable them to recognize their great potential. We have more power than we recognize, and we are either part of the problem or the solution.

A Better Approach to STEM - Interview Part II

We’re really proud of the work our colleague Larry Myatt has done at Manchester New Hampshire’s West High School. Despite a proud history in the Queen City, the school has struggled with declining achievement and one of the state’s highest drop-out rates. It has all the challenges that face many kindred urban schools and communities. Yet, of, late some truly bright spots have emerged. The school’s fledgling STEAM (STEM+) initiative was recently lauded in a University of New Hampshire evaluation link and West was recently awarded a Barr Foundation grant for initial redesign efforts. Link here. 

STEAM Ahead NH Engineering Lab

In an era of flat achievement and declining student engagement, Larry’s work with West High School’s STEAM initiative has shown what is possible --with committed teachers, leadership, resources, and importantly, different thinking about the systems, culture and practices. We wanted to talk with him about it.

Here is Part Two of that interview

--Wayne Ogden and Katrina Kennett

WO- The last time we spoke you were talking about flat results for STEM programming in general. What did you mean by that?

LM- Well, let me say first that I appreciate STEM initiatives. They provide funding and energy when money is scarce and I especially like it because it tends to bring business and industry players to the table, and they can make things happen in ways that school districts, higher education and state departments of educations can’t. So, STEM for me holds a lot more promise than we currently expect from it and push for.

Having said that, I was struck by a detailed Wall Street Journal article a few year ago, and subsequent research that pointed out that after a decade or more of substantial STEM investment in schools, the number of students pursuing degrees- at the undergrad, masters and doctoral levels- had barely changed.  Still more men than women and still fewer candidates of color, but overall, no increased interest in entering fields where science and math are building blocks.

WO- What do you make of that?

LM- Well, to me, on a more superficial level, we portray STEM as for geeky kids building robots and taking all advanced classes. And that’s unfortunate. I actually asked several people who work nearby in Kendall Square, a global tech mecca, what they think of when they think of STEM, and that’s pretty much what they said. Pocket protectors and super heavy backpacks, mostly limited to high achievers.  But I think that the problems that dissuade students from science and math go far deeper than that. I think the roots unquestionably go back to the student experience in middle and high school, where we have all the data mentioned in part one of this interview – greater disinterest in school learning, perceptions that what we ask them to in school is not relevant or meaningful in the long run, more novelty and exciting ideas available outside of school -culminating in the fact that the longer students are in school, the less enjoyable it becomes. Deborah Meier had a wonderful essay on that some time ago, “Why Kids Don’t Want to Be Well-Educated”. That’s a plausible but overlooked explanation for the flat NAEP scores, just one among several other indicators of low engagement.

KK- You mentioned a New Hampshire STEM study as well.

LM- Yes, that students surveyed in 8th grade are turning away from science because of how they’ve experienced it thus far and how they see it being offered in high school.

KK- What is it, do you think, that turns kids off?

LM- Well, first of all, the way we’ve come to think about and organize curriculum has little to do with the ways that we actually learn, or care to learn, the way the brain and motivation co-exist and inter-play. We’ve developed huge lists of “standards” and materials that portray a smooth and steady path to “knowledge”. We ask teachers to dole out little bytes of content and skills each day as some kind of linear, step-by-step exercise and expect students to care about them and be diligent in memorizing them.  What we really know is that learning starts when learners encounter something they wish to learn. And the student voice data suggests that the topics chosen by teachers (and hardly ever by young people) are of diminishing interest, and are taught in un-engaging ways.

KK- The other thing you’ve been saying regularly is that STEM initiatives cannot survive the industrial architecture of schools. Can you explain?

LM- Sure. If you’re asked to spend 50 minutes reading some Romeo and Juliet, then dash off to Algebra for 50 minutes, then on to the Civil War, a 25-minute lunch, then the water cycle or photosynthesis,   topped off by 50 minutes of Spanish or gym or health class, how interested and excited would WE be if that was our diet day after day? A colleague described the traditional curriculum alignment as being like carbon monoxide- its puts us to sleep without us knowing or even thinking about it. Who that you meet in a store or at the gym or the workplace can tell us why its organized and pursued this way? No one! It’s much more of an impediment that we realize, and helps to explain the epidemic of student disinterest.

Furthermore, it’s an impediment to pursuing big ideas and topics, to curiosity, creativity and passion for learning. Ideas in school come in fragmented form and themes are short-lived, truncated, dispensable. Things like “PBL” and thematic instruction are limited in their impact by where we see them able to fit in and how much time we can give them before we have to move on. Marion Brady has critiqued the traditional curriculum alignment quite articulately, by the way.

Getting back to school, as my friend Tony Monfiletto says, we have to find ways to put the thrill back into learning. “Erase the lines” has become a mantra -the lines between classes and courses, between themes and topics, the lines between in school and out of school.

KK- do you have ideas on how to do that?

LM- Sure. Its how we’ve made this progress at the school and how other schools we work with are beginning to think about what happens in the classroom. We’re flipping where the standards fit until further down the road in project design, and not only hoping for but managing and structuring in ways for students to do rigorous work, but work they care about. Diversity is natural, its good, it can be harnessed for the purposes of challenging intellectual work (Newmann). Everyone is reading, writing, curating, presenting, researching -all the standards are there and at a rigorous level. We just don’t start by telling the students what they should care about. And using things like Learning Murals (see link) brings colleagues and especially students into the design process.

Manchester West HS STEAM-Ahead staff members prepare Learning Murals for presentation to their colleagues

KK- It sounds like it requires a different kind of teaching.

LM- Yes, it’s a very different management schema than trying to move 20-30 kids down the road together in lock step but it finally flips the role of teacher from presenter, content expert, entertainer, chooser of topics and materials, to that of coach, connector, advocate, facilitator. Ultimately its more satisfying and more rewarding. That’s the change I mean when I talk about moving from a culture of teaching to a culture of learning. We evaluate successful teaching by focusing only on the adult as the agent and then some test scores down the road.

I prefer to assess quality learning by a focus on what and how students are doing, what they are passionate about and supported in pursuing. We’ve been overdue in making that distinction and supporting it with tools and routines for half a century now. We have those tools now, and a team of teachers working with teams of students can really begin to transcend some of the limitations imposed the traditional high school. Linda Chick at Manchester NH’s West High School STEAM Team says she now conducts “near-constant negotiations” with students and small teams, helping them to pursue the mysteries and passions they have, connections and extension, going deeper, to fuel projects that can last weeks and beyond. I love that word “mysteries” as Roger Martin posed it, the myriad different things that touch us and move us differently as individuals from childhood onward.  And again, now we have the tools and routines that help students learn to do that negotiation and pursuit with less and less provocation from adults and more confidence in their own learning. We can integrate technology regularly and smartly, with contextual uses, such as learning spreadsheet alongside water quality analysis or weather patterns, finally giving the term personalization some true meaning.

WO- How might that impact our thinking within the traditional “school architecture’ as you call it?

LM- Here’s one example. I recently asked a stellar group of thinkers that ERC convened to operationalize more robust school redesign and when I asked them how long a project should last, unanimously they answered, until the curiosity fades. Beautiful! That’s how it works for us and our mysteries. But that simple but brilliant thinking can’t survive when learning has to end with the bell, with the next topic, with the marking period, with the report card.

Another example is that if ninth-grade students are excited about and able to learn skills and content that might traditionally not be presented until “11th grade”, that’s going to mess with our rigid sense of scope and sequence –of who can learn what when. But what a great problem to have! What’s out there that only a 13 year old can learn, or only a 28 or 56 year old? This reliance on the old model of school is killing authentic interest in learning and we have been reluctant or unable, as innovation expert Clay Christensen said, to offer up new models of school.

WO- That’s a lot, but its powerful and positive. Any final thoughts about this?

LM- For sure. One is to bring higher education into these settings, sending new educators for year-long co-teaching with master teachers, moving the locus of “teacher training’ to the school. And not to do what they’ve always done in teacher development but to join in the new construct. Schools and teaching are going to change radically and this is the chance for the new generation of educators to get it right.

Next, my redesign Charrette colleagues reminded me forcefully that documentation is the best assessment. I knew that, of course, from Project Zero, from Reggio Emilia, from my teaching years, and my own children’s learning. But we lose sight of it in the torrent of more simplistic and mechanistic “instruments”. Archiving and curation, interviews, portfolios and presentations will show schools and communities how students are learning.

Fabrication Station

My last two: One, get the “A” for “arts” into STEM.  It’s the biggest piece my schools are missing right now. Student creations and performances of an artwork provide opportunities to clarify what students are (or aren’t) taking from STEM activities. They’re an on-ramp for learning. Designing, creating and interpretation offer high levels of critical thinking and help students to better understand concepts and ideas via a range of learning styles: visual-(learn through seeing), auditory-(learn through talking and listening), tactile -(learn through touch; psycho-motor) and kinesthetic (learn through doing and moving). Arts, technology and design should be integrated into all projects, supported by Humanities and integrated Math/Science as the curriculum pillars. It’s also a chance to finally get a math curriculum together that is meaningful and doesn’t turn students off.

Finally, we need the business community to dig in directly to schools, not through intermediaries. Their energy, brains and resources are critical, and they know by now that current education policies are unhelpful to developing their work force. We need them to help guide us, regularly, at the school level. Left to the traditional conveners, too often STEM investments are for more of the same, such as more AP courses for select students and teachers. Businesses make a difference. When I served at Brown University with Ted Sizer in the 1990’s, business folks were always at the table and investing in a big way, and they understood it would take research and re-design, multiple and diverse ways to re-think school. That was before they lined up with “think tank” policy makers for efforts such as Achieve and other reductive, top-down approaches to improving schools. We need to get them back at the table.

Businesses have a lot to gain from investing in STEAM. Communities as well. STEAM-Ahead NH is a great example of something that’s begun to grow in the ways I think are a model for the future. To me, this transformation is simply not that hard if we have the will. See link. I invite anyone who wants more and better from STEM investments to contact us. We can do better.

Dr. Larry Myatt, ERC Co-Founder

TREK—for more in our schools

 

To the ERC family, Christensen’s commentary is discouraging but unfortunately true. Not that there haven’t been attempts to do things differently, some in the past, others on-going --as someone said, the future is here, it’s just unevenly distributed.  For the most part, however, we somehow keep trying to get more “results” out of the same core design, as we ride the slack current of cultural and social ideas of school from yesteryear. But we’re increasingly aware that achievement remains flat nationally, most likely because students have been shown to be increasingly less interested in classroom learning than in the world beyond school. What we sense in school-based educators these days is a palpable recognition that we’re repeating ourselves.

As soon as you start thinking of kids as data points, you’re in trouble.
—Sir Ken Robinson

Complicated problems require complicated solutions –a building can’t be improved by paying attention to one pillar. The integration of important elements of redesign –along with active participation and deep understanding in the community-- is a science unto itself. How do we use the guideposts of learning science and human development?  The work is high-touch, scholarly, yet down-to-earth.

It’s uniquely human to want to pass down a replica of what we’ve experienced –to our kids, to the next generations.  Our instincts crave a common bond of experience, of ideas, of values. But we are helping build a world that’s around the bend, one beyond and different from our times, one beyond the bell curve. This is why the work of re-imagining school needs to happen with great care, in particular ways, and with the “whole village”. We have to believe that together we can build something smarter and more humane, engaging, rewarding, and memorable.

TREK

In the early days of the Coalition of Essential Schools, “Trek” spawned many of the great small schools that endure today. To Trek stood for a thoughtful community journey to perform what Theodore Sizer called “the most important educational task of our times:  to evolve the institutions and practices that assist learning”. People read and studied, debated, struggled toward helpful consensus and imagined schools that helped students learn to use their minds actively and well. They connected with small groups of other committed Trekkers. It was a recipe that worked exceedingly well –but that was 25 years ago.

At ERC, we’re convinced that the timing is right for people to TREK again, to gather and to commit to re-imagining what learning activities will best serve young people for a time we may not foresee clearly, but which our children will experience.

These communal learning journeys require support –the work is high-touch, high-skill. The vision and change leadership required to manage the feelings and ideas attached to the social, cultural and intellectual elements of our schools is exacting. If you’re game, we’ll introduce you to skilled facilitators, technology, and leadership coaches –people who know schools as well as they know their individual arts. We offer public engagement support and experienced scenario and school redesign thinkers. We’ll help you seek funds and resources. We’ll connect you deeply with other schools and thinkers who will provoke you, amplify your thinking and serve as critical friends to your efforts.

If you have the will to assemble a TREK team – let’s get started! For more information or to begin a TREK yourself, email today: larry@educationresourcesconsortium.org today!   

Please note: CES schools— if you feel it’s time to re-invent yourselves, you’re especially welcomed! Please email us about our plans for supporting TREK in CES schools.

Thanks,

Larry Myatt

Co-Founder, ERC

A different brand of STEM brings new life, new hope to an urban high school

We’re really proud of the work our colleague Larry Myatt has done at Manchester New Hampshire’s West High School. Despite a proud history in the Queen City, the school has struggled with declining achievement and one of the state’s highest drop-out rates. It has all the challenges that face many kindred urban schools and communities. Yet, of, late some truly bright spots have emerged. The school’s fledgling STEAM (STEM+) initiative was recently lauded in a University of New Hampshire evaluation link and West was recently awarded a Barr Foundation grant for initial redesign efforts. Link here. 

In an  era of flat achievement and declining student engagement, Larry’s work with West High School’s STEAM initiative has shown what is possible --with committed teachers, leadership,  resources,  and importantly, different thinking about the systems, culture and practices. We wanted to talk with him about it.

--Wayne Ogden and Katrina Kennett

WO- Larry, you knew West High School from an I3 grant effort several years ago. What’s happening now that people are shining a light on new, positive developments?

LM- There are some good achievement results and qualitative hints of growing confidence in an ability to change and grow. The secret sauce would begin with leadership at the building and teacher level, accompanied by both a team and leadership culture of willingness to let go of old practices and beliefs. Add to that an energetic fund-raiser and convener –Bob Baines of STEAM-AheadNH, the city’s former Mayor- and at the center, some great young people –the students- who are clearly responding to a more appealing and authentic kind of learning.

KK- How did it get started for you three years ago?

LM- Chris Motika had recently been named the new principal of West at the time STEAM-Ahead was looking for a home. He knew my work from the I3 grant and I knew him to be a thoughtful guy. Based on my prior experiences at the school, I wasn’t sure that promising work could take root in the building but I agreed to an initial session. 

KK- What convinced you to sign on?

LM- For one, I learned that at the outset Chris Motika had been adamant that the program be open to any and all 9th graders, not limited by grades or recommendations as so many STEM programs are. That caught my eye and was a sign of the right kind of against-the-grain leadership. Bob Baines, on the STEAM end of things, got it as well. So I agreed to a first 2-day session and I encountered an interesting mix of younger and mid-career teachers who were energetic, open-minded and anxious to be part of a highly-collaborative team. They were smart and interesting adults, the kind that kids respond to. Voila.

WO- What was the essence of your initial work?

LM- Exploring the cognitive dissonance on the team – how dissatisfied they were, are, with “traditional teaching” as defined by what’s it’s become over the last 15 years.  In conversation we shared a number of things we had all seen that didn’t work but kept reappearing on the menu for them to implement. We looked at exemplars of traditional practices versus more engaging inquiry learning. And I also asked a lot of questions about what they were looking for –as individuals- in a new professional experience that they could largely define. What was their skin in the game, as they say.

Key to those first two days was also to get a sense of how much support and latitude (i.e. trust) Chris could provide for their efforts - which turned out to be a good deal. Those “pioneer teachers” brought will and commitment, and a stout talent level, to make good on that trust. We began pretty quickly to agree to let go of things –as a team-  that we knew got poor results and to replace them with sound practices emerging from a different orientation. And of course pushing hard on high levels of teamwork and collaboration to support their new work was key –and the team welcomed it .

WO- This is where our leadership lodestar Bill Bryan would chime in that a high degree of adult learning and teamwork usually correlates to high performance. That the psychological contract is strong.

LM- Yep.  And this is a case of him being right again. Leadership at all levels was a key to the launch and in the first year, and when, in year three Chris left for a new position. Fortunately, new principal Rick Dichard is not only equally committed but sees STEAM as a harbinger of what the entire school might look like in a re-imagined form.                                              

WO- You’re not necessarily the “STEM” type, am I right?

LM- You sure are. I had to do some homework. But I knew from my teaching principal days that one key element would be making the shift from a culture of teaching to a culture of learning. People haven’t thought a great deal about why that’s a critical re-orientation. We tend to give only second thoughts to what students will DO, but we’re almost maniacal about the granular behaviors of teachers, as evidenced by our evaluation rubrics and procedures. I’ve worked hard, along with both of you, to redefine and support the spread of more engaging practices, activities that require a different mindset and some different skills from our current ideas of what it is to be a good front-of-the-classroom teacher.

KK- Any other thing you had to dig in to as far as STEM goes?

LM- For sure. I looked at great STEM projects that provoke and inspire lots of different explorations,  solutions, research, designs, models, etc. -not the pursuit of one pre-determined outcome, but generative, suggestive frameworks that present students with “mysteries”, to use Roger Martin’s terminology – questions and ideas that appeal, that make you curious to know more, explore more.

The other thing I researched was how STEM efforts were faring regionally and nationally. There’s been over a decade of solid investment in STEM, but it turns out that results are not so good – nationally or regionally. Last year’s New Hampshire Charitable Fund report on STEM efforts in the state was consonant with outcomes in many other states – they found that students are turned off by the way they experience math and science, far too many of them by the end of middle school. The Wall Street Journal reported on the flat numbers of those entering STEM careers at every level. I saw the problem as starting earlier than that, and not being so much about the kids but what the school -and math and science-- have become. Tightening up what we already do in STEM is not an answer.

See Technical Challenge graphic here.

KK- You’ve identified other studies that talk about why kids are less motivated as they enter high school, right?

LM- Yes. And so much of it is about sitting and listening. When I was working in Rhode Island there was a local study of student experience in urban high schools, and those two words –“sitting” and “listening” came up all the time. 90 % of students said they found their classes uninteresting and unengaging. Words that hardly every appeared were “doing” or “making”.

It’s important to note that the class of 2016 was our first all-NCLB/standards-and-testing cohort. And guess what? Kids are saying they don’t enjoy school as much. Link  My mission along with the West STEAM team began, and remains, to put the thrill back into learning. And we’re just getting into the groove. The teachers have been open-minded, willing to try new things and highly collaborative, really refreshing and energizing to work with, and Rick Dichard as well.

WO- You’ve also drawn a fairly major conclusion about STEM efforts, correct?

LM- Yes, and I think it helps to explain why STEM interest is flat – it’s that STEM  can’t thrive in a traditional, comprehensive high school environment.  The experience is too fragmented, the learning activities too flat, and the architecture and programming too out of sync with what we know about learning and motivation. There are other, far more promising things we could be doing with STEM programming. I actually think that STEM -with an added “a” for arts and technology-  could be the Trojan Horse for the school redesign we’ve been saying we’ve wanted for almost 50 years but, as Clayton Christensen said, we haven’t done much about.

WO- So, you’ve agreed to a “part two” of this interview. and we’ll talk about that more specifically next time. As well as some things that the program is still striving for, right?

LM- Right you are and thanks for having me!

Dr. Larry Myatt, ERC Co-Founder

Stay tuned for our next e-newsletter-: Part Two - STEM as an engine for school redesign