Blog
Bringing it Home
Surveying the landscape of conventional schooling in America today, it’s clear that we are no longer in a time of local theaters producing local shows. While there are certainly differences in regional textbooks, statewide tests, and local school calendars, overall the system is remarkably standardized. The electives may differ, but most schools still require the same core content. There may be opportunities for personalization, but as a rule, schools still batch-feed students by birthday. We may not have intended to, but we have all tuned in to the same show.
I Have Questions and So Should You (You Might Say They Are Essential)
If you ask the right question—one that’s intriguing, compelling, fascinating, provocative, or maddening—the kids will lead you down the rabbit hole. You wouldn’t be able to stop them if you wanted to.
Back to School, Huh?
Each fall, American schools open their doors to kids and adults anticipating the next chapter in their lives. For students, it’s a time of wonder and hope–wondering what the new grade or school will offer and hoping for success and for familiar faces in class.
The Answer is in the Room
“What do students need to know and be able to do to be successful?” We posed this question to eight Educator Preparatory Programs (EPPs) across Arkansas as part of the work we are doing with ForwARd Arkansas, US PREP, and TPI-US. The Walton Family Foundation has funded the efforts of this Design Collaborative, consisting of eight EPPs, to grant up to a million dollars to those teams with dedicated plans for innovation, sustainability, and commitment to equity in transforming their pre-service programs. Specifically, 2Revolutions’ work is to push for broader, outside-the-box perspectives regarding what students and teachers need to know and be able to do to be successful in Arkansas and beyond. This perspective is a critical foundation for the transformative work each team will embark upon.
Portrait of an Educator
As educators, we strive to model what we hope to see in our students: compassion, collaboration, creative problem solving, critical thinking skills, a growth mindset, and more. If those skills and dispositions sound familiar, it’s because they are invariably included on Portraits of a Graduate that savvy schools and districts across the country have generated. The language of the portraits may differ, but the substance is pretty consistent; what school does not want to cultivate engagement, intellectual curiosity, a broad knowledge base, communication skills, confidence, and empathy in its students?
The Changing Assessment Landscape in Colorado
Coloradans are notoriously adventurous and independent and, as such, approaches to educational experiences for Colorado students are as varied and unique as the Colorado landscape. Fortunately, Colorado’s local control structure provides the opportunity for the state’s 178 school districts to make many significant decisions regarding K-12 public education; choices regarding curriculum, assessment, staffing, graduation requirements, and more can be largely customized to reflect local values, goals, and needs. Additionally, over the past 15 years, policies such as the landmark Colorado Achievement Plan for Kids (CAP4K), the Student-Centered Accountability Program, Individual Career and Academic Plan (ICAP), Graduation Guidelines, and many others have opened the door for districts and schools to establish learner-centered and equitable processes and practices. These circumstances made Colorado an ideal state in which to explore and support the use of authentic forms of student demonstrations of learning as assessment tools.
Leading for Deeper Learning, A Series in Four Parts, Part 4: Outcomes and Reflections
There is still a long way to go in the district before the school experience is truly transformed for every student, but we indisputably made progress. This past May, a group of district leaders revisited some of our guiding documents, including The New Normal, the Quality Work Protocol and descriptors, and the Performance Outcomes. We also looked closely at school defense rubrics to see how they compared to the expectations outlined in those original documents. It was refreshing to again focus on the bigger vision for the kind of learning experiences we wanted for our students.
Leading for Deeper Learning, A Series in Four Parts, Part 3: Backpacks, Defenses, and Surprises
When our district team proposed that we create our own digital vehicle for students to store and demonstrate artifacts of their learning, the superintendent and I reluctantly agreed, knowing that time was not on our side. But amazingly, the school year started and each student had a digital Backpack of Success Skills inside their Google Drive. Our newly formed Digital Innovation team was leading the way, creating lots of excitement within and even outside the district. Suddenly, JCPS, the troubled district that had been somewhat of a mystery across the state, was front and center. It seemed–to us at least–that everyone was watching, and more than a few wanted to join us. It was a new day in the Jefferson County Public Schools!
Leading for Deeper Learning, A Series in Four Parts, Part 2: The Beauty of Naïvete and the Development of the Backpack
There is real beauty in being a little bit naïve. I had just accepted a position as the Chief Academic Officer for the 100,000-student Jefferson County Public Schools, and the newly appointed interim superintendent had no district-level administrative experience despite working and teaching in the district for more than 20 years. He had been principal of two different high schools–arguably one of the most difficult jobs in existence–but he had no experience leading an entire district, not to mention one of the largest districts in the country, complete with a powerful teacher’s union and a 7-member board.
Leading for Deeper Learning, A Series in Four Parts, Part 1: Setting the Scene
Several years ago, I had the opportunity to serve as superintendent in a Kentucky district of about 1800 students. There, with a forward-thinking school board who recognized the need for a very different kind of school experience, we began to explore.
Instructional Rounds, Global Lab Schools, and Searching for the Holy Grail of Educational Transformation
Last week my colleague, Dr. Shamara Graham, and I traveled across the ocean to the UK–ostensibly as learners and operationally as leaders–seeking the essence of a practice called Instructional Rounds.
Mindset Matters: A Prerequisite For Student Centeredness & Equity
Mindset is defined as a mental attitude or inclination (Merriam-Webster). Since 2011, I've worked in education in some capacity–whether reading to kids as a volunteer, substitute teaching, running university-wide programming, directly teaching my own students, or leading as an administrator.
Permission to Ponder?
Take some time to live in the sit/think world. Not all the time. It only works if you float between the sitting/thinking and doing. Eventually sitting/thinking must influence your behavior.
A Refusal of the Status Quo
I write as an educator.
I write as a parent of four public school kids.
I write as an American ashamed of a place where courage can’t be found in the halls of power to protect our children.
