Yesterday’s post promised three lists that I think can function as the design parameters for Maine’s opportunity to re-invent our schools systems in ways that better serve our communities and students. I use the word re-invent deliberately but cautiously, knowing that we’ll hear lots of “we don’t need to re-invent the wheel.” That metaphor is too limiting. It might be better to ask – “is wheeled transportation the only mode at our disposal?”
25 years, 5 presidents, and over a billion dollars of foundation-funded school reform initiatives, and the federal No Child Left Behind initiatives have not produced uniformly better schools for all students. Some even argue that we're worse off than where we were when we began, though I don't agree.
What we need is innovation, and innovation that is explicitly designed for Maine’s culture, demographics and economy. The reason Maine has fallen behind in educational outcomes and innovation are many, but a very simple one is that we’ve not had a set of structures, policies and funding mechanisms to do so. That is the opportunity we have now.
But we can do so in a way that learns from successful innovations elsewhere and that builds on work already done. We do NOT need to define the problem at statewide level. Prepare Maine and others have done so. We do NOT need figure out how the skills and character traits needed to thrive in the 21st century differ from those of the 20th and 19th century. The Nellie Mae Foundation has consolidated the work of many folks in a way that clearly defines what needs to change. And we do NOT need to debate whether a system of deliberately innovative schools is a crucial part of a statewide system of change. The National Alliance for Public Charter Schools has done that work, including a model charter authorizing law that enables states to learn from 20 years of work to create charter laws that DO NOT undermine public schools, but strengthen them.
The three lists below are, of course, lists of bullets. I strongly urge those who have time to go the websites of the organizations and dig deeper. But for now, think of them this way:
Prepare Maine’s Remodeling Maine's Educational System can serve as the design criteria for Maine's next round of consolidation, doing what the first round did not: aligning the fiscal goals and realities with policy that brings about the desired educational outcomes.
The Nellie Mae Foundation’s Focus on 21st Century Learning and Emerging Principles of Student Centered Learning can serve as the design criteria for what ACTUALLY HAPPENS in schools and communities – the learning experiences and “best practices” that will prepare as many of Maine’s kids for as bright future as possible.
And National Alliance for Public Charter School's SEVEN AUTONOMIES THAT MAKE A DIFFERENCE – can serve as design criteria for a network of PUBLIC schools explicitly designed to develop and perfect those “best practices” – where new ways of working with teachers and students have priority and autonomy - rather than being forced into the belly of a (friendly and well-intentioned) monster that may not be all that hungry for what we have to offer – real change.
Seven Priorities for Remodeling Maine's Educational System
Prepare Maine, is a project of the cross-sector, bi-partisan Maine Coalition for Educational Excellence, has laid out seven priorities (explained in much greater detail here).
Around the state, the country and the world, people are working together to remodel their educational systems to prepare the next generation for the challenges ahead. Best practices emphasize seven priorities.
1. Quality Early Learning Experiences
2. High Standards and Personalized Learning Opportunities
3. Effective, knowledgeable, well-trained teachers
4. Engagement of Parents and the Community
5. Expanded Access to and Support for College and Workforce Training
6. Collection and Analysis of Reliable Data
7. Efficient and Equitable Investment of Resources
21st Century Learning – Flexible, Borderless, Community-connected
The Seven Priorities above describe what a STATEWIDE POLICY CAN encourage (or not). As important as those changes are, just as crucial is a sea change in how we create learning experiences (more than just classrooms and schools) for our young people. The Nellie Mae Educational Foundation has created a strategy for New England that
"focuses on the promotion and integration of, student-centered approaches to learning at the middle- and high-school levels. We believe that innovative, rigorous, year-round student-centered approaches that draw on the resources of the larger community will bring about a more equitable system that will help meet the economic, social, and educational challenges we face together as a society.
These approaches draw on the science of how people learn, and are guided by the following insights:
• Learning doesn’t just happen during school hours or during the traditional school year, capitalize on every opportunity to impart important skills and knowledge to learners.
• Including a wider variety of adults in all aspects of learning, complementing the efforts of highly skilled teachers;
• Assessing students’ skills and knowledge using a combination of performance-based and traditional testing;
• Acknowledging that learning takes place both in and out of the classroom, and providing opportunities for students to expand their skills and knowledge in new settings; and
• Addressing the needs and interests of learners while focusing on ambitious learning standards.
Innovative, Autonomous, Public Schools
The Nellie Mae Foundation's list concluded with the following paragraph:
Conventionally, where, when, and how students are taught are held rigidly constant; learning is the variable, with many students falling behind or failing to acquire the capabilities and knowledge necessary to thrive. Student-centered approaches turn this equation around. In this type of educational experience, learning becomes the constant and where, when, and how it happens - as well as the adults who facilitate it – become the variables. The outcome is greater mastery of a broader array of skills for the largest possible number of learners.
If we leave ideology and fear aside, we can drive the charter school part of this change in a way that not only produces better results for students ill-served by traditionally schools, but we can support as FULLY PUBLIC schools the innovations that eventually will be adapted by entire system. Here's what we know about what makes for more, rather than less effective, charter schools. The National Alliance of Public Charter Schools lists
SEVEN AUTONOMIES THAT MAKE A DIFFERENCE.
Leaders of the five highly successful charter schools profiled here identified
the top three areas in which autonomy has enabled their schools to achieve
outstanding results. Then, in response to a battery of questions, leaders expressed
their opinions on the significance of several areas of autonomy to school
success. These interviews revealed seven autonomies that made a difference
and hold promise as part of broader reform strategies:
• Freedom to develop a great team
• Freedom to manage teachers as professionals
• Freedom to change (or not change) curriculum and classroom structure
• Autonomy in scheduling
• Financial freedom
• Board freedom to focus on education
• Freedom to define a unique school culture
A Plan: Common ground, swift action
As the lists above show, we now KNOW what we need to do. But the unfortunate truth is that Maine is doing less of what works than most other states - due partly to politics and fear of change, and partly to the challenges of designing equitable and effective solutions that work equally well north and south of "the Volvo line," as my old friend Norm used to say. And there is much mistrust and frustration awaiting any bold move. Maine has put all of its eggs in the basket of top-down, federal and state-mandated change; arguments that all change has to come through the existing system have until now won the day. The effect has been something of a "reform fatigue" among the many dedicated teachers, superintendents, and school committees who once were eager to lead such change.
But, as I wrote yesterday, the new political reality means that change - whether we voted for it, want it, or not - is coming. The question, using the mantra of one of my favorite school reform movements, is whether we have the "will, skill, and knowleldge" to make that change equitable and productive.
Tomorrow: a specific proposal for how Maine gets from lists of bullets to a system that puts those bullets in action. We’ll name the “who, how and when” of a process that will enable the new legislature to consider these bills right away, so that Maine’s students and business can benefit as early as next fall.
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