Rethinking the High School Experience: October 2005

Thursday, October 13, 2005

Conference Overview

NOTE: This site is a time-based chronicle of the event. It captures the ideas and activities in notation form. All text is to be read as such, not as a word-for-word dictation.

NORFOLK, NE | October 12-13, 2005. Several of the ESU's in Northern Nebraska (ESU#1, #2, #7, #8 and #17) along with the Nebraska Department of Education kicked off an initiative to engage educators in a process to re-think the high school experience.

Just shy of 100 people representing 19 school districts convened the first conference of a two to three year process. The participants in this workshop represented teachers, administrators, counselors, several colleges, the ESU's and the state department of education.

ABOVE: Nebraska Governor Dave Heineman addresses educators.

During the first day of the conference participants explored many aspects of the high school experience - both the current experience and some possible options for what the high school experience might be in the future. In that exploration participants explored elements of a vision and manifesto for change, different models for what the experience could be, and a process for engaging other people in the dialog as well as managing change over time.

During the second day participants identified nine components for a vision for the high school experience of the future. Each school district then identified what they were already doing in these nine key areas - and developed plans for specific areas they wanted to focus on.

The nine components of the vision are:

A sense of purpose
Personalized learning
A vision for what 'it' looks like when it's done
Innovative assessment
Relationships with students
Broader responsibility
Connected learning (integrated, interdisciplinary, relevant learning)
Teacher as facilitator
Learning Communities

We used Blogger for web-publishing and Flickr for photo uploading to the web; both are free services. Facilitation and documentation by Innovation Labs LLC.

NEXT: Introduction to Setting Some Context >>

Round 12: Final Comments

We know what we want to do, but we don’t know if we’re going to get in trouble for these ideas. We’ve given up some learning in order to do some teaching.

I wonder if we’ve developed enough sense of urgency. We’re fortunate to have a governor who has a wife that helps. We can’t compare ourselves to Iowa. There’s our sense of urgency. We have to reeducate him and people who think that way.

It’s people who are trying to relocate to here for business opportunities.

They’re the ones who will have the hiring processes.

A conference such as this confirms for me that what I’m doing is great. When I’m sitting by colleagues who have a grade by each student for every day, I feel a little guilty and that I have to explain myself. So it’s nice to be here.

The networking opportunity here is wonderful. I don’t know if this has been done before and it’s very valuable.

Since we lost the teachers’ convention we lost the ability to do this. It used to be too big.

We thought about having a statewide conference like this once a year. We haven’t emphasized it a lot but you’re making a 2 to 3 year commitment. It will take some time to sprout and it will need to be nurtured. It might also be helpful for the ESUs to have their own meetings like this.

We will be different tomorrow morning.

When I saw the 19 presentations, I saw nothing that would negatively effect our assessments. Nothing here will lower our test scores. If we do all of these things, there is nothing that will affect their ability to find a verb in a sentence.

In most of our conferences, we usually hear what other people think we should do. We’re not very reflective as a community. We’ve done a lot of thinking here.

If the students see the teachers and be in classrooms that are innovative, the students will be more innovative too.

If you get a staff member who is innovative and give them a pat on the back, that ripples out. Put it out in the paper and get recognition for this. It’s an important part of keeping it going. In terms of the conferences, people don’t come just for dialogue. How do you get people to show up without a well-known speaker?

We had 100 people show up here just with an invitation. We had 3 people from as many districts as we could with as many kinds that touch different parts of the system.

The invitation came from people who were a part of the conversation. This applied to me personally and that is what brought me to this. It doesn’t matter what the leadership is at the principal level. If we make changes that are good they are sustainable even without us.

What is your take on the direction of what we can do?

I have thought about this systemic change in education for many years. The way we do our work, we don’t tell people what to do. Our job is to figure out how to ask you the right questions so you come up with the answers you need. The 9 areas you came up with are all leveragable to make a difference. You’ve started the ball rolling and that’s the most important thing. If you can continue the conversation with your students and your staff, that will be the most valuable thing you can do. You need to make it okay to have those conversations.

Do not spend an inordinate amount of time to get everybody on board. If some people see that if they resist and nothing changes, some people will resist just for that. You want to do some level of this wherever you have influence. You want to do this as an experiment wherever you can and see how it goes. Growing up sucks. Take charge of the time you have. Pay attention to what you want to learn. Don’t be too timid.

If someone wants to work on purpose I have something that might helpful.

Learning is more important than anything. We have the opportunity to model what learning means. We can have curiosity, enthusiasm and really going for being a person who inspires others to learn. It’s a personal thing. We need to ask ourselves if we’re okay with not knowing, with trying things without knowing whether they’ll work or not.

No one had any doubt that we could get our staff to buy into the ideas we had. Trusting our kids to do what they can is something that seems to be in us.

As an assignment if you would go back to the students you interviewed and share your experience here and see where that conversation goes.

I would like to say that I’m very grateful to Rhonda for making this happen.

Round 11: ESU Plans

Context: The ESU groups met and discussed what kind of support the districts wanted as they moved forward. There was no report out of their work but their walls are shown below.

Round 10: District Plans

This is about you now moving into your district areas and take what you’ve just come up with in the areas of passion.

There are 19 different districts here. Each of you have a place to work here. This is where trust comes into play. You want to work in parallel so that you can get a lot more done.

See district plans (in order of report out):

Next: ESU Clusters>>

ESUs, Higher Learning, and State

ESUs, Higher Learning, and State. We've heard that you're going to plan what to do next. When you figure out what you need from us, we'd like to hear from the districts.

We need to start planning as a group. We need to figure out what we’re going to do for the people who are here. We’re going to meet as a team and divide and conquer. I heard personal learning plans and need for help.

We want a blog for ourselves and take advantage of what InnovationLabs has started for us. We want to thank InnovationLabs for helping us with this in getting started.

We want to add to that and thank all of you for coming. Don’t be afraid to ask. If you need a waiver for something, just ask. You are way ahead of the rest of the state. The commissioner loves to come to this part of the state. He’d love to work with you. We’ll look for money and trying to help with some funding opportunities if we can.

Round 10: District Plan: Wahoo

Round 10: District Plan: Columbus

Columbus. We want to implement a block schedule and tried to align the nine points with this. We felt we were hitting on most of the points. With the change if it’s done correctly, you’re able to train your teachers and have more flexibility with their schedules.

We put together a timeline. We don’t have enough time to communicate with our kids. We’re going to change that by having longer times with the kids. We found that SSR was a very good aspect of our day. We’re going to use it next year so that we can all transition into personal learning plans. We hope to move from the block scheduling into the personal learning plans.

Round 10: District Plan: Wakefield

Wakefield. We chose to focus on developing personalization not only among the students but also among the staff and faculty. With the new information we will look at our new demographics and the needs of our students.

We thought we could open up a whole new area of staff development. We will be having a lot more conversations.

Round 10: District Plan: Emerson Hubbard

Emerson Hubbard. We want to develop more relationships and want to beef up our advisory groups.

We’d like to turn it into our personal educational plan. We’d like to meet more and have more student reflection.

We’ve been delegating and telling them what to do but we’d like to have more input from them.

Round 10: District Plan: Wayne

Wayne. We decided to go with small steps at first. We already have advisory groups that only meet once or twice a year. We’d like to get reconnected with those kids. We’d like to start meeting monthly. We need a committee to get together to come up with topics. We’d like to bring people in from the community.

We also chose innovative assessment. We want to get the staff resources so they could do this. We want to target getting it to them by November and then in the next semester try something new. We’ll have the results given to our principal and see where to go next.

Round 10: District Plan: South Sioux City

South Sioux City. We had a lot of things that other people have said. We will have Student Teacher Academic Research Time (START). We will help them for both academic as well as other practical things. We have 40 minutes built into this and we might as well take advantage of the existing schedule.

Round 10: District Plan: Pender

Pender. We decided on the PEP also. This affects so many other areas. We’re counting on our ESU to help us.

We would like to have help in communicating with our staff.

We’d like to have the staff set priorities. We could set up our mentor program in January. We’d like to have parent teacher conference and have something in place then the staff can meet with those parents. In April or May, we want to see what it could like in the coming year.

Round 10: District Plan: Fremont

Fremont. We’ve already done some things with our conferences. We’ve had an advisor-advisee situation in place but it’s not quite where we want it to be. We’ll need some staff development to understand the process. We want to focus on students and think we can hit all three parts of that student gradient.

The tools we will use is the connection with the adults and upgrading our technology program as well as concept based thematic learning. We need to include revisiting our schedule. We want to get counselors involved.

Round 10: District Plan: Logan View

Logan View. We want to implement an advisory period with our learning communities. We listed our brainstorming for these topics, such as teambuilding, social issues and current events. We’d like to present this to the staff and get their input. We want to find out what other schools are doing.

Next spring we’d work on the staff development. We’d like to implement this by next year and evaluate on a quarterly basis to make sure we’re on the right track. We want to involve the students, parents and the community.

Round 10: District Plan: Lakeview

Lakeview.

We’re going to take something back to talk to our staff. We have a home room right now which is not structured. We’d like to take advantage of some of that time and take advantage of the student-advisor relationship.

We’d like to set up coffees for the parents. We also want to have all of our teachers do some classroom innovations, such as having them be facilitators instead of lecturers. I’ve already gotten good support from our administrator. We will also celebrate our teachers for just trying, regardless of whether the experiment is successful or not.

Round 10: District Plan: Boone Central

Boone Central. We want to start researching and get the ideas of the staff and the students. We’ve already started on building relationships. We already have some positive contact between teachers and relationships. We’ll ask the teachers for their ideas of building better relationships and we can improve the parent involvement.

Facilitated learning was another hot topic. We want to determine the best practices and try pilot programs so that other teachers can see what works.

Round 10: District Plan: Howells

Howells. We want to target our areas of action. We want to be interdisciplinary and relevant. We want to do innovative assessment. We’re hoping our staff is willing to be collaborative. We look to performance-based and portfolio-based assessments. Some scholarships are based on class rank and we want to be able to answer this.

This is a work in progress and we hope to meet our timelines.

Round 10: District Plan: Leigh

Leigh. We talked about some of the things we were doing which are pretty good but we didn’t feel comfortable coming up with plans without the staff.

We’re going to get the input from them and mark it on our sheet here.

From there we will begin our process and look at data. It’s a work in progress for us and see what our staff does with it.

Round 10: District Plan: West Boyd

West Boyd. We want to have a personal learning plan. In a small school we have the luxury of every teacher knowing every student in the school. We want to make sure the members of the community are involved and the relationships with that are improved.

With the facilitated learning we have an exciting opportunity for teaching of being not just lecturers but facilitators. With staff development we hope to get everyone to buy in to the idea.

We want to focus on the PEPs and we need to integrate it with our entire staff. We want to get the staff comfortable with the programs.

Round 10: District Plan: Elkhorn Valley

Elkhorn Valley. We’re focused on learning communities. On Fridays we have an early dismissal to work on things and usually we don’t have that much to work on. Now we do. We’ll have staff communication about best practices. This way we can talk to our staff about how to handle various things. We’ll have an advisory team.

We’ll develop peer-mentor relationships. We want to build relationships and develop a committee to look at our school setting. We want to include a meeting with our kids.

Round 10: District Plan: Madison

Madison. We were generic and didn’t pick the top 3.

We’re going to talk to our staff and take them through a mini-version of this whole process. We want to take them through learning groups and communities.

We’ll try to get this done in the next couple months. We’ll schedule a day in November. We’ll develop 5 or 6 learning teams and have them do some research projects.

Round 10: District Plan: Norfolk

Norfolk. We picked 3 of the 9. We want all our teachers to interview the students.

We can do some of the kinds of process we did here and we want to talk about all kids.

We have an advisor program that we have once a week. We used to have the every day home room so we will consider that but also we want to have mentors and consider having the students choose them.

Round 10: District Plan: Valentine

Valentine. We looked at all nine areas and highlighted a couple we thought we could put into effect right away. The bottom third can definitely use some help but maybe the top third kids are not being challenged enough. I have a couple of daughters who wish they would have gotten more out of high school to be better prepared for college.

We have home room in our schools and we find it helps with the teacher-student relationship. It’s a great place to do some housekeeping. If a kid has a concern they get to air it there.

In the individual personal learning, we look at the needs of our students. I’m going to go home and interview a lot of my students. I’ll ask them what would make them more excited about school. We need more communication. Sometimes we get so busy with going from chapter to chapter that we don’t take enough time to see what’s working. We have school improvement programs and maybe we could have a survey to find out from everyone what would make it more exciting.

We tried to come up with our mission statement Literacy is important. Our kids need to be able to function in society. They’ll end up as criminals or on welfare. We need to prepare this bottom third to be good citizens.

Our assessment innovation still needs focus. I don’t like grades so I hope we can get away from that.

Round 10: District Plan: Seward

Seward.

We’re going to have a discussion with staff about this meeting within our learning team groups. We want to define what a student should know when they graduate. We want to have all the constituents involved. We will have learning teams as an ongoing effort.

In the future we’re going to look at personal learning plans within the next 18 months. We’re in a block schedule period right now. We have a debate about using the time within that.

We talked about how to use time differently in the classrooms. If you can get kids to learn on their own, that creates more time.

Round 9: Governor's Address

Dave Heineman
I am really excited to be here because this is an issue that I care more about and is something that my family also cares more about. We have first hand experience as my wife was an elementary school principal and would have liked to be here with me today.

I want to first thank you for doing this work. I know from first hand experience the kind of dedication you have. You get some great rewards for that. I know when I go out with my wife, every trip takes longer because every student wants to give her a hug or say hello. I’m sure you all experience that too.

Education is the greatest equalizer we have. It doesn’t matter if you’re black or white or rich or poor. A great education gives every kid an opportunity to succeed. Luckily no two kids want to do the same thing.

We’re trying to broaden the discussions. We need to talk about early childhood all the way through. There is a link between education and the economic vitality of our state. Far too often, we’ve exported our sons and daughters to Denver, New York or Los Angeles. These are fine cities, but we want to keep our kids here. Let’s create opportunities for them. I want to make sure that people understand that the business communities need to get involved in helping, either with financial support or in other ways.

I can tell you in this year’s budget, we fully funded state education, special education and higher education. We live in a different environment than we ever have before. It’s more technological and globally competitive than ever before.

Our communities are affected more by global events than ever before.

Not long ago I went to Cuba. I thought when I was there I would not have any access to what was happening in Nebraska much less the world. But it wasn’t true. I could see everything that’s going on. The globe is very connected now.

We’re no longer competing between towns in Nebraska. We’re competing against China and India. They’re generating more scientists and engineers than we are. We need to reverse that trend.

What do we need to do relative to the high school experience? We are doing an incredible job, but we want to take a great system and make it even better. Whether we’re talking today or 50 years from now or behind us, there are two things that won’t change. You give me good teachers and involved parents, we will have good education.

How do we get parents more involved? We have to do that. I have made a commitment to be at my son’s parent teacher conferences no matter what. I’ve not attended various state functions because that is my priority. No community has ever come up to me and said I shouldn’t do that.

We have to find a way to make this a priority for all parents. This has to be possible for single parents and find a way to take care of even those who have no parents. We have to think outside the box to make this happen. We need to take advantage of the internet where we can.

Parents are still the best teachers we have. How do we make sure the kids who go to kindergarten are prepared for it? Any disparity they have when they come in then will only grow through the years.

We want to make sure throughout the state level that we have good partnerships. We need to involve business community more than ever before. Let’s look at all the kids who take the ACTs. Nebraska is number one in this.

Right now high school education is not enough to get by with in this world. We need more kids who go on to get advanced degrees. I’m interested in hearing your reactions.

We need to count on you to make these changes. You are the experts. Athletics are important and are part of what we need to do, but the state trophy is not the reason I am governor now. I was also on the Dean’s list.

When every high school I go to in the state, we’re very proud of the kids who have the trophies, but what about the kids who get 100% on the ACTs. We need to find ways to recognize the kids who excel in academic excellence.

This is going to be a challenge but I believe we can do that. I want to hear your thoughts and concerns.

Questions
Q: Are other states doing what we’re doing here?
A: Other states are in a different place than we are but we don’t want to rest on our laurels. Some of the other states need complete overhauls. The world is catching up to us and we need to be ready.

Q: I have a concern about the latest summit and it’s requirement of exit exams. Some of them are not educationally sound. We need to collaborate to come up with those.
A: I agree. We need to make sure kids are learning. One of the things that I’ve heard is that they’re thinking of relocating to Nebraska. They want to see how we can demonstrate our educational excellence. We’re going to be announcing some partnerships.

Q: What do you see as the life of No Child Left Behind now that President Bush is in his last term?
A: I think that program was focused more on the needs of inner city and urban areas and doesn’t reflect Nebraska. Like anything else, the public is demanding more accountability. The reason more parents want to be able to compare schools is not because they’re moving from one community to another. They want to know the success that each school makes in any subject. I do think there will be modifications to the NCLB program.

Q: Some of the things we’re talking about today is actually less accountability in terms of measurement. From our point of view, we’re heading a different way. The accountability we have right now doesn’t fit every student’s need.
A: That’s a good point.

Q: Are they looking for high achievers or learners?
A: Some students are going to want to go down a certain path. I don’t think education should be focused on one segment of society. I may be wrong, but I’m not sure kids read as well as they used to nor write as well as they used to.

Q: When we look at our statistics against the rest of the states, we’re doing well. But what about the rest of the world? We’re still sitting at 175 days that we had since World War 2. The rest of the world is past us there.
A: If we don’t have our kids in school long enough, the directive to do that isn’t going to come from the governor’s office of the president of ConAgra. It’s going to have to come from you. We need you to lead this effort. This is where you want to partner with business because they’ll help you. We need you to take a larger leadership role.

Q: Our job was to ask a broader question: What do we do to make our children excited about learning?
A: I know what part of the answer is: good teachers. We just honored teacher of the year, Patricia Cook. We need to find that passion. That really helps. The kids learn a lot differently than we did. The technology is just part of it.

Q: When you spoke about innovation and doing things differently and the funding associated with that, I hope that you and the state looks at that to help make this happen.
A: Let me give you the high level budget situation. The top three items are state funded special education, Medicaid and the Nebraska University. These three make up 70% of the budget. We need to prioritize our spending. These expenditures in these areas are growing. In another 5 years, if we don’t address Medicaid, K-12 education will go down hill.

Thank you for what you do. You get the chance to make the difference in kids lives every single day. They may not thank you every day but you are making a difference. I bet 99% of the citizens of this state appreciate what you do.

Round 8: Personal Passion

Context: We identified nine areas of passion from the group and each person was able to sign up to work on the area of his or her interest. Each team worked for an hour defining what needs to be accomplished in their area and some options for doing that. Instead of a report out, we did three rounds of a shift and share so that the participants could make notes of what they wanted to bring back to their district conversations which was the next round of work.

Team 1: Sense of Purpose
Daniel Tietjen, Michael Moody, Jeff Hallstrom, Robert Arp, Mike Schleicher, Jamie Isom, Pat Nauroth, Stephen Morton

Team 2: Personalized Learning
Amy Romshek, Justin Wagner, Stephanie Hames, Jason Craig, Rosemary Andrews, Carol Hilker, Kris Wurtz, Terri Gross, Lisa Janke, Lynne Webster, Russ Lechtenburg

Team 3: What will it look like when it’s done
Dan Cox, Mark Hanson, Besty Rall, Vanessa Tanderup, Ed Stansberry, Jake Nelson, Greg Conroy, Dave Privett, Jeff McQuisten, Jill Krinke

Team 4: Innovative Assessment
Josette Keuck, Annette Rasmussen, Barb Ron, Rhonda Jindra, Beth Kabes, Troy Hurner, Rick Swearengin, Dennis Radford

Team 5: Relationships w/ Students
Casey Hurner, Michelle Willimason, Kim Zach, Deb Welsh, Dan Publow, Dave Green, Bill Heiman, Cindy Johnson, Beth Johnsen

Team 6: Broaden Responsbility
Darrelll Barnes, Ona Ebson, Bob Uhing, Randy Peck, Mike Ough, Pat Crisler, Eric Miller, Tom Reeser

Team 7: Interdisciplinary

Bill Trenhaile, Chris Good, Summer Stephens, Darin Hahne, Marla Prusa, Kathy Glodowski

Team 8: Teacher/Facilitator
Barb Black, Carol Eishcheid, Dan Scherer, Brendan Dittmer, Russ Wissing, Brent Cudly, Mike Schleicher, Dave Sellon, Tom Gannon

Team 9: Learning Communities
Jennifer Trenhaile, Jill Bates, Carol Jessen, Shannon Collin, Robin Gorene, Steve Borer, Marlene Uhing, Joe Sajevic, John Lammel

Round 7: Synthesis Conversation

Q: Any reflections on yesterday and the work we did?

Bill Thenhaile: They’re taking us through the same steps we need to take our kids through. They’re teaching us the process. We will take this back and teach it to our own staff. We have to work together. I cannot solve these problems by myself. We have to trust each other to solve these problems. We have to be okay with not having the answers too.

We need to know that men and women solve problems differently. We need to understand this. Men go inside themselves and figure it out. Women like to talk about it. We just need to listen and say, “Uh huh”.

Instead of just allowing staff members to do things, we need to encourage them to come up with new ideas.

The Pareto principle says that we spend the majority of our time on things that don’t matter. The 80% of our lives in school are those things and they will take care of themselves.

We need to make sure that we are not afraid to ruffle the feathers. We need to do that in our communities.

For the governor, I want to ask him what his idea of education should look like in Nebraska? In the visits with other governors what do they say about the No Child Left Behind program and have other states done what we’ve done. If no other state is doing it, then we are the tip of the sword and let’s put that out there. I also want to charge him to share this experience with other governors.

Diversity of Stakeholders

MK: Do we have any school board members here?

We don’t. There wasn’t a facility big enough to hold all of the people we want to include. That will be the next phase.

If we’re the tip of the sword, then our sword needs to be double-edged. And we need a handle with some way to wield this sword.

It would be nice to see some follow-up.

Our goal is to find a way to sustain this.

We need to talk to our people. Time and money come up over and over again. But there are ways to solve that. They are not a good enough reason not to do stuff.

MK: In terms of taking you behind the scenes, what do you think we were doing while you were in break-out groups? We had time. This is not a control-based model. We often ask ourselves “what do we do next?”

One of the things I understood when I got to the superintendents office because once you control the purse strings, you have power. We have to collaborate otherwise we’re headed for disaster.

This I got from church council meeting which mapped out the stages of a life cycle of an organization. You start with courtship, infancy, go-go, adolescence, prime, stability, aristocracy, recrimination, bureaucracy, and end with death. At some point policy replaces common sense. That is my nightmare with education.

My thoughts are about conversations. That’s what we need to do and until staff feel comfortable having honest conversations, we will not be able to solve our problems. They need to be able to share their hopes and dreams.

Everything that needs to be done has already been done before by others. Maybe we can leverage their efforts.

Someone referred to this as a grassroots effort. If it really is to be one, it has to start in our classrooms.

The current obstacles that need to be overcome must be overcome and we need a guiding coalition that will take us forward. We don’t need to have the entire community behind us. We need to have a plan to overcome our obstacles.

To have education as a successful business, we need to send out feelers into the world to find out what’s happening. Some of those ideas are beyond our own boundaries

In the student interviews I was struck by how seriously they took the questions. They were so honored to be asked their opinion. That came up yesterday. If we give them some ownership, the problems we have with them will disappear. They wanted to be heard and they were excited by the idea that we wanted their input.

It’s important that you engage all the stakeholders in your community and leadership is a key feature of that. We need to begin the conversations and take the risks.

MK: There are 100 leaders right here.

My concern is that it’s easy to talk about this here but harder to take it back and not fall into the rut. There are plenty of barriers: other staff, the system itself. I hope we can get some help in moving forward with the process.

Yes, the system itself is an inhibitor. here is so much more bureaucracy in the last 10 years than ever before.

People have passion here for the subject, for the kids. How can you develop passion in other people? We need to get started and we need to help continue it.

Introduce the idea in a staff meeting and let it settle for a month and then revisit it and add to it. You’ll build the passion. This is not something that we can develop overnight. It might take a year or two. Introduce it slowly and people will come on board.

We are also dealing with state report cards. You have to change the public, the newspaper and the governor. We’ve got strings going in two directions right now.

There are people who don’t have the passion but they know things need to change. You don’t want to have too much passion against it but the conversation that happens between opposing points of view can sometimes be helpful.

The Right Stuff

The people in the room are forward-thinking but not all of our colleagues are. Just like kids are all different so are we. To say that we can get everyone to be as passionate as we are is like saying that all children can think the same way. It won’t happen.

We have people who have been doing the same thing for so long and it works for them; it will be hard for them to change. And there is grief in change. If we tell them that they have to change or move on, then they go to different stages: anger or denial. Maybe they will move on eventually, but maybe we can help them get through it. Maybe we can help them do it differently. Maybe then we could help them assuage the fears of backlash.

Let’s help them see the initial parts of success. Maybe then they’ll come on board. Let’s start with the small successes and maybe bigger changes will be possible.

What if we were to refer to our obstacles as opportunities? Maybe the reframe would help us see that as something to solve as opposed to an obstacle to go through.

I’m not sure that we have enough passion to do this. I think people are at different places with that. I’m curious how people got through the question you asked last night about where we are personally with our passion.

I’d like to see what others have done in this.

There was a program that did change and used a questionnaire to figure out with their staff where they’re at.

R&D in the "Real World"

MK: You can begin to bring this back to your organizations and create a culture that allows us to try things. I hope you can create in your own sphere of influence some changes.

Where do businesses initiate this change?

Bryan Coffman: It happens in all different places. Business is no better at innovation than anyone in education. Though Cisco is a positive example. They created 14000 R&D units and just let them run with their own ideas. At some point there were enough successes that the change rippled throughout the organization. The innovation didn’t happen at the top. You can use this as a model for yourselves. You have so many different units, you’re able to generate massive change across the entire organization. If you generate enough change locally, then it will ripple out to the top. It will roll out and nothing can stop it. You can still work at the top but you don’t need to start there.

In business R&D they’re trying to make a better widget or increase their bottom line. But what is our widget? We’re trying to get to an end result but we don’t know what it is. That’s what makes this such a messy process.

That’s why we need to know why we need to change.

Does anybody in this room think that anything is wrong?

Yes! We are not meeting our kids. We’re not providing them with what they need once they leave our doors.

Video games challenge kids. Our classes may not.

MK: The sponsor group had a conversation that soon all the learning will not happen in the classroom. The kids may still go to school but the learning will happen outside of it.

Right. And the people who are building the video games don’t know anything about education. We need to take control of our own destinies. We’re cheating ourselves and our students. We need to stop breaking stuff and start making it.

People will still come to school because they need to learn how to talk to people. Society is changing. We have people who think we just take care of their kids for the 8 hours we have them. We can no longer ignore the kids who don’t fit like we used to because of the changes of society. We’re not frustrated with the box kids. For the others, it may not be biology and geometry for kids; it may be hygiene classes. Out of the box for us is so vastly outside.

I believe it was Mark Twain who said that “I never let schooling interfere with my education.” I think our kids know how to do that. Bill Gates was a person like that too.

Identifying Our Personal Passion
MK: What are some common themes that came up yesterday?

Technology
Control
Ownership
Relationships
Learning communities
Communication
Relevance

What speaks the loudest sometimes is what isn’t said. I never heard anyone say anything about rigor. Maybe just rigor mortis.

Another thing we didn’t hear is accountability. Who is accountable for these changes and knowing when it’s successful or not? We’re letting outside forces determine accountability for us. They control who takes the test. How do they know what’s working or not?

In the idea of personalization, maybe we can create connectedness so that we eliminate the drop out rate. That’s a reason to change right there.

There is a need between the arts and sciences and we need to partner with the colleges.

A real grassroots effort might start at the teaching college because that where we started. We need young kids coming up with these ideas. So that they start running the schools that way.

BC: If we came up with 5 things as planks for your vision, what would they be?

We need to define our purpose as an ongoing thing.

MK: Personalized learning could be one.

We need to look at assessment and innovate it.

We need to have these conversations in our schools.

We need to build our relationships with students, with business community, with the local community.

BC: I split it into two: relationships with students and broadening the responsibility base.

We need to have integration of subject materials. A lot of people need to learn English but it could be done in places other than English classes, such as interdisciplinary subjects. Life is integrated why not our classrooms.

I want the teachers to change from control to more nurturing guides. Maybe we could call them facilitators, guides or coaches.

I look at the list and I see strategies. We look to the government to tell us what to do because we don’t know what we want. We haven’t identified what we want it to look like. How do we know what strategies and relationship to build until we know where we’re going?

Part of it will unfold. We need to trust the process.

But that’s why the state has standards. We work with their framework because we have no strategy of our own.

We need to add the idea that life long learners are our teachers too.

What’s missing is that we need a learning community. It could be anybody that fosters the ideas.

Why does there have to be one set thing for it to look like? We’ve all had chocolate cake but how many different types? It doesn’t all have to be the same.

What is a productive worker in the year 2020?

Someone who enjoys what he does.

We’re not going to be able to define it. But we know that they will need to include technology.

Okay, well let’s get to work. Sign up for these areas and sit back down.

MK: We’re going to get to some details in these areas. Come up with what you’re going to accomplish and lots of ideas of how.

We’re going to spend about 45 minutes figuring this part out and then we’ll shift into district groups to talk about what you’re going to do in these 9 areas.

At some point the governor will show up and we’ll incorporate him into our process.

BC: I have been doing this work for 20 years. Do not underestimate what you’re doing. What you’re doing is very cool. Let’s get to work.

Wednesday, October 12, 2005

Round 6: Managing Change, Challenging Orthodoxies & Mining Ideas (Reports)

As this project for rethinking high schools moves forward, how should it be supported and driven? How should the multitude of ideas for change that will come up be handled? How should other people be engaged in the process—both inside the school system and in the greater community (business, government, parents and so on)? How will everyone stay in touch and what kinds of information will they share? How will you know if the changes are working? How can a process of continuous innovation be built into the fabric of the education system?

Teams various areas including designing a change process; inspiring staff, board members and students; challenging assumptions; redefining the idea of "school"; removing limitations to innovation, and more.

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Team 1 Rosemary Andrews, Kathy Glodowski, Lisa Janke, Duane Lechtenberg, Eric Miller, Marla Prusa, Betsy Rall , Bob Uhing, Debra Welsh
We had to come with a process that would show a way to implement change. We didn’t reinvent the wheel. We have to do the research and come up with a plan. We don’t celebrate enough. When you do this you have some reflection time. You have to have student participation as much as possible. We started something called DSat.

It’s hit or miss; some teachers are great at filling out all the forms, others aren’t. For some schools it works great because they can see the continuous feedback on the web. Our school improvement program has been focused on reading comprehension. It’s important to take small steps to change instead of biting off too big a chunk. How do you deal with people wanting to do pilot programs? We just don’t have a lot of extra time.

Team 2: Darrell Barnes, Brad Best, Jeffrey Edwards, Mark Hanson, Harold Nelson, David Perkins, Joe Sajevic, Jim Scheer, Michelle Willamson
We implemented some change and we stole our model from the NCA accreditation process. We’re going to get a committee together and get staff input. We’ll implement and have an ongoing implementation. There may need to be some tweaks along the way. The biggest point is that we need to have continuing education.

Team 3: Jill Bates, Nancy Becker, Darin Hahne, Beth Kabes, Jill Krienke, Vickie Scow, Summer Stephens, Jennifer Trenhaile, Bill Trenhaile, Russ Wissing
We looked at assumptions about teachers’ professional development. We could honor staff strengths and teacher leaders. We like the idea of onsite professional development. There was an assumption that teachers work in isolation behind closed doors and we’d like to open those. We’d consider creating some time and space for teachers to work together. Most schools have done a lot with articulated curriculum. There is something called Lessons Study where they collaborate and meet together to plan a lesson and some of the teachers watch one teacher teach it, so they can critique it and improve it. We don’t have VA and Home Ec any more and we’ve lost some of the vocational schools, so maybe we can get more creative about how to offer these subjects.

Team 4: Gary Bolton, Steve Borer, Shannon Collin, Dean Folkers, David Green, Stephanie Hames, Casey Hurner, Carol Jessen, Dan Schnoes
We also considered getting rid of things, like the school board. We looked at alternative grading portfolios, maybe simple pass or fail. We also considered no grade levels at the high school and flexible graduations or completions. We looked at different course options and a continuous learning calendar, such as a 45 day school session with 15 days off. This would go through a cycle with a 6-week summer break.There is an elementary school that does this now and they seem to be on par with other elementary schools.

We would implement flexible school days for both the students and teachers. Some kids function really well at 7am and some better at 10am. One of the kids I talked to does some of his best work at 3am. At some schools, they even have night classes.

We considered a scenario where there would be no textbooks. We could do a work around with eBooks. There would be teacher-based lessons that are driven by the students, not necessarily by what’s in the next chapter.

Team 6: Barb Black, Steven Borer, Gregory Conroy, Jason Craig, Tom Gannon, Robin Groene, Jamie Isom, Barbara Roth, Mike Schleicher
Our topic was administration and I was the only principal in a group of teachers. We tried to look at a system without administration. We decided not to take attendance. We considered online courses. We built an idea called E=MC2. Education = Mall Central.

We created a space like the mall that has courses over satellite. There would be student leadership and hopefully they would have enough discipline to carry it through.

Team 7: Ona Ebsen, Terri Gross, Jeff Hallstrom, Bill Heimann, Angela Jordan, John Lammel, Jeffrey McQuistan, David Privett, Donlynn Rice
We looked at outside groups and the assumptions of schools. We decided to take away the idea that four years equals graduation. We decided that you could graduate after two years if you were ready.

We didn’t have any concrete timelines, but we would figure out a basis for how to move on to the next level. We talked about apprenticeships and partnerships with businesses. We looked at the options that might be necessary for the kids who finish high school early.

Team 8: Brent Cudly, Brendan Dittmer, Carol Eischeid, Carol Hilker, Dan Publow, Thomas Reeser, Amy Romshek, Norm Ronell, Michael Sorensen, Ed Stansberry
Out focus was key improvement in the high school. We kept coming back to the personal educational plan. We need resources, such as time, to see this through. There are a lot of options.

We need to determine which mandates need to be skirted or flexible. We need community involvement in order to pull this off. Fourteen year olds cannot make a plan for 4 years.

Team 9: Dan Cox, Brad Hansen, Troy Holmberg, Beth Johnsen, Stephen Morton, Pat Nauroth, Vanessa Tanderup, Daniel Tietjen, Marlene Uhing, Kim Zach
We talked about the word radical. It is a challenging word and we had a bit of a hard time coming up with radical things. After reading some science fiction, we thought about having virtual classrooms. (laughter) We noted that the students want to have more social time and tried to build that in. We also talked about teacher tenure. We started talking about the idea where the students pick the teachers. We had a value-added assessment.

Team 10: Robert Arp, Christine Good, Rhonda Jindra, Cindy Johnson, Rich Katt, Michael Moody, Mike Ough, Dave Sellon, Justin Wagner
We had fun with this. We had a blank slate to work with. Everything we have on this board will be implemented on Monday. (laughter) We talked about traveling since some people say that’s the best learning experience. We want to have standardized and personalized learning through the computer where kids can go online at midnight and take classes online.

We have capstone projects where you can keep building on that can even extend beyond high school. We went with the concentric model and argued about what goes in the middle. Is it the learning? The learner? Otherwise we have parents and advisory groups and others in the outer circles.

We want to have more loci of control for each constituent. We talked about grants available for students and reimbursing partnerships with practical applications. Also about how to meet the need of every single student. One student said if I could play basketball everyday then I would come to school. We thought about putting a dorm on campus for the at-risk students.

We lost control and got out of our sphere and tried to think so far out there is no box. We brought up the mall concept too. You can buy anything and everything you want online and yet the malls are not closing down. And some people are really happy they can buy everything on line and never have to step foot in a mall again. So it needs to be an inpidual choice.

Discussion

Michael Kaufman: Is there anything here that rubs you the wrong way?

Group: I’m willing to give my students a lot of credit and I do think there needs to be a mentoring aspect and strong outside influence. Scary school is small class about 20-30 kids with a couple of teachers. It’s self-contained. You get a lot of flexibility and see what they could explore and learn. They would get to do more self-exploration.

MK: I firmly believe in choice as an intrinsic motivation. Even in corporations, it takes a long time for people to understand that they can take responsibility for their own work and learning. I knew an educator who wanted to engage a class to take charge of their learning. It took them two weeks before a student asked what they were going to do.

Group: The kid gets all the information. We need to tap into the parents and incentivize their ownership of the education. There’s always those parents who are always involved and some who are never involved. We need to get the parents in the middle.

MK: Let’s move onto the next phase of work. I have a question for you: Are you ready to do whatever it takes to make this change? Instead of just talking about it. The governor is coming tomorrow and we have some passion around this. Let’s make it happen. I feel that each of you personally need to decide if you’re willing to try something. The answers will make a difference in what we actually do.

Group: This is a wonderful opportunity for us to talk about it in a supportive environment. If we’re out there ahead of the curve, it’s likely that we’re going to be facing some opposition. We have to be willing to do that. If you believe in something strongly enough, then you’ll take the risk. It’s like being the drop in the pond. A small action will ripple out and we don’t know where our influence will go.

Round 6: Managing Change, Challenging Orthodoxies & Mining Ideas (Assignments)

Guidelines for Managing Change
Teams 1 and 2

So far today we’ve explored our assumptions about managing change and worked with some articles containing different ideas for managing change. Now it’s your turn to take that work and synthesize it into a first set of guidelines and simple rules that you propose be used to support the change process going forward.

As this project for rethinking high schools moves forward, how should it be supported and driven? How should the multitude of ideas for change that will come up be handled? How should other people be engaged in the process—both inside the school system and in the greater community (business, government, parents and so on)? How will everyone stay in touch and what kinds of information will they share? How will you know if the changes are working? How can a process of continuous innovation be built into the fabric of the education system?

You have some decisions to make. Will your system for managing change be centralized or network-based or both? Will it admit only incremental changes that fit within accepted guidelines, or will it sometimes challenge authority with deep innovations, or some of both? How much local authority will there be? Does it matter whether different programs are being tried at different schools so that the schools have less in common with one another over time?

Create a set of guidelines to serve as rules of thumb for managing a continuous process of change and innovation that doesn’t allow the education system to stand still but doesn’t cause the system to tear itself apart either. Your list should tell someone who wasn’t here this week how to get started, get connected, make changes, implement changes, and make a difference. It’s a set of simple rules that allows the whole effort to come together without much centralized control.

You may wish to consider some of the following questions as you do your work, but don’t treat the list as a set of essay questions that you’re required to answer. Just let them provoke thought.

How do you engage more people inside the system to rethink the high school experience?
How do you engage more people and organizations outside the system to rethink the high school experience?
How do ideas become experiments, pilots or initiatives without being bogged down in bureaucracy?
Once people join the movement, how are they encouraged to come up with ideas and implement them?
How do people in the movement communicate, share ideas, support one another?
How does everyone find, document, recognize, support, copy, and improve upon the good ideas of others (inside the system and outside)?
How do we know that ideas are working—whether they’re successful or not?
How do we find and distribute resources to support the effort?

Challenging Orthodoxies (The Dominant Design) and Assumptions
Teams 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

Systems have difficulty making radical change because they have been built up over years or decades into what they are. Every component of the system seems to be an absolute necessity, even though at one point in its evolution the component did not exist and was not required. Unless some of these major assumptions and ways that we do things can be successfully challenged, innovators are left to nibble at the edges with incrementalism. Challenging the dominant design is a technique for breaking out of incremental design.
Focus on the following areas:

Team 3: The staff (or learning team including students) and its professional development
Team 4: The learning experience
Team 5: Facilities: virtual, physical & media
Team 6: Administration
Team 7: Players outside the system (e.g., business, government, parents, community…)

Record the most compelling ideas onto poster boards—one idea per poster board. List the title of the idea, describe it with a few lines of text, and draw a diagram that describes the idea. Create 4-6 poster boards. Put at least one of your names on each board as a point of contact someone could turn to for more information about that idea.

Step 1

For your focus area, make a list of the major orthodoxies, assumptions or components of the dominant design for the high school experience—better yet, for learning experiences that take place between the ages of 14 and 18. Assumptions, orthodoxies and dominant design are just three ways to think of the same thing. An orthodoxy describes how everyone else does high school education—the status quo. It’s “how it’s always been done,” or more devastatingly, “how it MUST be done.” A standard curriculum, a typical number of years to “graduate”, graduation itself, grades, and typical features of a campus might be examples. Assumptions have to do with what we believe about the system: how people learn, what motivates them, whether they can be trusted, and so on. The dominant design tells us how a system is forced to be designed by restrictions, rules and regulations placed on the system by the system outside of it (government, society, other institutions and so on).

Step 2

Choose one or several of the items from your list and do a “take away” to help you uncover ideas for rethinking the high school experience. For example, when we work with other public education clients, they often tell us that they “have to have a school building.” That’s an orthodoxy/assumption/dominant design. So we tell them to design a system of education that works but doesn’t include a school building. If they suspend their disbelief long enough to get into the exercise they usually come back with two results: (1) a design for a system that doesn’t include a school building (rarely) and, (2) other insights they got while doing the exercise (more frequently). The second result is usually more important than the first. In other words, the purpose of the exercise is to force the mind to think laterally in a new way by embracing the “impossible”, not necessarily to make you design a school without buildings.

Do at least three different take away challenges in this round of work and see what ideas you come up with for rethinking the high school experience.

Mining Ideas from the Expeditions
Teams 8, 9, 10

In your team area you’ll find the documentation from all of the Learning Expeditions that the participants did before the session. Using this documentation, accomplish the following:

Go through the reports and pull out ideas for change in high school that you find interesting or compelling. List them on your marker board. These ideas may be major initiatives, suggested pilot programs, or small experiments. They might be as radical as, “shift from giving grades to using portfolios instead,” or they can be incremental. Note that the idea should indicate the perceived problem and the shift to the solution.
As you explore the reports and discuss them, record any new ideas that may come to mind as a result of the discussion, but which were not in the reports.
Record the most compelling ideas onto poster boards—one idea per poster board. List the title of the idea, describe it with a few lines of text, and draw a diagram that describes the idea. Create 4-6 poster boards. Put at least one of your names on each board as a point of contact someone could turn to for more information.

Team 8: Look for ideas that represent key improvements that can be made in the high school experience (these ideas may apply to the learning team in a classroom, to an entire school, or to the entire system).

Team 9: Look for ideas that represent radical innovations that can be made in the high school experience (these ideas may apply to the learning team in a classroom or to an entire school).

Team 10: Look for ideas that require involvement with the broader community around the school: business, government, community organizations, parents, and so on.

Treat this assignment as an inquiry instead of a critique. There are certainly very good ideas contained in the learning expedition results. What might be more valuable are the insights that you may get while looking at the results. Try to avoid thinking about why or how various ideas won’t work. Leave the subject of implementation for later. Let your mind spend time forming and looking for patterns in the data and your conversations about the data. From those patterns, powerful ideas may emerge. Look for ideas that delight you on first impression, shape those ideas up, and run with them.

Rolling Up
Gather together into groups as follows:

Teams 1, 2 and 3 join together (Manifesto for Change)
Teams 4, 5, and 6 join together (Options for Things We Could/Should Change)
Teams 7, 8, and 9 join together (Process for Change)
Teams 10, 11, and 12 join together (Vision of the Ideal High School Experience in 2020)

Rearrange chairs and marker boards as necessary. Once you’re in your groups, allow each of the three teams in your group about 5 minutes apiece to share their work.

After you’re done sharing, spend the remaining 30 minutes consolidating your work into a single presentation. Extract the best ideas from each team. Look for common ideas or themes that emerged. Work fast and don’t think too hard about or argue over what you’re doing—just let it flow.

Express your presentation on one of the marker boards and be prepared to share it with everyone else when we all reconvene as a large group.

Round 5: Reflection

Michael Kaufman
MK: What your experience with that last exercise?

We need to have ownership.
Change is more effective when it’s bottom-up
Change is more effective when there’s more money involved

Conversations are good but cautious. They’re fearful of risk. We’re not taking the chances we need to take. We’re still too focused on the right answer.

I’d like to find at least a unit of change. It doesn’t have to be a whole year even.

We all have a sphere of influence and we can all make a difference in that.

I’ve experienced frustration. We’ve gotten into so many different brands of schools. We have a lot of people who want to be a part of this who are not here.

MK: What’s the fundamental operating principle in education?

Everyone can learn and can be taught.
Learning is supposed to be fun.

MK: Think back about 100 years.

Teachers teach and students learn.
Small percentage will do well
We need to turn out productive people
Do it as cheaply as possible
Create contributing members to society
Cookie cutter engineering

MK: I’m referring to what I've seen in the educational system in terms of the fundamental operating principle that is at the basis of the way we contruct our learning environments: 'control and compliance'. From our vantage point now, we understand there is no way to control learners. But like most of our structures in society, which are shaped like pyramids, almost all of the time you need to have control and compliance in order for that system to work.

What happens to creativity in this environment?

It's discouraged
It works as long as it fits in “this” box
Don’t color outside the lines
People use their creativity to get around the system. That’s where most of our energy goes.

MK: Any personal interests or learning from the exercise?

A lot of good energy in the room
Personalization issue keeps rearing its head

It’s very difficult to personalize a system if there is an atmosphere of control and compliance.

MK: At some point, it was decided that the ideal was to have 19 people in a classroom. Why was that? Research had shown that that number was how many people you could control.

Bryan Coffman: The next exercise we’ll go into puts you into 10 teams. We want you to think about systems from a distributed point of view. We used to think that there was a queen in ant colonies but seeing it that way comes from a command and control kind of thinking. It turns out not to be true. They work by a network system.

How large is the largest school represented here? 4000
How small is the smallest school represented here? 36

There is no way that one solution is going to satisfy both of these schools. So we’re going to challenge the dominant design.

You take away something from the system that you think you can’t live without. In the process of taking it away, we come up with other ideas. It’s almost like a particle accelerator. A lot of unexpected things come out of thinking about this.

I have some examples of organization which use networks. Some of them will not be applicable to you because they come out of the business side.

In Eli Lilly, which is a pharmaceutical company. They have about 600 people in R&D. That’s not enough people to be competitive. When they come up with a molecule to synthesize, they used to pass it off to someone else. But they are too busy. So now they put it on a website and allow other people to solve their problems for them. They always get the answer.

Royal Dutch Shell needed new ideas and innovations. They invited all their engineers to submit ideas and created a database. Everyone gets to interact with the ideas and run them through an action lab in order to get to proof of concept. Then they turn the idea into a business.

Have any of you seen Wikipedia? It is the number one referenced source for the internet. Any of you can sign on to it and search or contribute.

Round 4: Read & Explore (Reports)

Teams were given a broad selection of reading materials--chapters from groundbreaking books, articles on future treands, case studies of innovative education pilots--and the participants were instructed to both discuss what they learned and apply their learning to real world situations.

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Teams 1 & 2: Rosemary Andrews, Darrell Barnes, Robin Groene, Carol Hilker, Dan Publow, Norm Ronell, Dan Schnoes, Vickie Scow, Bob Uhing, Kristine Wurtz, Gary Bolton, Terri Gross, Darin Hahne, Rhonda Jindra, Marla Prusa, Jim Scheer, Marlene Uhing, Lynne Webster, Debra Welsh

What is Education?
The first idea was a discussion of what education is according to the assigned readings. Communication is key in education. Schools must try to keep barriers low and widely spaced. Staff development and support for classroom teachers is integral to success. Schools should have an organized plan with measurable data and be careful with the pace and overload.

Change
The second idea discussed was change. The group looked at change with the perspective of how it fits in with education. In order to facilitate change there must be a buy in at the top, middle, and low levels. Communication is key to change and schools must provide the skills to make change easier. Change starts on the outside with the employees and external forces. Techniques to use to precipitate change are to get teachers to participate: persuade them to be involved and provide incentives. Some isolate themselves and need ventilation (a breath of fresh air) or need to move on. Don’t manage change, grapple it. It is okay to tinker with the small things. Tinker with a college education. Pace back and forth and use what is within. Hire generalists and use data to measure the impact of change. Keep in mind that rapid growth or change is usually started by a handful. Commitment or support from the top is integral to successful change. Schools must have an identifiable plan.

High School Experience
The third idea was the high school experience. Participants were referred to education list (first idea.) It was commented that procedures for change need to be good in order for it to happen. Schools must listen more to the outside, very important.

Flow Chart
The group had a flow chart denoting the process of the three ideas discussed. The first thing schools need to do is identify a need. What is the problem? Do we need to just do it better?

Use data to find needs for school improvement. Surveys and interviews can also be used. The second step is to build a team. What is the mission? Who are the leaders, power groups, and volunteers? The third step is to make a plan that includes being organized. Objectives should be measurable. When and where is the pacing for the plan? Motivation and staff development are important components to the plan. Step number four is implementation of the plan. The school board, staff, students, community should be involved.

Get them on board. Schools need to recognize successes. The fourth step is monitoring. What data is needed? Who is in charge of supervision? Schools must continue building participation and not be afraid to tinker with it. The fifth step is to make the process available to others both inside and outside the school. Schools use the media to put information out there and trust them to report it. Schools need exposure of the good things they do!

Comments or questions from participants:

What is the meaning of “keep barriers low and widely spaced?”

The process is very similar to the School Improvement Process.

You have an interesting combination for building a team. There are certain people you want to get involved and others who want to help

As a member of an external visiting team for SIP we found that “make a plan” and “implement” might need improvement to fill gaps.

Team 3

All of our articles were on change. We focused on knowing the purpose of change. We’re going to try to develop learning communities. The change will have to be our idea. We can’t have it come from the outside if it’s going to stick.

Some people are resistant to change, some embrace it. As a leader it’s important to identify who is who.

Seomtimes we talk about good things to do and they may just need to be tinkered with to make them great. To tinker on a larger scale we call kludge. So it’s all tinker and kludge.

There may be some things in your mission that are non-negotiable that you will not itnker with. It’s good to identify those.

We don’t want to wait too long before you look at the data. You want to evaluate on an on-going basis. We want to enact change, look at the reactions and make adjustments. We want to evaluate whether change is lasting. Is it tied to the leader or will it last even beyond their tenure.

We want to loop these changes so they keep going. Our system here follows the change process. Sometimes we have a process but we don’t use it. That’s why we need a learning community.

Comment: When you develop change as part of policy then even when someone leaves, it continues on.

Also, when it’s good change it will make a difference in the system. There may be different ideas of what is good change.

Team 4

Our group looked at ways to develop a process that we can take back. What’s written in red are ideas and in blue is our process. The first thing we needed was knowing the why we were changing. If things are good, then why change.

We showed how to demonstrate the disparity between where we are and where we want to go.

If we have 80% of our students that show proficiency, then my staff isn’t going to be convinced that we need to change.

We did an experiment where the teachers drafted students; the at-risk students first. There werne’t a lot of the teachers who wanted them as their advisees. We want to personalize this experience for them.

When you come up with your why, you need to come up with a common mission. This is a bit difficult but it’s essential. Next we look at what’s working to build on strengths. We need to communicate with all the stakeholders to make it personal and make sure that this change occurs.

Some of our key thoughts were that innovation must come from the bottom up. We want to develop more personalized education for our kids. When Kennedy said we’re going to the moon. Someone asked him “how” and he said that that’s not his to worry about. This is same for us; we need to have a vision that will inspire other people to make this happen.

Stakeholders need to understand the need for change. We need frequent communication with everyone who is engaged in the change process as well as everyone in the community.

You have to decide how much change you’re willing to make and how much dissension you’re willing to take.

The biggest thing for us is that we need to make it personal. It has to connect for people.

You need to find a way to make the change hold.

Team 5

Teach for learning. Our first slide here shows the leadership piece. There needs to be some level of that in the community and within. It’s about doing good thing for kids. We had individualization in trying to . Proficiency might be met but we need to know what that means.

We talked about finding best practices for assessing learning and trying to get away from grades.

We have too many situations where students are cramming for tests. We need to have them be able to demonstrate proficiency without just being able to successfully take tests.

The fun part was to draw a picture of a factory which shows input and output with a set progression of steps regardless of ability. This is how education has been and this is exactly what we don’t want it to be.

If we have to blow up the whole system to be successful, It maybe legitimate but we hope we can come up with something else.

Question: How do you know what’s good?

That’s challenging, but we have to take baby steps. If we don’t give grades, how will universities know how to admit our students?

My daughter is in 6th grade and she is already consumed with her grades and getting only A’s.

There’s a balance that needs to be struck. Competition can be good but only in moderation.

Team 6

We had several ideas. One is the voice. It’s an easy to do experiment because it doesn’t cost money. Teachers give kids opportunities to do their own personalized planning in the class. Another option would be a focus circle. The first two weeks in class were community building and giving kids the opportunity to know one another and agree to what they wanted to learn over the year. They did three personalized projects each semester.

The next idea is about mentors. If we could implement it in every school that would be great. It would be an opportunity to build relations between kids and between kids and teachers. It might be once a month during a planning period—this approach was ineffective. The next year was every day and included half a lunch. It was more successful. We had 15 kids that came to the mentoring because it was about relationship and guidance about lots of things. I brought in treats as well! If you have a true mentoring period where you have time to talk that would be very valuable.

The last idea was “scary school”. We’d try it with a school. We’d take 15 kids integrated and interdisciplinary and one teacher. Just let them go and give them some facilitation. Let them be self-directed during the year. See how it goes. They might do more learning on their own in self-discovery than having a teacher stand in front of the room. Or we might have two teachers and 30 kids. One teacher might have a math science background and the other might have an English history background. It might last 4 hours each day. But it wouldn’t work with every content area (like art). Research says that direct instruction by a teacher is probably the best way that students learn. If students explore new subject area, they may learn something wrong. But this idea could be a senior seminar. Or if it were in a middle grade in a high school, it might work. In 10th grade they could do more exploring in English, for example. But we were playing with the idea. Critical thinking, communications and technology are the three skills that need to be combined.

Team 7

The articles concerned the individualized education plan, the connection between the student, the school and the parent and even out into the community. Everyone will need to have involvement in this kind of learning. We also need to rethink assessment. Assessment won’t go away but we need to change how we think about it.

We are so focused on assessment that we have lost track of learning. We’ve taken away the intrinsic value of lifelong learning because people think if it’s not on the test, it’s not worth learning. We need to make assessment meaningful to learning and not to politicians. It’s regressive as it is now. If you don’t get a certain score, you’re penalized. Entrance tests into college tend to be those kinds of assessments. One test doesn’t fit all.

Do we change for change sake? Change has to be meaningful. Some people feel a little overwhelmed. When in our lives as educators have we not needed to get better? It’s constant. There are no final hurdles to get over—there are always more hurdles. We ask teachers to change without telling them why and what the meaning is for. So they went to New Math without knowing why. Teachers feel like they’re jumping through hoops.

But don’t we need to make a quantum leap now—bigger than we’ve ever been asked to do. Bill Gates says there will be more change in the next ten years than there has been in the last 50. We’re like victims of change. We need to set aside a block of money to giver to elementary and High School so that they can use it to make their school better. They have to sell their ideas to the board, but they have access to the pool of money. This pushes the changes down the chain. They would have to come to some consensus among their staff.

Team 8

Connections
The students need to connect with the adults and other students; adults need to connect with one another. The staff needs to connect and support the process of understanding and engaging each other in the environment of learning and supporting the learning together.

School Families
School families or teams that support the middle school concept of learning communities. There are several examples of learning teams in place, even at the Postsecondary institution and can serve as examples of systems or processes for achieving this activity. The mentoring process and looping creates an opportunity to develop the relationships with a single or a few teachers and students. Seven through twelfth graders stay together and just add seventh graders each year.

School Leadership Role
The administrative presence is essential to the new process. The administrative understanding of what is occurring in the classrooms is essential. The opportunity to delegate versus assigning activities and create the buy in as well as demonstrating the administrative support to achieve the goal is crucial.

The Teacher Role
Creating ownership with teachers to achieve various activities and ensure their involvement, adoption, and the systemic adoption. Administrative support of the leadership roles of the teachers and continued support of the commitment for those activities is crucial to supporting change.

Grades
Should the traditional system be in place and is it truly an indication of learning that has occurred? The role of zero’s on assignments in some situations is not acceptable. The examples of creating an environment that does not accept zeros and might require students to complete the assignments after school, during lunch, or during athletic practice to resolve the issues ensures that the students do complete the assignments and do not receive a 0.

Team 9

It’s all about me
Creating a personalized school experience for the students is the goal of this idea. Promoting the Intrinsic motivation for students is a focus of this process and is designed to give students a voice and personalizing the curriculum to the current generation. Activities to excite the “Nintendo Age” of students and focus on the delivery and content for each individual student are the basic premise of “It’s all about me.”

From Kaiser to Advisor
Moving from the role of the teacher to an advisor role to support the student experience is the goal of this segment. Training and mindset shifts with the teachers to support the process of serving as an advisor are necessary. Becoming the true advocates that student deserve and engaging in the process to personalize the experience for students is the goal of this experiment.

Breaking the Mold
Metaphor: “Education is a machine. If a part breaks, fix it … and put it back into the machine.” The analogy is to create a connection to the entire process of education and support the machine throughout the life cycle.

Out with the old and in with the new paradigm

Management Techniques
Old Approach: Competition
New Approach: Cooperation

Grades
Old Approach: A,B,C,D,F
New Approach: Pass/Fail or demonstrated

Curriculum Goals
Old Approach: Best for colleges
New Approach: Best for students

Structure of School
Old Approach: Assembly line
New Approach: Customized for the student

Team 10

Learning Families
The first idea was that of the learning families that would connect with kids and create a teaming environment. The social aspects are used to create an affective filter through the building of a relationship. The “looping” effect would occur with the opportunity for a teacher to stay with the students for four years.

Abolishing Grades
The idea was to create different varying evaluation methods. Doing grades differently and focusing on the quantifiable entity of the effort. The life skills should also be considered in the evaluation process. The process should be on a continuum and support a mastery of objectives.

If a student masters the objective, they should be able to move on and not be held back for reasons of time, command, or control. The quantifiable element was important, but does not necessarily have to be grades in the traditional mindset.

Individualized personal learning plan
Creating a way to support the brain research to engage and support the growth of emotional intelligence with the students in the school.

The opportunity to understand the student and their learning styles and sharing with teachers to ensure that all kids learning needs are being met. The differentiated instruction component is difficult, but if there was some mechanism to support the planning and presenting of the teacher it would be great.

Merit Pay
Limited discussion and applicability, but there is support for some level of implementation of the process of Merit Pay. Models exist and should be considered as a potential tool for increasing and adapting the merit pay principles in education.

Round 4: Read & Explore (Assignments)

see reports >>

Round 4: Teams 1 to 4
Exploring Change and Change Management
(Small Group Activity – Read and Discuss)

This activity will be completed over lunch. Read the article(s) that you will find in your team area. Each article approaches education and learning from a different perspective or vantage point. Your assignment is to read the article and understand the perspective that the author brings. Highlight the key points you find most interesting or challenging. Note any ideas that come to you while you’re scanning the articles. Discuss your reading amongst your group with the intent of understanding the underlying principles brought up in the article. What is key and most relevant to education, change, and the high school experience? List some of the most important new ideas or new thinking on your marker boards.

You will have about 60 minutes to do the reading, discuss the articles and eat lunch. We will call your team when lunch is ready.

Round 4: Teams 5 to 10
Exploring Education and Learning
(Small Group Activity – Read and Discuss)

This activity will be completed over lunch. Read the article(s) that you will find in your team area. Each article approaches education and learning from a different perspective or vantage point. Your assignment is to read the article and understand the perspective that the author brings. Highlight the key points you find most interesting or challenging. Note any ideas that come to you while you’re scanning the articles. Discuss your reading amongst your group with the intent of understanding the underlying principles brought up in the article. What is key and most relevant to education, change, and the high school experience? List some of the most important new ideas or new thinking on your marker boards.

You will have about 60 minutes to do the reading, discuss the articles and eat lunch. We will call your team when lunch is ready.

Round 4b: Teams 5 & 6
Exploring Education and Learning - System+
(Small Group Activity – Apply)

Apply what you have learned through your reading and dialogue about education and learning by developing a list of changes that can be made at a system (system plus) level (we’re defining ‘system plus’ as the education system and connections outside the education system to business, community, government and so on).

On your walls, capture and explore your ideas using diagrams and words.

What specific changes (initiatives, experiments, pilots) can we make at the system and system plus levels to support ‘rethinking the high school experience’?
What would our system look like if we applied the ideas in our reading?
What ideas or changes from these articles would we be able to test in the short term? Which ones can we test in the longer term?
What do we need to have in place to support these changes at the ‘system plus’ level?
Make a list of all of your ideas on a marker board. Then select three or four of the best or most interesting and record them on poster boards—one idea per poster board. List the title of the idea, describe it with a few lines of text, and draw a diagram that describes the idea. Put at least one of your names on each board as a point of contact someone could turn to for more information.

Round 4b: Teams 7 & 8
Exploring Education and Learning - “School”
(Small Group Activity – Apply)

Apply what you have learned through your reading and dialogue about education and learning by developing a list of changes that can be made at a local school level (we’re defining ‘local school as smaller than district wide but larger then classroom only). On your walls, capture and explore your ideas using diagrams and words.

Questions and thoughts to consider:

What specific changes (initiatives, experiments, pilots) can we make at the ‘school’ level to support ‘rethinking the high school experience’?
What would our ‘school’ look like if we applied the ideas in our reading?
What ideas or changes from these articles would we be able to test in the short term? Which ones can we test in the longer term?
What do we need to have in place to support these changes at the ‘school’ level?
Make a list of all of your ideas on a marker board. Then select three or four of the best or most interesting and record them on poster boards—one idea per poster board. List the title of the idea, describe it with a few lines of text, and draw a diagram that describes the idea. Put at least one of your names on each board as a point of contact someone could turn to for more information.

Round 4b: Teams 9 & 10
Exploring Education and Learning - Individual
(Small Group Activity – Apply)

Apply what you have learned through your reading and dialogue about education and learning by developing a list of changes that can be made at a ‘learning team or individual level (we’re defining learning team as smaller then a school – and individuals can be any individual). We chose the term “learning team” to avoid using a term like “classroom” and “students and a teacher” because the roles of student, teacher and the definition of classroom may change radically in some of your ideas.

On your walls, capture and explore your ideas using diagrams and words.

Questions and thoughts to consider:

What specific changes (initiatives, experiments, pilots) can we make at the learning team or individual levels to support ‘rethinking the high school experience’?
What would our learning team or individual look like (or do differently) if we applied the ideas in our reading (or ideas that occurred to us while reading)?
What ideas or changes from these articles would we be able to test in the short term? Which ones can we test in the longer term?
What do we need to have in place to support these changes at the ‘learning team or individual’ level?
Make a list of all of your ideas on a marker board. Then select three or four of the best or most interesting and record them on poster boards—one idea per poster board. List the title of the idea, describe it with a few lines of text, and draw a diagram that describes the idea. Put at least one of your names on each board as a point of contact someone could turn to for more information.

Teams 1 to 4
Exploring Change and Change Management
(Small Group Activity – Apply)

Apply what you have learned through your reading and dialogue about change and change management by developing a process that you and others can use beyond this conference to continue to ‘rethink the high school experience’.

On your walls, capture and explore your ideas using diagrams and words.

Design a process that accomplishes the following:

Involving all of the people who need to or want to be involved
Creating ideas and sharing ideas among the network of stakeholders
Converting ideas into initiatives for implementation, conducting experiments, conducting pilot programs, supporting broader implementation (some of these will be small and others might be system-wide)
Evaluating the ideas
Sharing what has been learned from taking the ideas to implementation

Also consider:

What would the process look like? Who would need to be involved? What feedback loops would we need to have in place? What partnerships would we want to have in place? What infrastructure would we need to support this process?
What structural changes would our new process require us to make?

Use the white walls to document your work and prepare something you can share with the other groups.

Round 3a: Teams 7, 8 and 9 - Process for Change

Team 7
Shannon Collin
Christine Good
Lisa Janke
Kara Kathol
Donlynn Rice
Amy Romshek
Dan Schnoes
Michael Sorensen

Team 8
Rosemary Andrews
Robin Groene
Casey Hurner
Beth Johnsen
AngelaJordan
Norm Ronell
Summer Stephens
Kristine Wurtz

Team 9
Brad Best
Dan Cox
Brad Hansen
Carol Jessen
Annette Rasmussen
Jennifer Trenhaile
Lynne Webster

(Small Group Activity)

Context	Assume the work we do here in this conference is very successful and we develop a list of changes (some of them small, some of them short term, some of them large and some of them longer term) that we will want to ‘test’ after the conference. Assume that other people that aren’t here will want to engage in the process and ‘re-think the high school experience’ as well.
Objective	To create a process for changing the high school experience that can be replicated and used in school districts and schools throughout Nebraska.
Process	Small Group Activity As a small group, develop process that other educators and community members could use to engage in ‘re-thinking the high school experience’. Consider the following questions to stimulate your conversation and develop your product: What do we need in place to implement changes developed in this conference? What do we need in place for people who aren’t here to develop ideas that they want to ‘try’ as part of their ‘re-thinking the high school process’. What might be the options for the ongoing sharing of new ideas that evolve from other people getting involved in the process? How do we document our learning? What is the method(s) for feedback from participants throughout the ‘learning community’? Working as a team and using the white walls and pens provided, brainstorm your responses to these questions and develop a product to be shared with the other groups. If it’s helpful, you can use your expedition and interview experience as a resource during this assignment.
Exchange	After you finish this activity you will be asked to share your work with others.

Round 3: Education Objectives (Report)

There were four different assignments with three teams working on each. Let’s hear from the quadrants what they worked on.
download assignment>>

Vision

There were a lot of thoughts around this and we looked for a lot of commonalities. We need to have education that accommodates the various abilities and needs and roles in society. We have to get away from grade-based and 9-week sessions. We need to get away from performance-based products but have deep understanding of areas.

Our students need to be personally prepared on a global basis, maybe exposed to different languages and situations.

Our role as teacher will change. We’ll have to be helicopter teachers. Education will be based in the past and future focused and related to the child.

We also looked at extracurricular activities. We will have community-based opportunities. We need to prepare students to teach and facilitate students in the future, but we cannot forget the teachers who are in there now. We want professional development built in.

We need a broader communication and responsibility base. We have to a system change and not just a high school change. We need to look at primary through 16. We questioned whether the “no child left behind” was a good thing for education.

Manifesto

We want all students an opportunity to be successful. We want to change because the system is not working for everyone. Schools are trying to keep up with society and everyone benefits.

Some challenges we have are poverty, change in demographics, how you fit school into all the other activities, resources, time, money, and people. We need to have a shared common vision. Right now our vision is a challenge for us. We need student ownership and participation. A high level of competence depends on who you talk to.

style="font-family: arial; font-weight: bold;">Process

link

We wanted to come up with a plan that everyone can use. We want to look at our communities and we came up with some steps. The first step is what we’ve always done. You need to understand that this is not just sequential. We’ll go back and forth between the steps.

Maybe we should send an email to President Bush and the Secretary of Education. We need to make sure we get our leaders involved. Our goal is 100% buy-in and we know that we may not have that all the time, but we will try.

We think learning communities will look differently depending on what community you’re in. We need to research what other people are doing. We need to hold people accountable and give them permission to try.

We need to implement and with this we need commitment to give it a good chance. From there, we need to develop a network so that we can stay in touch with what is happening in other parts of the state and the nation. We want to be able to share what we’re doing with these other communities too.

It’s important to collect all the data and be available to share the data. We need to be able to tell people when something doesn’t work very well. We want to evaluate and reevaluate.

Most importantly we don’t want to wait 15 years to start this, we want to do it in 2 weeks.

What to Change

Each one of the things we listed here is individualistic. So we want to be clear that we understand each community is very different, so some may not apply and that is okay. When you look at the national

We’re the tip of the sword in some of these initiatives.

Each one of our school boards and faculty are different. So some things will get buy in more in one place than another.

We need to understand that teachers have not only been teaching in their way for a long time but they also learned how to teach that way.

We looked at the school day. There’s a lot of research in circadian rhythms. Maybe we could take that into account. We looked at school year also.

Just because a student gets an A, does that mean they have mastery of the subject? We want to redefine teaching and learning. Kids learn differently because they are wired differently. Because they’re so exposed to audio and video learning, do they learn differently than we learn?

We talked about team teaching and relevance. This stems into career clustering. We want to have some focus on the practical.

Do we want 15 year olds in college? Are we prepared to put in safety nets?

If you make a mistake with kids you have higher stakes than if you make mistakes in business. We need to take that into account.

Michael Kaufman: Were there any themes or insights that you had in your conversations? Do you see any patterns?

We need to send our governor a letter on not having exit data.

It depends on how you define exit exam. It’s not as important what a student can prove with a pencil and paper.

Education needs to be personalized.

We looked at extracurricular activities. We wondered what role that plays in the future. If it helps build a connectedness, what does it do?

MK: What if all of education was extracurricular activities?

I think we need to change the term of that to co-curricular activities. Then we understand how that fits together.

If you embed and connect them to academics, then the definition of curriculum changes.

One of the most outstanding comments from your expeditions was that the important thing for the students is the social activity.

This process of educating human beings is one of the hardest things of all the social systems. You don’t know if you’re successful for 10 or 20 years. How do you measure the impact of anything you do?

High school is one small slice of a system that prepares people for life. We can only change high school, but will it be enough if we can’t change the rest of the system? When we talked to middle school they don’t even look at standards, all they look at is test scores.

What does a resume tell you? Companies are finding out not that much. There is a lot of experiential data going on in HR departments these days. This is related to what you’re talking about.

Without new information, most of us design what we already know. We have an exercise coming up that is going to give you some of that in order to perturb your thinking.

I like the idea that you’re going back to your local communities and having a dialogue about the purpose of education. There may be a right answer for right now, but maybe there’s another one for later.

One thing that stood out for me in high school is my Latin teacher who said that Latin never changes. That’s because it’s a dead language. We have to be careful that we do think like that about our other subjects.

Round 3: Education Objectives (Assignments 7-9)

Team 7
Shannon Collin
Christine Good
Lisa Janke
Kara Kathol
Donlynn Rice
Amy Romshek
Dan Schnoes
Michael Sorensen

Team 8
Rosemary Andrews
Robin Groene
Casey Hurner
Beth Johnsen
Angela Jordan
Norm Ronell
Summer Stephens
Kristine Wurtz

Team 9
Brad Best
Dan Cox
Brad Hansen
Carol Jessen
Annette Rasmussen
Jennifer Trenhaile
Lynne Webster

Context: Assume the work we do here in this conference is very successful and we develop a list of changes (some of them small, some of them short term, some of them large and some of them longer term) that we will want to ‘test’ after the conference. Assume that other people that aren’t here will want to engage in the process and ‘re-think the high school experience’ as well.

Objective: To create a process for changing the high school experience that can be replicated and used in school districts and schools throughout Nebraska.

Process: Small Group Activity
As a small group, develop process that other educators and community members could use to engage in ‘re-thinking the high school experience’.

Consider the following questions to stimulate your conversation and develop your product:

What do we need in place to implement changes developed in this conference?
What do we need in place for people who aren’t here to develop ideas that they want to ‘try’ as part of their ‘re-thinking the high school process’.
What might be the options for the ongoing sharing of new ideas that evolve from other people getting involved in the process?
How do we document our learning?
What is the method(s) for feedback from participants throughout the ‘learning community’?

Working as a team and using the white walls and pens provided, brainstorm your responses to these questions and develop a product to be shared with the other groups. If it’s helpful, you can use your expedition and interview experience as a resource during this assignment.

Round 3: Education Objectives (Assignments 4-6)

Team 4

Jill Bates

Terri Gross

Jeff Hallstrom

Mark Hanson

Cindy Johnson

Jill Krienke

David Perkins

Russ Wissing

Team 5

Nancy Becker

David Green

Rhonda Jindra

Eric Miller

Betsy Rall

Bill Trenhaile

Justin Wagner

Michelle Willamson

Team 6

Darrell Barnes

Gary Bolton

Darin Hahne

Stephanie Hames

Jamie Isom

Harold Nelson

Thomas Reeser

Options for Change (Small Group Activity)

Context	Before we dive into planning changes in the high school experience we want to take an opportunity to reflect on all the possible options for changes we can make in the high school experience in Nebraska.
Objective	To create a list of concepts, ideas, practices, processes, and structures we could possibly change to create an ‘re-thought’ high school experience.
Process	Individual Activity Take about five minutes as an individual and brainstorm all the possible things we could do to change the high school experience. Small Group Activity As a small group, develop a list of processes, structures, practices, policies, and any thing else you can think of that could be changed to radically impact the high school experience. Consider the following questions at three different ‘levels’ to stimulate your conversation and to develop your product – system (and beyond) level changes, school level changes, and individual changes: What structures could change? What processes could change? What practices could change? What policies could change? What beliefs could change? What sacred cows could we let go of?
Exchange	After you finish this activity you will be asked to share your work with others.

Round 2: Introduction

Bob Uhing

As educators, we recognize we need to have the skills that are required to train students for their lives beyond high school. Our society is changing at a very rapid pace and we want to be sensitive to that. We’ve had a lot of inputs and initiatives and from that we see a heavy emphasis on changing the high school experience. We’ve applied the renewal practices and from that changed the perspective for how we go forward to one of being student-centered.

I want to thank you all for making this possible. I’d like to make a special thank you to Rhonda and Rich for putting this all together.

Rhonda Jindra

Welcome. We are so glad you’re part of this. You’re probably wondering how we got here. It started with a conversation. Once we started talking we wanted to add some teachers and administrators. From there the commissioner got involved and we thought about who else needed to be involved, which is why you’re sitting here today.

We wanted to move this further than just conversations. We decided to have a conference not where you sit and listen to speakers but where we get to leverage your abilities as professionals in this field. We want you to create this. That’s why we’ve put on this conference in this manner. Not just to sit and get, but to roll up your sleeves and make it happen.

We want you to be a part of this change. Our schools are good, but we want them to be great. And that starts with a conversation.

Rich Katt

I started my career at Howells so this feels like old home week. As part of the department of education, we visit schools but we’re not there everyday like you are. When we started talking about a conference, we knew we didn’t want just speakers, so we brought a group to help us with this, InnovationLabs. They’re going to help challenge you through a variety of exercises so we can get to the good stuff.

We qualified for some incentive dollars from the federal government to help with this because this is a conversation about all children.

Donlynn Rice

I want to let you know that Dr. Christianson is here in spirit and is in support of what we’re doing. The last couple of years we have been looking at the high school. Our state board passed a policy on high school. We need strong leadership and that’s why you’re here. We also need a relevant and rigorous curriculum. You’ve probably heard about the 1/3s. One third of the students continue to improve every year; one third is maintaining; and one third continues to lose ground. We’re wanting to get all of our students up to doing well.

Another key component is relationships. We want students to know that someone cares about them and their education.

We do not want to have a state driven initiative here. We want to have unique opportunities and have the support come from the local level. I want to compliment all of you on your hard work.

Jim Scheer

This is a great meeting for me. I thank all of you for taking the time and being a part of this ongoing experience. It will be interesting to see what comes of this. I see this as another milestone step. I appreciate all your time and effort for making it happen.

Michael Kaufman

What are some of the characteristics of the best meeting you’ve ever been to?

Specific focus
Feeling like you can make a contribution
Networking
Informal discussions
Good time boundaries

InnovationLabs is a young company but we partners have been working together for about 16 years. We’ve discovered some tools that help people accomplish a lot of practical things in a very short time. We have constructed exercises to help you think differently. You’ll be required to produce a product for each of the exercises and share them with the rest of the groups so that we can socialize the results quickly. We’re able to accomplish a lot because we work in parallel. We find work in small groups much more efficient than having the entire group create something.

One thing we’ve noticed is that our society has the right answer syndrome. We expect that there is one and that the first thing we say needs to be that. Our process works around that through the use of iteration. We don’t have to get things right the first time. We’ll revisit topics from multiple points of view and refine them over time.

In this process, we want to suspend the decision as to what we’re going to do for as long as possible, because once you make a decision, you shut out everything else. We want to stay open to the possibilities that might be available. The process is like a funnel. We start wide and end narrow.

We want to be clear about the objectives. We want to know why we want to change. We want to create a series of options and a subset of that is that we want to walk out with a set of experiments. That’s a tricky word because parents don’t want you experimenting with their kids. But how do we learn? Through trial and error. We’ll need to make mistakes. How do educators feel about mistakes? We want to learn so we’ll have to make them. And to try things out, we’ll have to take risks. How do educators feel about risk? Right. So we’re going to have to be challenged. We’ll have to do things that we’ve never done before.

We also need to develop a process for continuing the learning from what we ‘try’, which is a gentler word than experiment.

Everybody is going to have fear in doing this, but we need to walk through it. In order to do that what will we need?

Faith in colleagues
Trust
Strength and courage
Being aware
Intuition

I was recently at a session with an astronaut who spent almost 6 months on the space station and was completely inspiring in terms of how he approached the “what if”. He realized that his intuition was terrestrially based and not that useful for figuring things out in space. He was like a child in terms of being curious about what might happen if he tried this or that. He fully embodied the learner and I invite all of us to become like that. Let’s be excited about what we’re doing here and take the risks and be curious about what is possible.

I’d like to say a couple of things about the process. We don’t build in breaks so please take them as a team as you need them.

We’re capturing your work so you don’t need to take notes. We’ll publish a website with the results a few hours after you’ve finished your work.

This is the longest you’re going to hear from us. As Rhonda said, this is a conversation and a chance to get some work done.

Let’s talk about the timeline. Tell me things you noticed about this.

We live in a world of change
Cause and effect
We didn’t see the changes coming
Happening quickly
We need to adapt
Education is not separate
The more we change, the more we remain the same
It’s not always for the better
We’re not in control
We act out of fear
We’ve seen trials and errors
Haven’t learned much
Everything’s related
We don’t realize how what we do today impacts what we do tomorrow

If we all improved our ability to model learning, that would be awesome. For some of us, we would have to redefine learning. Education is not separate from anything else in our world.

In 1982, Buckminster Fuller said that education has the longest lag of any system in the world. At that time it took 35 years for an idea to arise and be implemented in education. Even if we cut this in a quarter, that would be too long. Think about that as you go into this next exercise.

Factors Driving Change

Factors Inhibiting Change

Setting Some Context

Welcome!

For our first activity today we're using the white boards in this room to explore issues that define the big-picture context for education and our work here during this planning session.

On several of these boards you will find a question and one several other boards you will find a 90-year timeline:

Using the markers provided, please write a response to each question. AND, for the timeline from 1960 to 1990 fill in as many events, forces, trends, and innovations that have influenced where we are today in education. Then, fill in the next 30 years (1990 to 2020) of ideas, trends, events and innovations that have or will influence education (and the high school experience), and then take some time to put events and trends in the 2020 to 2050 timeframe.

After you've written your response and items, explain it verbally to a minimum of one other person (preferably someone you do not know), and then listen to at least one other person's explanation of what they wrote in response to the same question. Please do this for each board.

Please do not go around the room with the same person - talk to a different person at each board.

Questions:

What forces/events/ideas/trends are working to drive change the high school experience in Nebraska?
What forces/events/ideas/trends are working to inhibit the high school experience from changing (in Nebraska)?

150 Year Timeline Tracks:

Technology
Society
Economy
Global
Environment/Ecology
Education

Tuesday, October 11, 2005

Conferences

Breaking Ranks II: Strategies for Leading High School Reform
Beginning the Conversation August 3-6, 2005
Washington Dulles Airport Marriott

High School Reinvention Symposium
Applying Lessons Learned From Successful Schools
Saturday, October 1 - Monday, October 3, 2005 Omni Shoreham Hotel, Washington, D.C.
At the High School Reinvention Symposium, participants will explore in depth the characteristics of the successful high schools identified in the initiatives being conducted by the International Center for Leadership in Education and the Council of Chief State School Officers. Work sessions will provide opportunities to interact with education leaders who have implemented innovative approaches and with the principals of proven high schools.

10th Annual Learning Communities Conference
Chicago, IL Nov 17th - 19th, 2005

National Education Service Conferences
The National Educational Service provides tested and proven resources to help those who work with youth create safe and caring schools, agencies, and communities where all children succeed. Founded in 1987, the company serves families, educators, communities, and all who work with youth.

Articles

BEING INTELLIGENT IN TODAY'S WORLD
Modern technology -- from pocket calculators to the Internet -- is radically changing notion of what intelligence is necessary to function in the today's world. "Our environment, because of technology, is changing, and therefore the abilities we need in order to navigate these highly information-laden environments and succeed are changing," says University of North Florida professor Susana Urbina. Driving the shift is the Internet's democratization of information. Anyone can log onto Google and in minutes find sources of information like legal documents or scientific treatises. And gadgets like the Treo or Blackberry make it possible to factor Pi or describe a weather system over the Pacific, but still be unable to recall a phone number without it. "It's true we don't remember anything anymore, but we don't need to," says Palm Computing cofounder Jeff Hawkins. "We might sit around and reminisce about having to remember phone numbers, but it's not a bad thing. It frees us up to think about other things. The brain has a limited capacity; if you give it high-level tools, it will work on high-level problems." Meanwhile, computer pioneer Doug Engelbart is hoping that society's ability to gain insight from information delivered via technology will change the way we tackle issues like arms control and global warming: "The key thing about all the world's big problems is that they have to be dealt with collectively. If we don't get collectively smarter, we're doomed," says Engelbart. (CNet News.com 19 Sep 2005)

TIME TO RETHINK THE HIGH SCHOOL EXPERIENCE
NCSA TODAY ARTICLE - September 2003
By Doug Christensen, Nebraska Commissioner of Education
Our schools are essentially the same as they were 100 years ago. The same is true for our high schools. The last times significant changes were in made in high school, were the first few years immediately after A Nation At Risk. Prior to that, one would have to go back to the late 1950's when Sputnik created a massive rethinking of the math and science curriculum of the high school.

More Than 10,000 Students Take Governors' High School Survey
Contact: John Blacksten, Office of Communications
WASHINGTON--Thousands of high school students across the country made their voices heard May 16-20 during Rate Your Future Week, a part of the National Governors Association's (NGA) drive to overhaul America's high schools. NGA had hoped to survey at least 10,000 students by the end of June, but on Friday, May 20, the 10,000th student logged on to www.rateyourfuture.org to let governors know what is going right and what is going wrong in high schools today.

NGA to 'Honor States' with $2 Million Grants
RFP for the First Phase of High School Redesign State Grants Released
WASHINGTON -- Beginning April 8th, governors committed to redesigning their state's high schools may apply for competitive grants worth up to $2 million as part of the ongoing high school reform efforts of the National Governors Association (NGA) Center for Best Practices.

Remaking High School
by Kathleen Vail, American School Board Journal, November 2004
Fifty years ago, the American high school was doing fine. Most students weren't headed for college. If they earned a high school diploma, they could land a well-paying job. If they didn't graduate, they could still find good work. "But today it's a disaster," says Tom Vander Ark, director of education for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. "A third of American students drop out, half of Hispanic and African Americans drop out. That's a civic, social, and economic disaster."

Critical Studies of Schooling
I’m Emily of strangechord.com. This weblog is my reading journal for an independent study class I’m taking this spring. The objective is to take a critical look at schooling in the U.S. with an eye toward the alternative education models that have arisen like social movements in response.

Learning? Yes, of course. Education? No, thanks.
by Aaron Falbel - IN 1982, A BRITISH INTERVIEWER ASKED JOHN HOLT HOW HE DEFINED the word “education.” He responded: “It’s not a word I personally use. . . . The word 'education' is a word much used, and different people mean different things by it. But on the whole, it seems to me what most people mean by 'education' has got some ideas built into it or contains certain assumptions, and one of them is that learning is an activity which is separate from the rest of life and done best of all when we are not doing anything else, and best of all where nothing else is done—learning places, places especially constructed for learning. Another assumption is that education is a designed process in which some people do things to other people or get other people to do things which will presumably be for their own good. Education means that some A is doing-something to somebody else B. I guess that, basically, is what most people understand education to be about.”

The Flight From America
By Lakshmi Chaudhry, AlterNet. Posted May 31, 2005.
Richard Florida's new book warns that an isolated and hostile post-9/11 America may find itself on the losing end of the global competition for the ultimate economic prize: creative talent.

Look, Ma, No Schoolbooks!
[Wired] 03:10 PM Aug. 18, 2005 PT
VAIL, Arizona -- Students at Empire High School here started class this year with no textbooks -- but it wasn't because of a funding crisis. Instead, the school issued iBooks -- laptop computers by Apple Computer -- to each of its 340 students, becoming one of the first U.S. public schools to shun printed textbooks.

Getting Honest About Graduation Rates: How States Play the Numbers and Students Lose by Daria Hall, The Education Trust, June 2005
The past year has seen unprecedented attention paid to the nation’s public high schools. Faced with stagnant achievement in the secondary grades, declining academic standing among other industrialized nations, and most important, reports from college instructors, employers, and young people themselves that high schools are not preparing students for the expectations that they’ll face once they finish, the nation’s leaders have taken heed and announced plans to transform and improve our high schools. The National Governors Association has produced An Action Agenda for Improving America’s High Schools. The Bush Administration has made high school reform a top priority. Bill Gates has advanced the conversation with his widely publicized statement that “America’s high schools are obsolete,” and has contributed $1.2 billion to the reform effort.

States Raise Bar for High School Diploma
By Lynn Olson - Published: June 22, 2005
It has been less than six months since the nation’s governors gathered for a summit on high schools, and already at least half a dozen states have enacted policies that require students to complete tougher academic programs to earn a diploma.

Rethinking the high school experience
by barbara nordby
BEATRICE - The warning bell rings at 8:10 a.m. at Beatrice High School, a modern two-story building full of skylights, exposed brick and trophies. Chelesy Walters, a sophomore who wants to be a nurse, swings her backpack over her shoulder.

THE REVOLUTIONARY IMPLICATIONS OF EDWARD DE BONO'S LATERAL THINKING
The significance of de Bono's twenty-five year old theory is momentous, universally applicable and dimly realised. Adapted and updated from an article in the London Sunday Times
by Nicholas Berry, 4 October 1992

Examine the National Board Teaching Standards
NBPTS is an independent, nonprofit, nonpartisan organization governed by a board of directors, the majority of whom are classroom teachers. Other members include school administrators, school board leaders, governors and state legislators, higher education officials, teacher union leaders and business and community leaders.

Books

The Big Picture: Education is Everyone's Responsibility
by Dennis Littky

While there are lots of books about education that propose to change what you do in classrooms and schools, here's one that promises to transform how you think. Drawing from 35 years of taking on tough schools with disadvantaged kids and achieving the kind of progress that many thought "couldn't be done", Dennis Littky explains the principles and rationale of a model for schooling that gives students what they need most. Discover how a philosophy of personalized learning--one student at a time--is the key to creating schools where motivated students are engaged in a meaningful curriculum, and academic progress is measured against real-world standards.

Punished by Rewards: The Trouble with Gold Stars, Incentive Plans, A's, Praise, and Other Bribes
by Alfie Kohn

Our basic strategy for raising children, teaching students, and managing workers can be summarized in six words: Do this and you'll get that. We dangle goodies (from candy bars to sales commissions) in front of people in much the same way that we train the family pet. In this groundbreaking book, Alfie Kohn shows that while manipulating people with incentives seems to work in the short run, it is a strategy that ultimately fails and even does lasting harm. Our workplaces and classrooms will continue to decline, he argues, until we begin to question our reliance on a theory of motivation derived from laboratory animals.

Four Arguments for the Elimination of Television
by Jerry Mander

Most Americans, whether on the political left, center or right, will argue that technology is neutral, that any technology is merely a benign instrument, a tool, and depending upon the hands into which it falls, it may be used one way or another. There is nothing that prevents a technology from being used well or badly; nothing intrinsic in the technology itself or the circumstances of its emergence which can predetermine its use, its control or its effects upon individual human lives or the social and political forms around us. The argument goes that television is merely a window or a conduit through which any perception, any argument or reality may pass. It therefore has the potential to be enlightening to people who watch it and is potentially useful to democratic processes. It will be the central point of this book that these assumptions about television, as about other technologies, are totally wrong.

Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap…And Others Don’t
by Jim Collins

The author is a student of enduring great companies—how they grow, how they attain superior performance, and how good companies can become great companies. Having invested more than a decade of research into the topic, Jim has authored or co-authored four books—including the classic Built to Last, a fixture on the Business Week bestseller list for more than six years, and the New York Times bestseller, GOOD TO GREAT: Why Some Companies Make the Leap…And Others Don’t. His work has been featured in Fortune, The Economist, Fast Company, USA Today, Industry Week, Business Week, Newsweek, Inc., and Harvard Business Review

12 Brain/Mind Learning Principles in Action: The Fieldbook for Making Connections, Teaching, and the Human Brain
by Renate Nummela Caine, Geoffrey Caine, Carol McClintic, and Karl Klimek

Finally! The book that demonstrates how to include up to date brain research in your teaching, with practical concrete applications! This new book from Renate and Geoffrey Caine, along with their colleagues Carol McClintic and Karl Klimek will introduce new readers to the Caine's 12 organizing principles for how the brain/mind learns and how to use that information to enhance student learning. For new readers and for those already using the Caine's groundbreaking work in their schools, this fieldbook will add the latest research, emphasizing the critical role of the brain's executive functions. The book makes the learning principles more practical than ever before for classroom and school-wide application. With many of the National Teaching Standards woven throughout, the connections are made between best practices, instructional strategies, and research on how the brain learns.

The Underground History of American Education
by John Taylor Gatto

Our problem in understanding forced schooling stems from an inconvenient fact: that the wrong it does from a human perspective is right from a systems perspective. You can see this in the case of six-year-old Bianca, who came to my attention because an assistant principal screamed at her in front of an assembly, "BIANCA, YOU ANIMAL, SHUT UP!" Like the wail of a banshee, this sang the school doom of Bianca. Even though her body continued to shuffle around, the voodoo had poisoned her.

Breaking Ranks II
A follow-up to the 1996 seminal report Breaking Ranks: Changing an American Institution, Breaking Ranks II engages principals, teacher leaders, and the entire school community in reforming the American high school into an academically rigorous, personalized learning environment that is improved through collaborative leadership. Where Breaking Ranks I presented a vision of a dramatically different high school for the 21st century, Breaking Ranks II takes a step further by outlining tested strategies for positive change that have proven successful in all types of high school settings.

Ready or Not, Here Life Comes
by Mel Levine "Lives flow with heavy undercurrents, much like the open sea; they undulate through well-timed waves, such as the preschool period, adolescence, and the so-called golden years of late life."

Future Positive
by Edward De Bono - 'The quality of our future will depend on the quality of our thinking' Edward de Bono writes, "We have to make it a deliberate and positive effort to secure a positive future. The call is to arms: not the outmoded arms of gun and bomb but the focused power of human thinking unleashed from its pettiness.' - Penguin synopsis

Dumbing Us Down: The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling
by John Taylor Gatto
No one in America today is better qualified to report on the true condition of our government education system than John Taylor Gatto, the now-famous educator who spent 26 years teaching in six different schools in New York City and quit because he could no longer take part in a system that destroys lives by destroying minds.

Evaluating Professional Development
by Thomas R. Guskey
How do we determine the effects and effectiveness of activities designed to enhance the professional knowledge and skills of educators so that they might improve the learning of students? Thomas R. Guskey explores the processes and procedures involved in evaluating professional development, from the very simple to the very complex, at five increasing levels of sophistication:

Participants’ reactions to professional development
How much participants learn
Evaluating organizational support and change
How participants use their new knowledge and skills
Improvement in student learning

. . . complete with sample evaluation forms, checklists, and helpful hints and tips.

Thinking for A Change
by John Maxwell
At the heart of John C. Maxwell's brilliant and inspiring book is a simple premise: To do well in life, we must first think well. But can we actually learn new mental habits? Thinking for a Change answers that with a resounding "yes" -- and shows how changing your thinking can indeed change your life.

Schools That Learn: A Fifth Discipline Fieldbook for Educators, Parents, and Everyone Who Cares About Education
By Peter M. Senge, Nelda H. Cambron McCabe, Timothy Lucas, Art Kleiner, Janis Dutton, Bryan Smith
Written by bestselling author and MIT professor Senge and his Fifth Discipline team, this new addition to The Fifth Discipline Resource Book series offers practical advice for educators, administrators, and parents on how to apply learning organization principles to help strengthen and rebuild schools.

Balanced Leadership, A Working Paper
by McRel (Robert J. Marzano is one of the authors)

Leadership Courage
by David Cottrell & Eric Harvey

The Tipping Point
by Malcom Gladwell
It's a book about change. In particular, it's a book that presents a new way of understanding why change so often happens as quickly and as unexpectedly as it does. For example, why did crime drop so dramatically in New York City in the mid-1990's? How does a novel written by an unknown author end up as national bestseller? Why do teens smoke in greater and greater numbers, when every single person in the country knows that cigarettes kill? Why is word-of-mouth so powerful? What makes TV shows like Sesame Street so good at teaching kids how to read? I think the answer to all those questions is the same. It's that ideas and behavior and messages and products sometimes behave just like outbreaks of infectious disease. They are social epidemics. The Tipping Point is an examination of the social epidemics that surround us.

How Full is Your Bucket: Positive Strategies for Work and Life
by Tom Rath & Donald Clifton
How did you feel after your last interaction with another person? Did that person -- your spouse, best friend, coworker, or even a stranger -- "fill your bucket" by making you feel more positive? Or did that person "dip from your bucket," leaving you more negative than before?

Preparing Teachers for a Changing World
(edited by Linda Darling-Hammond & John Bransford)
Based on rapid advances in what is known about how people learn and how to teach effectively, this important book examines the core concepts and central pedagogies that should be at the heart of any teacher education program. Stemming from the results of a commission sponsored by the National Academy of Education, Preparing Teachers for a Changing World recommends the creation of an informed teacher education curriculum with the common elements that represent state-of-the-art standards for the profession. Written for teacher educators in both traditional and alternative programs, university and school system leaders, teachers, staff development professionals, researchers, and educational policymakers, the book addresses the key foundational knowledge for teaching and discusses how to implement that knowledge within the classroom. Preparing Teachers for a Changing World recommends that, in addition to strong subject matter knowledge, all new teachers have a basic understanding of how people learn and develop, as well as how children acquire and use language, which is the currency of education. In addition, the book suggests that teaching professionals must be able to apply that knowledge in developing curriculum that attends to students’ needs, the demands of the content, and the social purposes of education: in teaching specific subject matter to diverse students, in managing the classroom, assessing student performance, and using technology in the classroom.

Now Discover Your Strengths
by Marcus Buckingham & Donald Clifton
Marcus Buckingham, co-author of the national bestseller, First, Break All the Rules, and Donald O. Clifton, Chair of the Gallup International Research & Education Center, have created a revolutionary program to help readers identify their talents, build them into strengths, and enjoy consistent, near-perfect performance. At the heart of the book is the Internet-based Clifton StrengthsFinder Profile, the product of a 25-year, multi-million dollar effort to identify the most prevalent human strengths. The program introduces 34 dominant "themes" with thousands of possible combinations, and reveals how they can best be translated into personal and career success. In developing this program, Gallup has conducted psychological profiles with more than two million individuals to help you learn how to focus and perfect these themes.

Building Shared Responsibility for Student Learning
by Anne Conzemius and Jan O’Neill
How does your school define “success”? How can you get everyone—educators, parents, and students—to work together toward that goal? Rather than resorting to top-down mandates or packaged programs, this book describes how schools succeed by creating shared responsibility for student learning throughout the community. Combining theory, research, and practical strategies, the authors describe a framework and process that help you focus diverse constituents on common goals, encourage reflection, and promote collaboration. Stories and examples from actual schools help you empower others to take charge, advance their practice, and make student-centered, data-driven improvement a reality. Plus, numerous tools and techniques help you navigate the various stages of the improvement process and assess how well you’re doing.

The Constructivist Classroom
by Jacqueline Grennon Brooks & Martin G. Brooks

Schooling For Life: Reclaiming the Essence of Learning
by Jacqueline Grennon Brooks

How to Think Like Leonardo daVinci: Seven Steps to Genius Every Day
by Michael J. Gelb

On Common Ground: The Power of Professional Learning Communities
by Edited by Richard DuFour, Robert Eaker, and Rebecca DuFour

eResources

High School Models

The Big Picture
The Big Picture Company’s mission is to catalyze vital changes in American education by generating and sustaining innovative, personalized schools that work in tandem with the real world of their greater community.

A visit to one of the Big Picture schools and/or a discussion with Dennis Littky, his colleagues at the Met, student graduates of the Met, etc. This could be through iSight technology, a conference call, iChat, etc.

The Coalition of Essential Schools
We envision a world in which all children receive the nurturance, guidance, and resources they need to reach their fullest potential. Mission: Our mission is to create and sustain equitable, intellectually vibrant, personalized schools and to make such schools the norm of American public education.

High Schools That Work
High Schools That Work is the largest and oldest of the Southern Regional Education Board’s school-improvement initiatives for high school and middle grades leaders and teachers. More than 1,000 HSTW sites in 31 states are using the framework of HSTW Goals and Key Practices to raise student achievement.

Best Practice High School - Chicago, IL
BPHS provides a child-centered, democratic, collaborative, challenging environment, where students can develop respect for themselves and others. All of our students will be lifelong learners.

New Country School
The New Country School exists in the belief that children can gain academic skills while keeping their sense of wonder and respect for life and for one another.

New Country School strives to provide opportunities for students to develop their self-esteem and social skills through a creative, developmentally appropriate academic program in a multi-age setting, recognizing and addressing the individual learning styles of each child.

The International Center for Leadership in Education
The International Center for Leadership in Education provides services to schools, school districts and states to help them improve their education systems.

Rethinking High School
This website seeks to create a place where people engaged in rethinking high schools can connect for conversation, sharing, and support. In addition to featuring additional material from the book, Rethinking High School, the website will invite educators from around the country to post their own high school renewal plans, curriculum units, programs designs, stories, statistics, and samples of student work.

From Breaking Ranks II:

How many of the students who enter your school in ninth grade graduate in four years?
What percentage of your graduates must take remedial courses in college or a community college? What percentage of those finishes college?
Does your leadership team successfully interact with “hard-to-reach” parents with activities such as home visits, weekend meetings, and meetings outside of regular business hours?
How many low-income and how many minority students are enrolled in advanced courses?
How many teachers from different disciplines work together on a regular basis?
Are the aspirations, strengths, and weaknesses of each student known by at least one faculty member or other member of your staff? How do you ensure that the staff member uses that information appropriately to help the student become successful in all classes and activities?
What percentage of the classes per week at your school are primarily lecture driven?
Aside from student government, do students have a voice at your school?
Were you able to answer these questions and support the responses with data?

High School Best Practices Study
BY JOHN BOCHE, CHAIRPERSON
The high school level best practice committee met initially in September of 1999. It was an outstanding collection of educators with a very wide range of educational backgrounds. The effort and dedication exhibited by this group was nothing short of spectacular. As the chairperson of this committee, I want to make it very clear how much I appreciate the work that the committee members put into this very important task.

America’s Most Successful High Schools
Case Studies and Resources on Best Practices contains print and video resources from the 12th Annual Model Schools Conference in June 2004. The Conference was the capstone activity of Bringing Best Practices to Scale, an initiative, cosponsored by the International Center and the Council of Chief State School Officers, with financial support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The initiative gathered information on high schools that have been most successful at providing all students with a rigorous and relevant education.

Wisner Pilger High School
Investigate the Five year Associate Degree experience at Wisner Pilger High School (contact: Alan Harms, Superintendent)

Read material related to the following concepts:

1. Project-based learning
2. Alternative Education
3. Team Teaching
4. Collaborative Teaching
5. Differentiated Learning
6. Alternative Grading (Alfie Kohn is a must read!)
7. Student Led Conferences
8. Learning Communities (Richard DuFour is a leader in this field)

Conferences

Breaking Ranks II: Strategies for Leading High School Reform
Beginning the Conversation August 3-6, 2005
Washington Dulles Airport Marriott

High School Reinvention Symposium
Applying Lessons Learned From Successful Schools
Saturday, October 1 - Monday, October 3, 2005 Omni Shoreham Hotel, Washington, D.C.
At the High School Reinvention Symposium, participants will explore in depth the characteristics of the successful high schools identified in the initiatives being conducted by the International Center for Leadership in Education and the Council of Chief State School Officers. Work sessions will provide opportunities to interact with education leaders who have implemented innovative approaches and with the principals of proven high schools.

10th Annual Learning Communities Conference
Chicago, IL Nov 17th - 19th, 2005

National Education Service Conferences
The National Educational Service provides tested and proven resources to help those who work with youth create safe and caring schools, agencies, and communities where all children succeed. Founded in 1987, the company serves families, educators, communities, and all who work with youth.

Test

Blog test.

Monday, October 10, 2005

Expeditions - Top 3

• Students feel school is something that they have to do, not want to do.
• They did not comment much on what they were learning or needed to learn to be prepared for life after high school.
• The reason they come to school is to be with their friends because otherwise school is boring.
• They would love to have more technolog
• y in the classroom, modern facilities and have a part in the decision making processes that concerns their education.
• Students want more independence and responsibility in high school and chance to make more choices. Want it more like a college campus where students come and go and do not have to spend so much time at school, too long of days.
• Students are not actively engaged in many classes, especially required ones where they see little relevance between school and "real life."
• School is viewed as a requirement that must be completed to pass onto the stage in life to make money and without it, earning potential will not be as strong.
• Students say they are forced to attend school and want to make something of their life.
• Students believe the biggest change will be technology.
• Sports and friendships with staff/students are considered favorites.
• Students go to school to be with friends
• Students don't like homework and they want more hands-on-experiences
• Students expect in the future more on-line classes, higher expectations, and different types of activities offered after school.
• All three wanted to get an education to succeed in life. Meeting people and friends were their favorite part of the school experience. They stated that their least favorite thing was certain classes that they were required to take. Students needed hands on classes to get excited about coming to school. The biggest changes they foreseen were more technology, discipline and class requirements.
• Students enjoy being around their friends. (School is a social place for students)
• Students like to work in groups and do something besides being lectured to.
• Students see high school as the key to higher education and good jobs in the future.
• more computer/voice activitated/more Spanish
• HS is preparation for college
• HS is about people
• Technology will dictate how HSs are in 10 years
• They desire an atmosphere that is like college...freedom to choose classes, times to attend and an open campus atmosphere.
• They envision school being held year-round.
• The social aspect of school is very important to them.
• Our students do understand the importance of a high school education. They shared the need for the high school to prepare them for either college or their future work training. The spirit of student involvement within a school is still definitely wanted and needed. We recently finished an exciting Homecoming week of activities and K-12 student involvement. The 3 seniors interviewed felt it was a great experience and will think of their involvement to be remembered as a fun and good thing about high school.
• They loved the block schedule. They are looking for a place to fit in (a niche) Academic groups ect. They thought now this was the best choice for future employment.
• Students' favorite thing about high school is social rather than academic; yet the main emphasis of high school is academics.
• Students go to high school so they can go to college and get a good job.
• Students' least favorite aspect of high school is homework.
• All 3 students mentioned future job on why they go to school.
• Friends was the most favorite thing about high school.
• Advances in Technology was the answer for the biggest change in 10 years.
• wanted more choices in classes,
• wanted longer periods to understand information better and/or to be more creative with the information,
• they know it is an important step in their careers/future.
• The answers for question one came as no surprise. The students go to high school to prepare for college and to have the education to have a successful career. It is what is expected in our society. Question two showed that the students most enjoyed extracurricular activities/social aspect of high school, in addition to the learning within the classes. The least favorite things about high school were block scheduling (too long), strict rules of administration and staff, and trying to balance school with “everything else” in life.
• Kids go to school for socializing, education is tied to a good job, Scheduling of the day.
• All see high school as a preparation for college and life.
• They enjoyed the extra curricular activities more than anything else.
• The thing they disliked the most was the schedules they were under.
• School spirit is extremely important to the overall atmosphere of the school. Many students have commented on the renewed school spirit at WHS with our new principal, and I really do think it has had a very positive impact on the overall school environment, including the classroom. Overall, students love cooperative learning (in and out of the classroom). 3) The students I interviewed truly felt that they were being prepared for college by their high school experience. I expected some more cynical responses, including that they went to high school because it was required by law, their parents made them, etc. The students I interviewed happened to all be college-bound. I'm sure if I looked hard enough, I could have easily found students who would have given very different answers.
• The students seem to be going to school for all the wrong reasons to socialize, because they have to because it's the law, etc. One of the interviewees said they attended high school only because it's required to be accepted into the military.
• Some of them said that the things they like the most about high school was when they did an experiment that everyone liked.
• They thought that in the future the curriculum will be changed.
• Students don’t see a point to “useless” classes that will have no relevance to their futures.
• School is a social opportunity.
• School will probably be very technologically-oriented in 10 years.
• Students for the most part want to come to school, 2) Students are not sure how to make the high school a place they would be excited to be at (many want to be here already) 3) Friendships are a big part of their lives.
• Social aspect of high school is extremely important to students
• Students see school as career preparation and college preparation and would like more opportunities to seek classwork related to their interests.
• Enjoy classes where the teachers are excited to be there and create a variety of activities for the students.
• The top three key things that I learned from the interviews are students like the social aspect of high school (being w/friends), sports is a huge motivating factor and students would like to see more sports/activities added, and students believe that the biggest change in the high school experience will be changes in technology.
• When asked what would make the high school something you wanted to do everyday the students suggested more hands on material; participation in interactive lessons; lessons more relevant to their current lives and possible working futures.
• students want social interaction, they want a voice in their options, they still focus STRONGLY on the extras (extracurricular activites)
• -Technology is an ever increasing part of the high school experience,
• -Students realize the importance of completing high school,
• Friends and sports were listed as the favorite thing - no mention of specific coursework.
• All three basically liked school. Homework was an issue with them all. They saw homework as mostly busywork and it actually takes away from relevant learning. In busy schedules it sometimes also leads to less than good choices. They all saw education as a means to a livelihood (good job). Learning for learning's sake did come up, but somewhat as an after thought. Are we training good little worker bees?
• That kids want to be in school to get an education and give themselves all kinds of oportunities.
• Interaction with peers was given as a "favorite" thing.
• They suggest more active learning and less sitting.
• None of them had ideas on making education better in the future.
• Students want more freedom.
• Students are aware that technology is key to their success
• The future will increase their dependancy on technology.
• Students would like to see relevance to the classes they take; they would like to have meaning for learning this curriculum.
• Teachers need to bring excitement to the classroom, be atheistic about what you teach.
• Students should be more involved in activities that improve communication skills, cooperative activities and group learning to improve teamwork.
• Most students express that they are in high school to further their education.
• The one thing students enjoy in high school is the social aspect; friends, sports, clubs, and other activities.
• Students feel changes in technology will be the biggest changes in 10 years.
• According to the students I talked to, friends and/or extracurricular activities are more important than academics.
• According to the students I interviewed, they told me that just about everyone (large majority of students) do not like math classes.
• Students like the idea of "block" scheduling.
• Boys and girls view high school very differently! I interviewed 2 girls and one boy. When I asked what was the their least favorite thing about school both girls used the word "drama". They hated the gossip and "drama" of school. My young man just said, "homework"! Two very different ideas about school!
• Less busy work for homework.
• More kids involved with work.
• They like hands on learning
• Students consider high school as a mandatory requirement for college
• Students want more relevant assignments and less lecture-based courses
• Students consider socializing and activities to be very important
• Students viewed their high school as a social institution
• Purpose of high school was to better their education
• Students want variety within the school day
• Students felt that the main purpose of high school was to get an education and prepare for college.
• Students liked activities and interacting with friends during their school years.
• Students felt that technology and more challenging classes will be important in the future
• Students view the HS experience as College Preparation.
• In ten years from now students feel many smaller schools will be consolidated.
• Students seem to be tired when they come to school, many stated they would like school to start at 1000am anad go to 500.
• Friends are very important to the average student and influence their satisfaction with high school.
• Students see a lack of the fine arts in high schools of the future.
• Students realize the value of high school learnings as a preparation for the future, whether it be a continued education or the world of work.
• Students are there for the social aspects of high school.
• Students see the increased use of technology as important.
• Students view high school as a springboard to college but don't connect the need of hard work to what needs to be done.
• High school is intended to prepare you for your future.
• Students in high school value social aspects of their lives.
• No matter what their backgrounds, abilities, or future plans, the students all hope to make things better for themselves and their communities and hope their educations will make this possible.
• Students' conceptions of their success in high school (and whether or not they "enjoyed" the experience) is correlated with their academic success and, concurrently, their abilities within the school and academic environment.
• The student who was most involved and most successful, did not even list a "least favorite" thing about high school. The student who was least involved and least successful, wrote a full page about one discipline experience that has colored the entire high school experience.
• Kids favorite thing about school is the social aspect of it.
• Kids generally are in school to get an education for their future ... not because they have to be in school.
• Kids think the high school of the future will have a longer school year and more time in class.
• Students are experiencing hihg levels of stress from too many extra-curricular activities.
• They would like more of a say in their choice of courses and also would like to see more relevant courses and more variety of courses directed towards their future careers.
• They want teaching from teachers, not self-teaching. All three mentioned teachers who don't do their jobs and students have to help each other or teach themselves. Teachers give assignments without adequate preparation or going through examples before setting students loose to do the assignment.

Expeditions - Surprises

• Students commenting that their would be no school in our town in 10 years if things didn't change.
• Not all students are enamored with technology. Many were skeptical about the future of education consisting of digital/electronic classrooms. The students did not want to lose the interaction with friends and teachers at the expense of convenience. Worried that their reading levels would not be strong enough to understand online coursework.
• Students were very specific with answers.
• Students think the future will bring higher expectations out of students.
• To be honest, none of the students answers surprised me. If you sit and listen to students many of them will express very similar likes and dislikes about the school environment. Most students like the social aspect of school but dislike certain classes. Most students wanted to be able to leave school grounds with their friends for lunch. I had one student express that he did not like taking advanced courses. I found this interesting becasue this was a junior taking freshman level classes.
• They havne't thought much about why they are in school and are more concerned about specific classes or issues that affect them directly and not alot of thought about future schools.
• Not much. I try to keep in touch with the kids, so their answers were not too suprprising.
• One student feels that in the future students will have a very low respect for teachers and a greater apathy towards education.
• How much the 3 seniors were drawn into liking student involvement and participation during last week's homecoming activities. It made their senior year or even high school years memoriable and positive. They see the change of 10 years from now for the teachers. They think the kids could over run the teachers and computers will do the teaching. It might be implied that teachers could lose their credibility or classroom respect/ control if computers run the classroom. They think drugs and alcohol will be a worse influence on students.
• They thought football got too much attention. They felt like they were treated more like adults in High school than in earlier years. (They viewed it as a laid back setting as opposed to Middle school). They though there would be less core requirements in the future.
• I was surprised that one of the students I interviewed stated that her least favorite aspect of high school was all the drama rumors, teasing, bullying.
• I was surprised that students mentioned taking courses in high school more relevant to their future job. Bigger Selection =-less required courses.
• they all thought it would be classes would be tougher for the next generation
• Their answers to the last two questions. The students said that the things that would make high school something they wanted to do would be to have more energetic teachers (not so routine instruction), offering more electives or open periods, and starting the day later. Their answers to the last question brought responses of seeing a more diverse population in schools, the need to teach foreign languages at younger ages, and technology playing a larger role (such as in distance learning).
• Structuring of the schedule (time in class to year round school)
• They wanted a later start time in the morning for school, even if it meant getting out later.
• One student held herself accountable for being the reason why high school isn't as enjoyable as it could be. When asked what would make high school something you wanted to do (and were extremely excited about), she responded by saying that she would need to be better with organizing her time. "If I could better manage my time, I could eliminate much stress and I would be more excited to attend high school each day.
• The impact that a teacher makes—both positively and negatively. Students know which teachers care about and enjoy what they’re doing (and which ones don’t). It was also interesting to hear that students feel that some teachers are not effective because they are tired of the disrespect they get, not just from students.
• That most students come to school because they want to not because they have to
• No major surprises
• The item that surprised me the most during the interviews was the student who said that her least favorite thing about high school was the "Political Correctness" and how "PC" has limited freedom of expression and honesty.
• I interviewed students that were Special Ed, at risk, and 'regular'. On the question, 'What would make high school...' answers were essentially identical, despite the diverse population I questioned.
• Another surprising point, none of the students could envision high school being much different in ten years. Their ideas were limited to more rules, and more technology.
• Many students felt schools should expect more from them academically; however they were hesitant if they would actually put in the extra effort
• Students realize that there are other schedules schools operate under - block scheduling, 4 day week.
• Their “take” on homework. I also asked them how they thought that their parents would respond to the questions and why? All three thought that high school was not as vital for their parents because they did not need to continue their education after high school to get a good job.
• The fact that kids want to be in school for the right reasons.
• I was surprised by the lack of critical analysis of the education process. They seemed very short-sighted. Mostly, they were concerned with the social aspect of school and whether their classes were hard or not.
• They know High School is important, they want to get something out of it that is beneficial to their future.
• Why would school change, it has been this way forever.
• School is going to be high tech, online, more personal course of study earlier in life.
• Students seem to want more; they would at least like more meaningful options available to them in high school
• I don't know if it was a surprise, but most students dislike having to do homework. Most students felt learning should take place during the school day with little or no homework.
• Some students came to school to escape home. In other words, school was a much more "calm" place than home.
• All three of my students said they believe that stricter rules will definitely be enforced 10 years from now. That is how they see education changing in 10 years.
• Not anything
• The feeling of appreciation that someone actually cared to ask them what they thought about high school.
• Each student I interviewed was quick to respond and gave a sincere response.
• The most important aspect of high school is the social activity...even for college-bound students.
• All students saw education as the most important aspect of their high school experience.
• I thought the interviews were very informative. Students gave honest and gave thought out responses. I was surprised by the fact they all felt it was college preparatory and surprised by the response of always being tired.
• I was surprised about the realtionship of friends and the satisfaction with the school setting. I knew that students were very social, but the social aspect seemed to supplant the academic arena.
• Nothing
• The importance of friends to students
• In one way or another, all three students predicted for the future of schools that the biggest change would be the attitude of students and their parents and community toward school. They all hoped it would be better, but were pessimistic.
• Kids understand the importance of getting an education and its impact on their futures.
• The most surprising thing was their view of the future of schools ten years from now. They all see more Distance Learning, an increase in technology, bigger schools with more students, and more class options.

Expeditions - Types

• I chose to reflect on " How to think like Leonardo DaVinci". I have read a few of the books from the list given through my work with the learning community.
• Choose to read "Good to Great" and review "Breaking Ranks II."
• Time to Rethink the High School Experience - article
• My expedition was to describe the book How Full is your Bucket by Tom Rath and Donald Clifton.
• I choose to read three articles "Remaking of High School", Time to Rethink the High School Experience" and Rethinking the High School Experience".
• I did a phone interview with Alan Harms, Superintendent at Wisner high school. We discussed a program that Wisner has used for students to stay in high school for a 5th year so that they could receive an associate degree from Northeast Community College in Norfolk.
• I did an interview and an article. The article was aaking why grade in schools.
• The interview was with a person working on their doctorate in the pedagogy of education
• How Full Is Your Bucket?
• I chose to read "The Big Picture".
• I've read "The Big Picture", "How Full is Your Bucket", and "Now Discover Your Strengths" and did the Strengthsfinder profile.
• I read an article by Dr Christensen and read about the Best Practice HS in Chicago. Along with a few other articles.
• I visited the website for Best Practice High School in Chicago, IL. I explored the different links on the page and learned about the philosophy of BPHS, the course offerings, and innovative ideas.
• I interviewed a teacher about setting up a dual language program at the High School level.
• America's most successful high schools - heard Dr. Taggett this summer at NCE conference
• I read the article “Time to Rethink the High School Experience” by Doug Christensen.
• I have read several research articles and high school reform plans such as Best Practices of High Performing High Schools, Reform at the Top, Managing the Dilemmas of High School Reform, High Schools That Work and Whole School Reform, Revitalizing High Schools, Career and Commitment in the Context of Comprehensive School Reform, Where Everybody Knows Your Name, The Future of High School Success The Importance of Parent Involvement Programs, The Essential Elements of High School Redesign, High School Reform Strategies, Vermont’s High Schools on the Move, California High School Reform Aiming High ToolKit, District of Columbia Public Schools High School Reform
• Thinking for a Change
• Read several articles on high schools of tomorrow.
• I read three different articles "Time to Rethink the High School Experience" by Doug Christensen, "Ten Signs that You Need to Find a Different Kind of Education for Your Child" by Jerry Mintz, and "Grading Student Writing Making It Simpler, Fairer, Clearer" by Peter Elbow.
• I read an article about "Remaking High Schools" that briefly talked about large school systems that have been "splitting up" into smaller schools.
• I attended a seminar “Educational Care for All Kinds of Minds.” Author Dr. Mel Levine described how the different parts of the brain must all be utilized in order to achieve optimal brain development. The seminar was a launch pad for his “Schools Attuned” program that focuses on 8 basic “constructs” (learning processes). Through this program students become aware of their own unique learning profile.
• I read a number of books, articles related to school improvement and high school reform, along with books on change (business end).
• I read "Now, Discover Your Strenghts"
• The expedition I choose to go on was to read the book Building Shared Responsibility for Student Learning.
• Journal readings
• I read the book entitled, "Inspire, connecting with students to make a difference."
• Building Shared Responsibility for Student Learning. Breaking Ranks. and The Big Picture. I also took a quick look at the results of the senior surveys.
• I chose to read High School Best Practices Study.
• I read the article "The Flight From America".
• I read articles from two current magazines "Principal Leadership" and "The Journal"
• We traveled to Niobrara and met with some teachers and administrators to discuss the my-e-learning courses they have staff members developing, and visit with them about their learning teams and the benefits and pitfalls of learning teams.
• The expedition I took consisted of an article by Doug Christensen, "Time to Rethink The High School Experience", and the book written by Jim Collins, "Good to Great".
• I read the book "Starting at Home" by Nel Noddings.
• I read different articles on having "high expectations" for "every" student. There are schools who have enforced this kind of thing and the graduation rate has increased but also it was found that it doesn't matter the socio-economic status of a building, if you expect, they will perform. (In this instance anyway!) Also, another article was about having "access/contact" groups.
• An interview
• I chose to gather information on what others are thinking about when they say “rethinking the high school”. I read the article by Barbara Nordby “Rethinking the High School Experience”, the NCSA article by Doug Christensen “Time to Rethink the High School Experience” and “Learning? Yes, of course. Education? No, thanks” by Aaron Falbel.
• Read an article from Ed Leadership about Transforming the High School and discussed this article with team members, applying concepts to our exisiting school.
• We read the article "Earning, Learning and Choice" from National Assessment of Vocational Education.
• I read Breaking Ranks II, it is a great book I got many new ideas and I feel that based on its research we may be able to implement and adjust many of the ideas to fit our school.
• I read sections of Breaking Ranks II and downloaded and read articles from various sources on Rethinking High Schools
• Reading chapter of Breaking Ranks II
• I read chapter 2 of Breaking Ranks II.
• I read the AP news story "Look, Ma, No Schoolbooks!" Almost daily I read about technology in schools. This was an article among several about schools using laptops and etext.
• The Kiplinger company does forecasts for managament decisionmaking. I spent some time reviewing what they forcast in the area of education and career needs
• I viewed a show from public television called "The Hobart Shakespeareans." (He also has written a book, which I have ordered but haven't read yet, since it has not arrived.) It was a story of Rafe Esquith, a 5th grade teacher in an elementary school in California. The neighborhood is poor and is composed mainly of Latino and Asian immigrant children for whom English is not their first language. The school is one of the largest in California with 2,000 students.

Expeditions - Learnings

• DaVinici's 7 principles are Be curious, question EVERYTHING! Learn from your mistakes. Refine your senses. Do not be afraid of uncertainty. Explore the arts & sciences. (mind mapping-whole brain thinking) Stay healthy and fit. Recognize that all things are linked together.
• From "Good to Great" Keeping the focus on the objective and not get sidetracked, getting the right people involved (as opposed to convincing naysayers to get on board) and create an environment for success. "Breaking Ranks" reinforced the notion of professional development for staff and the personalization of education for students along with engagement.
• Change in schools is very slow. We need to have schools that work for all of our students. Student achievement is significant when teachers stay with students for more than year.
• Importance of positive interactions with people - fills or takes from your bucket
• Importance of focusing on the positives in people and not the negatives - beginning conversations with positives and need of a 51 ratio of positive to negative interactions
• Discussing a student's good grades first and working towards the failing grades and necessary improvements. Greeting children with positive questions when they arrive home and not looking for all the negatives in the daily lives.
• Positive interactions improve the mental and physical health of a person. Attendance and absences by school employees can be affected by too many negative interactions.
• The key concepts I learned were all based around the questions of what is needed to be done to improve our nation's high schools. The articles I read looked at how high schools could improve to meet the needs of each individual student by possibly offering a wide range of classes necessary for each student to succeed. Students need to see a connection between class curriculum and their future. The academic curriculum should be focused and challenging. The high school curriculum should be preparing students for not only college but for the work force.
• Wisner used a number of dual credit classes in order for students to receive their associate degree. Dual Credit classes amounted to about 50 credit hours of the associate degree program. Students then need to attain approximately 15 more hours. Students needed to stay in high school for one additional year, but when they were done they had the associate degree. There is some stigma in staying in school for the additional year. Students were allowed to graduate with their class which helped to somewhat reduce this stigma. Distance education was used for students to take summer classes which helped to expedite the program and also saved time and money for the students.
• students need to see why they learn and curriculum needs to be taught multiage, wholistic and community connected. Also reading in content and all areas in school are essential
• Positive and negative experiences with people.
• Productivity/positive relationships
• Positive to negative ratios in realtionships
• Health issues
• As educators, we need to implement more constructivism practices in our classrooms and buildings. Students need to be involved in their education. They should have a voice in what they learn, thus giving them more accountability in their education. As educators, we need to think "outside the box" more. Why are we constrained to 50 minute periods with students and teachers reacting to a bell. Also, state tests are pigeon-holing students. Not all students are good pencil-paper test takers. We need to factor in multiple intelligences and provide other means of assessment that fit their strengths.
• Identifying and developing strengths in yourself and also seeing the strengths in others that you work with. Appreciation of everyone's strengths and applying their expertise in the specified areas is something that works.
• Small school size was a factor. Reading and writing needs to be emphasized. School nedds to be an academic experience. Integrated curriculum is essential.
• BPHS focuses on 7 best practices in education real world, cooperative, democratic, student-centered, hands-on, thinking-oriented, and challenging. All students at BPHS spend 2 hours every Wednesday in a "Choice" class
• such as chess, poetry writing, yearbook, mask and dollmaking, etc.
• The barriers in which you would have to break down to pull off such an adventure
• The top 30 successful High Schools in the US had to change b/c they were at the bottom anyway and now are at the top - changes were made in curriculum as required by the student's needs - not all kids learn the same - some kids are very happy with the current curriculum and can complete it in three years and do college work the 4th year; other students need to be "excited" by taking classes to "hook them into high school" like two art classes instead of math, delay math till sophomore year, modified schedule - some classes should be longer or more lab time, more academies - specialized classes for career interests
• Mr. Christensen points out that schools are essentially the same as they were 100 years ago. Courses remain divided up by time periods. Courses remain distinct and discreet and not integrated across disciplinary boundaries. Classrooms remain largely isolated and self-contained. High schools have become larger and larger.
• The same key ideas seem to be repeated throughout the research I read the importance of trusting relationships in schools between students and adults; moving toward a connected and focused curriculum more relevant to where students are and where they are going, a more flexible instructional system, rigorous academic standards especially in the areas of language arts and math.
• How do we get there? There appears to be a movement toward smaller schools or schools within a school; individualized plans for every student; using community resources both as a guide (what employers want in an employee) and as a learning experience; block schedule; input from students, parents, and the community; professional development; CTE seems to have an increased role in student education.
• Thinking through things and sharing your ideas with others to get the best idea. (ideas through multiplication)
• Technology is playing a big part in the plans for future high schools. Students, teachers, and parents seem to respond very well to using more and more technology in the schools. Another twist to the advances was offering more college credit classes to high school seniors, etc. Some students are ready for these challenges.
• Christensen article It's pretty easy the argue that the typical high school scenario, which has remained largely unchanged over the years (other than growing larger), "works for some students and clearly does not work for others." The profession has failed largely in truly reaching those students who "fall through the cracks." Basically, the article calls for the implementation of an IEP for all students (my interpretation) ". . . Students should have a four-year sequence of courses that form the core of the high school learning experience. While these courses may be differentiated for individual learning abilities and interests, each student's four-year program should be based upon a common academic core of basic skills." The article also stresses the importance of having a "connected curriculum" district-wide, meaning that all instruction builds on what has already been taught in the past, and purposefully prepares kids for what will be taught in the future (the staircase analogy
• climbing it from kindergarten through grade 12). Other key points "Connections are foundations of success" (importance of extracurricular activities, student learning communities), "The high school experience needs to be personalized".
• Mintz article The article encouraged parents to seek other educational institutions for their children if they exhibited a combination of ten different signs of distress. I didn't see a lot of value in the article, as the author was far too quick to blame the public school systems for the bulk of society's ills. For example, one of the criteria was "Does your child find it difficult to look an adult in the eye, or to interact with children younger or older than they are?" The article fails to mention that if the answer to this question is "yes", it could very well be due to the fact that the child is glued to the television or locked in the basement in an internet chat room while at home, causing the child to grow to become socially inept. A similar refutation could easily be made for almost all ten signs listed. Nothing in the article was research-based. It seemed to be more of a public school bashing and a wordy advertisement for private and home schooling.
• Elbow article The author attempted to get English teachers to ponder their methods when grading student writing. It highlighted the daunting task we place upon ourselves when attempting to grade student writing using traditional methods, which consists of 13 levels, ranging from A+,A,A- . . . D-. The author's opinion was that it's pretty silly to sit and ponder whether an essay is at a B+ level versus a straight B, etc., and that such decisions are not trustworthy, and "tends to undermine the climate for teaching and learning." Rather, he encourages teachers to adopt the use of "minimal grading" on more writing assignments, especially low stakes writing. Teachers should instead develop easy scales with two or three levels (pass/fail, strong/satisfactory/weak, etc.). Using a minimal grade system easily allows the instructor to raise or lower the bar as needed to match the ability levels of each student, rather than altering the actual assignment.
• The larger schools looked at the excessively high drop out rates and decided something HAD to be done differently. Many of these school districts took their large schools and split them up into smaller schools within the school.
• It is both possible and beneficial for teachers to learn, understand, and communicate each student’s learning profile in order for that student to know more about themselves, understand their learning strengths and weaknesses,
• • Students, in general, will have more success in life if they are aware of their learning strengths, and find careers that allow those strengths to be utilized.
• • It is more productive to build on a student’s strengths than trying to make each student a “jack-of-all-trades.”
• • This program does not require districts to abandon current practices; it does, however, help districts to put their practices in more concrete terms.
• From Breaking Ranks II while there is information on what needs to happen the key is to personalize it to your own community.
• From Management of Organizational Behavior that leadership style has to adjust (be situational) based upon the readiness of the followers (relationship behavior v. task behavior)
• From Developing the Leader Within You that leadership in any process is important but in rethinking the high school experience leadership is critical
• The key idea of the book is to build on strengths. Be sharp rather than well rounded. Your area with the most room for growth is strength.
• What I learned and had reinforced from my expedition were the concepts of Focus - creates shared clarity of thought, direction, and purpose, Reflection - Helps people learn from what they've done in the past and identify better ways of accomplishing their goals, and Collaboration - brings people together to share ideas and knowledge. We as educators do this in miniture everyday - the next step is to apply these three concepts to the building, school, and district. Another concept that struck me was "Pareto Thinking". This principle was first defined by 19th century Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto and is based on the 80/20 principle where people, leaders, educators, etc. spend most of their time and energies concentrating on the 80% of surface items and are not concentrating on the 20% of deep items that can make significant change. Also the use of SMART Goals to help us concentrate our energies on the 20% deep issue items to improve our educational system.
• Technology was a key component
• There are 6 basic needs students have. 3 intellectual and 3 emotional. intellectual- Autonomy, Achievement, and Mastery. Emotional - Purpose, Belonging, and Appreciation.
• The students that took the national survey for the Governor's Assoc. really gave the schools pretty good "marks." We do however; need to look at educational delivery through some new lenses. The three books that I concentrated upon demonstrate that positive change is possible. Building Shared Responsibility stresses that we must rely on a larger community to meet the educational needs of kids. We must develop a clear focus. We must become more reflective and we must become more collaborative. Teaching in isolation is a recipe for failure. They also point to a need to develop "product" goals rather than process goals and we need to develop leadership capacity at the teacher level.
• The key ideas were to develop a core set of beliefs to guide curriculum, instruction, and assessment practices at the high school level. Also to recommend components which best meet the needs of high school students.
• The Talent pool in America is gravitating toward just a few cities. The rest of the country is becoming more depressed. The same thing is happening globally. We are not doing a good job of attracting talent from other countries right now.
• Merely taking college classes and maintaining an adequate GPA does not insure success at the college level
• Although they are in their first year of online course development, they were willing to talk to us about how they were using this technology to develop course options for their students and provide more flexibility in scheduling. They are discovering that students actually need to read their assignments to participate fully in the online learning process. Students did not realize how much they had relied on others for their learning in the past.
• Niobrara has also developed staff learning teams, and spoke very strong about the team attitude it has created in their school system. They feel that the learning teams have been a real force in creating change within the system. These teams are involved in curriculum development, data analysis and planning for the future at Niobrara.
• One key aspect of Christensen's article was the need to get back to an academic experience. As a teacher and track coach it is easy to see the time taken away from the academic schedule for the extra-curricular activities. In the book, "Good to Great" I found it interesting how the research was collected and the practices found in the elite 11 corporations.
• Noddings emphsizes the central importance of improving life in everyday homes. She offers insight and recommendations about educating for home life.
• The school I read about was a "low income", "high minority" school and when the district raised graduation expectations many of the students "rose to the occasion"! I find this interesting because I would have guessed the graduation rate to decrease but it didn't. It actually increased.
• Why schools are doing away with programs that help kids. Not all kids go to college.
• Aaron Falbel is not a fan of education in the way it is being done today. Educators use force and bribes and try to provide information that they think is necessary to students who probably don’t think the information is necessary. The combination results in less learning and turns many off to education. Falbel would like to see leaning take place outside of the normal school yard and into the hands of the students. Students have forgotten how to ask questions or to think because they are so used to a system that tells them what they need to know rather than lets them decide what it is they should know. Life-learning opportunities need to be stronger focus.
• Nordby’s article chronicled the day of a typical student. There was much wasted time, not a lot of meaningful interactions with teachers and little if any learning that was relevant to the student’s future needs.
• Christensen proposed changes toward a more integrated curriculum across disciplines. Students should be given the opportunity to utilize their learning in all the disciplines through an integrated approach that is meaningful & measurable their junior and senior years. Christensen calls for a connected curriculum k-12 that prepares the student for their future. Christensen also explains the need for personalizing the school. Students need to feel connected or they will not do as well.
• Importance of building relationships with students
• High School reforms need to be connected to improving instruction
• Students respond best to high expectations
• We learned that students who take CTE classes experience greater earning ability in the future. Students who participate in CTE classes experience higher graduation rates. Quality CTE programs have connections with the business community and community colleges.
• The importance of student teacher relationships.
• Increasing hte rigor of of our required curriculum.
• create an advisory group for our students.
• Common threads in every article that I read
o increased academic rigor
o involvement of student, parent, business, and educational facilities in decisions on the local level
o small learning groups are the most effective (Don't we already have that in place in our rural schools?)
o personal learning plans
• for students AND teachers
o looping of the students and staff
o team teaching and integration
• Virtually all of the ideas have been talked about or used in the last 30 years of education. The concept of building relationships,looping,integrating subjects, inquiry based education,and team teaching.
• I learned that change needs to come from teachers, not just administration shoving it down the pipe. Learning communities are essential to students and teachers alike. Guidance counseling needs to be started early in elementary and realtionship need to be built with parents, students, businesses, and other educational institutions.
• I didn't really learn anything new on this subject. It did reinforce my beliefs that technology is much more important to our students' futures than any school is currently addressing.
• There will be a greater and greater need for skilled workers and they will be harder and harder to find. Some college or advanced training will be needed for about 85% of new jobs, but only 60% of students will get that far.
• Teachers can't become lazy or complacent. Teachers need to keep learning and growing, in other words, lead by example. Teachers need to teach to their passions. Once children are given an equal opportunity, the ball is in their court. They must produce. Rafe does not believe in No Child Left Behind. He says some children will, but it should be only because it is their choice not to produce. Interesting!

Expeditions - Long Term Ideas

• Cross curricular activities/projects.
• The structure of high schools is not conducive to adapting to needs of personalized education. Carnegie unit drives instruction. In an era where technology allows us to track how students are mastering the standards and assessment may be validated, why not move toward a system that allows students to master the expected skills and continue at their own pace? A relationship between each student and someone at the school is also necessary - a career plan and learning plan and someone to work with the student and family to make the transition from education to post-secondary or work world is needed. These shifts cannot be made rapidly and it will be necessary to change the way schools "do business" for staff and community to accept the ideas and still ensure a rigorous educational experience.
• We need to consider the 8 critical factors of 'rethinking agenda' for the high school experience.
• The importance of making high school a positive experience. This book describes many ways to improve the climate in the schools.
• Some ideas can be implemented over a longer period of time. Ninth graders needed to be eased into the high school schedule with at least one productive study hall per day. The school should be results oriented. Departments and faculties must constantly be focused on school improvement and working with one another to implement subjects across the curriculum.
• There is a great deal of planning that needs to be done long term. Wisner no longer offers this program because of lack of interest. Students concerns and input will be important to determine if this type of a program will fly or not. Coordination and brainstorming with area collges would also be necessary for long term planning.
• Service learning is obviously a trend as it is becoming implemented at the college level.
• As for the article on not grading - I like to see a product - a resume and either it's a resume or it's not or an interview - either the student can complete the interview or they can't. So a pass/fail system would work great in the area I teach. (however what about assessments & standards that we are required to do? I'm not sure how it fits there)
• more emphasis placed on connections and relationships than content?
• Restructing the entire school day. Logan View may utilize flexible periods, form student groups that have input into the curriculum choices, provide a variety of ways to meet state standards.
• We will continue to find ways to involve students in more inschool activities and participation type events and fun.
• I don't see any really new ideas here. I think every teacher knows it is easier to meet the needs of a smaller group of students. I believe that reading and writing is key to a childs learning and much of this comes in the home at an early age. Maybe there needs to be more academic groups and extracurricular activities along with sports. There needs to be a way to get kids to feel connected with school.
• High school can become more relevant to students if they have the opportunity for real-world experiences. All students at BPHS participate in an internship for half a day every Wednesday.
• Being able to provide foreign language outside the foreign language classroom.
• Our high school needs to be flexible and offer maybe three high school tracks in one building - some kids are accelerated, some need more time, some have no need for activities just want the education hours, etc. or we need to coordinate with area schools and let kids choose a school based on different academic academies - like Omaha has open enrollment in their city for students to choose what interests them...
• The same as mentioned above.
• I think our school district is willing to look at all possibilities.
• Communication and rethinking how we do things.
• Flexible scheduling for upperclassman??
• *Student Learning Communities. This is especially important for the large number of students who truly don't have a positive environment to go home to after school; those for which school is their only safe-haven. We need to do more to help these kids feel "connected to their school" before we can expect them to achieve their academic potential.
• *Individualized Education Plans for every student (possibly written by students & advisors in learning communities?).
• *Rethinking our work study program (Apprenticeships rather than allowing students to get out of school early to go home and watch soap operas or work fast food).
• *Develop more time during the day for students who are struggling (possibly a school-wide study hall period, where all teachers would be available daily at the same time to offer more individualized assistance as needed).
• The overall idea that reform in the high school experience HAS to happen, whether teachers, parents, administrators, etc. want to do it or not.
• I think this program would offer teachers an opportunity to analyze the types of activities they conduct in their classes. It would help teachers to look at the educational process differently (more emphasis on the learning profiles of each student) and their roles as educators. This program would cause teachers and administrators to examine what the purpose of the high school is, to share those views in professional settings, and to work collectively
• The core recommendations from Breaking Ranks I and II. How to vary leadership styles to meet the readiness of certian groups.
o Focus on strengths and create individual plans for students class choice.
o Give students more elective opportunities.
o Focus on talents and fill in for weaknesses.
• The use of "Pareto Thinking Principle" and the use of SMART Goals.
• Again, use of technology with curriculum/schedules
• Inspiring students will definitely have a long term effect on students and the overall high school experience. How many times do we hear people say years after the graduate that this teacher or that teacher inspired them. Getting students hooked on school and being at school makes them take more ownership in the overall structure of school and that could lead to changes.
• We need to identify, and clearly articulate a sense of educational purpose. While developing worker bees might parallel being competitive in a global economy this is truly a short-sighted view of educational purpose. Our students certainly need the skills to be competitive in a global economy (although I think that they already are competitive), but they also need to develop the skills to become discriminating thinkers in a highly complex society.
• To provide smooth transition from middle school to high school which is developmentally appropriate. Also to offer comparable curriculum opportunities for all students
• We need to emphasize the creative fields.
• Have all students create a culminating project before exiting their senior year.
• Both the learning teams and My-e-learning programs good be very applicable in our high school.
• I strongly believe we are faiing to meet the academic needs of all of our students. I feel we are not going to see a swing from the athletics and activities back to a demand for a stronger academic emphasis until the parents see the need
• Personalize the high school experience and build good, strong relationships so students know they have support.
• They must know and feel the "wind beneath their wings."
• Looking at college entrance requirements, like the school in my study, and require graduation requirements that would immediately allow a student to enter a college or university.
• Get programs back in school that have been lost.
• Example more shop, auto mechanic, advance courses
• I think key to the future of high schools will be the integrated curriculum. This will have to mean teachers will need more time to develop teams. Schedules will have to be more flexible, teachers will need to be provided with training and support.
• All of the ideas... but specifically improving the culture of the school and increasing student input
• We may want to explore building more business/community partnerships and consider articulating courses with our community colleges
• Advisory group
• Student teacher relationships
• looping of students and the realignment of the departmental idea
• It would seem that the Personal Plan for students will be a good thing in that we will get them directed to their areas of interest and abilities.
• Action plans, personal learning plans, personal plans
• Any restructuring of education, or even the physical, structures of schools, must include an infrastructure that includes not only current technology but considers possibilities that now seem too far-fetched for science fiction.
• Idenifying what the key skills are for "skilled workers" and making them a greater focus in the school curriculum. Demphasizing the skills we now emphasize that for the most part are only good getting kids into college.
• Again, ALL of them. A poster Rafe has in the front of his room says "There are no shortcuts."

Expeditions - Short Term Ideas

• Mind mapping. Journaling.
• Staff will take ownership for improvement of themselves and for students if they are directly involved in the process and allowed to take risks for continuous improvement. Cannot expect students to be engaged if teachers are not willing to do the same and create relationships with students. Use of data to asssess whether short and long term goals are having success and sustaining those efforts. Engaging professionals in conversations to look closely at what we are doing and not be satisfied with current state of education.
• We must have a clear and focused curriculum.
• All of these ideas are immediately applicable to our school.
• Some ideas can be used immediately. I feel education should be making sure students are asked to think critically. We as teachers need to use class time wisely and actively engage all students in the learning process. Lessons need to be connected to the student's real life experiences and his/her future.
• Our locataion makes it feasible to look for more dual credit classes with Wayne State College and NECC. The distance education option may also help to fill in some gaps if scheduling conflicts can be overcome.
• Community connected learning is already happening some in the career & technical curriculum, as well as service-learning.
• Treating each other (students & staff) positively
• positive to negative ratios
• Developing and maintaining positive connections & relationships
• I like the idea of learning communities within our school. I believe this is something we can do at Logan View not only with students, but also with our staffs. We could institute a homeroom period where students are clustered in a group with a staff member who acts as an advisor. Students are also given the opportunity to collaborate with other students on group projects that may benefit the entire school.
• We have implemented the philosophy and all staff has read the book, "How Full is Your Bucket". We talk the "bucket filling" and "dipping" verbage. The staff gives drops to each other often and we have small business cards, filled out by teachers, recognizing "Random Acts of Excellence". Students share the business cards with the principal (with their good deeds/actions, get to have a positive interaction with the principal and a small candy treat as a reward. (extrinsic I know but fun!)
• All the above factors are applicable.
• BPHS utilizes grade level teams. All freshmen have the same science teacher, math teacher, social studies teacher, and English teacher. All the teachers on a team have common planning time and develop interdisciplinary projects. At Logan View, a set of teachers have most of, if not all, the freshmen, sophomores, juniors, and seniors. If common planning time could be arranged, there would be an opportunity to discuss concerns and to develop interdisciplinary projects.
• Teaming students so that they have a smaller learning community.
• modifying our schedule - possibly looking at block scheduling - move students as fast as possible through curriculum so they can take college courses, internships their 4th year, opportunities for on-line classes
• Mr. Christensen brought up the following critical features the frame the rethinking agenda. The criteria are the high school experience needs to be an academic experience, the high school experience must be based upon a clear and focused curriculum, the common core of academic skills should provide opportunities for the study of in-depth and challenging materials, common core curriculum is a connected curriculum, connections are the foundations of success, high school experience needs to be personalized, successful high schools are results oriented, successful high schools are professional places for educators, successful schools are flexible in the use of time.
• South Sioux City High School has had the block schedule for almost a decade.
• We have a committee working on implementing individualized plans for next year. Students will have same faculty advisors to work with them throughout their four years of high school.
• Our school could have professional development in the areas expected to be implemented in the upcoming year.
• An evaluation tool could be developed to assess the effectiveness of individualized plan.
• As we continue to review ideas for rethinking the high school experience, our district could have dialogue sessions with parents, students, and the community to get input, and help foster ownership in any subsequent changes.
• Good Question
• More infusion of independent study classes (dual credit) offered at the high school level.
• *We have already made large advances in achieving a curriculum that is "connected", filling in the gaps and addressing the redundancies.
• *Since one of our school improvement goals is writing across the curriculum, using "minimal grades" on writing assignments could make the assessment of such assignments much less stressful, especially those teachers in areas outside of language arts who dread having to grade any type of writing.
• Right now we are faced with the state of Nebraska trying to get rid of smaller schools, yet this article and it's sources state that bigger schools have a much higher drop out rate....is this really what we want?
• This program would challenge educators to look at the educational needs (and strengths) that each student has, and to give them a fresh perspective into their roles as educators.
• Using the information from Breaking Ranks I and II as a compass in our process. Detailing the changes we make under the core recommendations. It is important that the steering committee take a leadership role in the process and that while people are at different levels of readiness it is our role to move everyone along in the process.
o Assess personal strengths of students and staff.
o Allow students to explore opportunities in strength area. Examine potential career paths.
o Continue to teach factual knowledge. Students wouldn't be able to succeed without this knowledge.
o Try to focus students thinking about their strengths.
o Teach to fill in for weaknesses
• The use of data to reinforce what we do well and to help us identify what we need to improve upon. Before we begin this process however, we need to be able to successfully interpret the data.
• Online courses
• Composite schedules (block plus traditional)
• As teachers walk into the classroom they need to remind themselves that there is more to teaching then just the subject matter and the more ways we can connect with students the better the education and life long learning the students will receive.
• We are working diligently to assimilate the tenets of Shared Responsibility into our school culture. We want teachers to begin to develop ways and means of giving students more ownership in their learning (especially seniors). We are working developing a common focus and trying desperately to build time into our schedule to become more collaborative. We have taught for far too long in relative isolation. We need (must) develop more of a community setting. We are beginning to plant the seeds of a modified senior year. We hope to share some of our thoughts on this topic in October.
• To provide equal access to all graduation standards for all students and offer equivalent support services for all students.
• The article talks on a national and global level so it's difficult to apply it at a local level. I will say that in 15 years of teaching, I have seen the percent of highly talented students decline in Fremont.
• The concept that whether students are college bound or not a rigorous program is benefitial. Having students write many 5-page papers over 4 years is better than writing one 20-page
• The staff learning teams could easily be incorporated in our school system. Exposure to new ideas is the impetus for change. Possibilities for the use of My-e-learning courses could be utilized in the near term sooner than we can possibly develop courses.
• In the article I could see using the implications of a less structured schedule to help meet the individual needs of students.
• The domestic realm is swiftly becoming an arena of stress and turmoil. Men and women often turn to the workplace as an escape from home, and perhaps this applies to students as well. Something must be done to restore a healthy, creative domestric realms. Schools today, in blind complicity with economic forces, push harder and harder for goals tied to financial success and neglect a rounded education that would foster a full life of participation in public and domestic domains.
• We definitely could look at our graduation requirements. We do have about 50% minority students and many "free/reduced lunch" students so it would be interesting to see what would happen if we increased our graduation requirements for graduation.
• Our school is adding teachers or trying to get more subjects offer to students.
• Trying to make learning relevant is something that I can do to increase student interest and motivation to learn.
• I have tried to integrate writing throughout the curriculum in my 7th grade class, but have not involved teachers in other disciplines in this (eg. Science poems).
• All of the ideas presented would be applicable to our school
• We may want to help students identify their career goals early in the high school experience so that we can better help prepare them at the high school level for the future.
• Some of those listed above.
• Advisory groups.
• change schedule, more rigor, Require 3 years math
• personal learning plans for all participants in the educational setting
• The smaller class size is a reality already. We do enrichment and project based teaching in several academic areas, a building of relationships is part of our school improvement this year.
• I believe that building relationships with students is essential as well as with parents. Trying to integrate business relationships more might be a start.
• We need to get out of the 20th century, adjust the budget, and start preparing our students for their lives instead of their grandparents'.
• Stressing the importance of ALL students going on to some type of post-secondary education ... but only a few to a four-year college. Four-colleges is not where the training will be found for the vast majority of the future jobs.
• ALL of them!!!!! But especially that we value the striving for excellent. He also says the real measure of teaching is where children are in 2 years, 5 years, and 10 years from the time you had them in class. It takes more than being smart, it takes hard work.

Expeditions - Others

• We may not know exactly how to make the necessary changes, but the industrial model no longer fits the needs of students in the 21st century. A school year that is only 9 months long and teachers working 185-195 day contracts is not sufficient. That concentrated amount of time needs to be spread out to allow for more reflection by teachers during the school year and students to have breaks without the long summer break that most students do not engage in some type of academic engagement - causing much of the following school year to be spent recovering what has been forgotten.
• We need to change....
• Get the book and have all your employees read it! It would be great to have the students read the book!
• I think others should know several things about the articles I read. I'm not sure I agree with pouring millions of dollars into more research on "what is wrong with our nation's high schools". Let's look at what is working in successful high schools right now! Great emphasis was placed on lowering the student drop out rate. I agree, but does a diploma necessarily mean a student has learned the academic basics. I thing smaller schools with high expectations and more personalization would help improve the drop out rate. In conclusion, I'd like to end with a quote from one of the articles "A successful high school experience insures a successful transition into continual learning". I don't think anyone is ever done learning!
• I did come to the realization that there are many possibilities and that colleges are willing to work with high schools. There will be some pit falls but some creative thinking will help to overcome these. I believe that it is essential to involve students to see what they are interested in. It does us little good to create programs that are of little value to our students. On the other hand we have the opportunity to inspire students in our classrooms with these types of programs. Students may see more relevance to high school if these options are pursued.
• It's good to study theories/ look at trends and question our teaching and how we do it as it makes us better teachers and makes our students better prepared as a citizen and worker.
• What a great book! It gave me a new outlook on why being positive is so important!
• The book I read contains "cutting edge" ideas for education reform. The experiences that are portrayed in the book revolve around constructivist concepts. This is not your typical high school experience.
• From my reading I didn't see any really innovaive new ideas on change to the High School experience.
• Best Practice High School appears to be part of the Chicago Public Schools system. Students have to apply for enrollment and enrollment is limited to 400 students.
• In two years this dual language program will be offered k-12 in Omaha. This will be the first of its kind nationwide.
• Our world is changing according to Dr. Taggett - China and India are way ahead of us (Biochemistry is required for high school graduation in those countries) and we will be like Europe with some wealthy people and the rest in lower middle class - it is evident already in Norfolk with one of our plants moving to China - we either change our high schools or we will not be the top producing country of the world - but then I would rather live here in the US then in those countries and their ideals.
• I think that Mr. Christensen’s point is well made. The difficulty is in how to make those changes. It is the high school years that form the connections for the next steps that students take when they leave our public schools. A successful high school experience insures a successful transition to continued learning, entrance into the world of work, and becoming a contributing member of our society for all students.
• It seems to me that all of the pieces to rethinking high schools are so intertwined, so effect each other that schools should not expect to just pick the pieces they like and expect the same results. Careful planning, implementation, and evaluation is necessary.
• Continue to read and find ways to do things better.
• Almost ever article in the two magazines (Principal Leadership and Scholastic Administrator) covered new innovations or visionary concepts. Some are very impressive.
• Even though I chose articles that were relevant for me, I feel as though I've taken the easy way out. I look forward to hearing from those who made visitations or conducted personal interviews.
• As an educator in the classroom, I placed the entire responsibility of my students’ success on me. In order for my program to be successful I did not allow my students to have an active role other than to “do as I said.” As a result of this conference, I have learned that it is important for students to be enabled and aware of how they learn in order for them to practice skills that they will need to be successful and productive later in life.
• That there is so much good information out their not only on high school change but also on change and the change process (i.e. in the business area) that we need to take advantage of.
• Students have the most potential in their strength areas. Many things that are taught in schools will never be used by many students. Skills training is important. Some things like reading and writing will be required of almost all people. Classwork and required coursework needs to be more relevant to the future needs of the students. If a student has a talent and interest in one area, opportunities must be given to that student when possible. Dropout rates are unacceptably high. Making schools more relevant to students will create an environment where students are more excited about coming to school.
• I want the the other participants in the confernce to know from my expedition is that we need to shift our energies from "who is to blame?" to "what can we do to improve the situation?" We need to accept that the past "was what it was" and move forward.
• All projects/innovations took TIME/RESOURCES to implement
• I most sincerely believe that as we develop a keen sense of educational purpose, we will begin to move from looking at schooling differently. Currently we spend far too much time and effort on educational process and not enough time and effort upon educational outcomes. In other words, we must move to a standards base or outcomes base rather than a "seat-time" base for measuring student accomplishment. Is it more important for a kid to have four years of math or be able to demonstrate mastery on a given number of mathematical outcomes, or to be able to apply critical thinking skills to complex social situations?
• A climate of social intolerance hinders economic growth.
• The difference between a good and great school is that the high-performing high school has a more intellectually coherent program of study based on a curriculum that grows progressively more challenging from the freshman to senior year.
• The possibility of sharing e-learning course across the NVC conference, NVTP, NTS etc.
• that students are open to changes and want high school to be exciting.
• The book, "Good to Great", is a fantastic book that applies to business, education and life as a whole.
• Chapter 9 in STARTING AT HOME by Nel Noddings begins "Children in happy homes are sheltered by attentive love. Their health, safety, and growth are promoted by parents - other selves - who are there for them. Parents listen, respond appreciatively, and help their children make well-infomred choices, although they cannot respond positively to every desire expressed by their children. Parents have the vision of the kind of person their should should become and the training required can be work for parents and children alike." (Perhaps schools can become much more personalized - for both students and parents - to address the needs of students so all students have the support they need to build relationships and to reach their full potential.)
• I wonder if any schools in Nebraska have raised their requirements for graduation which, allows "all" students to be able to enroll immediately in college.
• Parents are still very serious about thier child education and that administator and teachers need to take thier job very serious.
• I think the time/schedule in which the day is run is something that should be more flexible. I have students that cannot come in for extra help because of job commitments or after school activities. These students need to have the time when a teacher is free to help them with their questions instead of feeling overwhelmed and unable to ‘fit the learning into’ their schedule.
• Much brain research has shown that teenagers have a different metabolic clock that literally keeps them up at night and moves their normal sleeping schedule ahead into the morning hours. Many school activities and starting times go against this natural clock. Furthermore, kids need to drink more water. A dehydrated brain doesn’t think as well.
• Learning does not have to be painful and arduous for the student. Many teachers, parents and students go through the system with certain assumptions about education that stifle the very education we are trying to promote. Learning is something that needs to be exciting and solicited by the student. That ownership is crucial to making meaningful connections.
• NA
• The reading helped us see a strengthened relationship between career and technical education and preparation for a student's future
• Read the book it will challenge your ideas and create ideas
• All of the schools cited were urban settings. Rural was considered 1200 students. How successful would someof these ideas be in a true rural setting?
• Most of the other participants seem to believe what has been addressed.
• Change takes time and nothing can be expected to be done over night (or even in one year.)
• Schools in Nebraska had better get on board or we're going to be the "Conestoga wagon" of education the rest of the nation already believes us to be.
• We really need to rethink this whole notion that we are trying to give all kids the courses necessary to be a successful four-year college student. That is NOT where the jobs (or the money) will be in future.
• Anything is possible with an enthusiastic teacher who believes that students can succeed, who isn't afraid of hard work and learning, and who gives students extraordinary opportunities to achieve and believe in themselves. Rafe developed relationships with his students.

Pre-Event Input & Ideas

Prior to the conference participants were asked to interview three high school students and to go on an 'expedition' (to read a book, interview someone making changes in high school or to visit a conference). Afterwards they reflected on their experience. The following links are their reflections.

Top 3 Salient Points

Surprises

Expedition actions

Learnings

Short Term Ideas

Long Term Ideas

Other Ideas

Sunday, October 09, 2005

Participants

Participant	School/ESU
Rosemary Andrews	So Sioux City
Robert Arp	Lakeview Community School
Darrell Barnes	Boone Central School
Jill Bates	ESU #8
Nancy Becker	Lincoln North Star
Brad Best	Seward Public Schools
Barb Black	Wayne State College
Gary Bolton	Fremont Public
Steve Borer	Madison
Steven Borer	Leigh Community School
Shannon Collin	ESU #1
Gregory Conroy	Pender
Dan Cox	Fremont Public
Jason Craig	So Sioux City
Pat Crisler	Metro Community College
Brent Cudly	Fremont Public
Brendan Dittmer	Elkhorn Valley Schools
Ona Ebsen	West Boyd Unified
Jeffrey Edwards	Logan View
Carol Eischeid	Boone Central School
Dean Folkers	NDE
Tom Gannon	Norfolk Public
Kathy Glodowski	Madison
Christine Good	Logan View
David Green	Lakeview Community School
Robin Groene	Howells Public School
Terri Gross	Madison
Darin Hahne	Elkhorn Valley Schools
Jeff Hallstrom	ESU #2
Stephanie Hames	So Sioux City
Brad Hansen	Columbus
Mark Hanson	Wayne
Bill Heimann	Wakefield
Carol Hilker	Pender
Troy Holmberg	Columbus
Casey Hurner	Wakefield
Jamie Isom	Valentine Rural
Lisa Janke	Wayne
Carol Jessen	ESU #8
Rhonda Jindra	ESU #1
Beth Johnsen	Elkhorn Valley Schools
Cindy Johnson	West Boyd Unified
Angela Jordan	Valentine Rural
Beth Kabes	ESU #7
Kara Kathol	Northeast Community College
Rich Katt	NDE
Josette Kluck	Columbus
Jill Krienke	Leigh Community School
John Lammel	UNL
Duane Lechtenberg	West Boyd Unified
Jeffrey McQuistan	ESU #17
Eric Miller	Wahoo
Michael Moody	Wakefield
Stephen Morton	Norfolk Public
Pat Nauroth	So Sioux City
Harold Nelson	Emerson Hubbard
Mike Ough	ESU #2
Randall Peck	ESU #8
David Perkins	ESU #7
David Privett	Wahoo
Marla Prusa	Howells Public School
Dan Publow	Valentine Rural
Dennis Radford	ESU #17
Betsy Rall	Columbus
Annette Rasmussen	Wayne
Thomas Reeser	Howells Public School
Donlynn Rice	NDE
Amy Romshek	Columbus
Norm Ronell	ESU #7
Barbara Roth	Yutan
Joe Sajevic	Fremont Public
Jim Scheer	State Board of Education
Mike Schleicher	Fremont Public
Dan Schnoes	Yutan
Vickie Scow	NDE
Dave Sellon	Fremont Public
Michael Sorensen	Leigh Community School
Ed Stansberry	Emerson Hubbard
Summer Stephens	ESU #2
Rick Swearengin Jr	Wahoo
Vanessa Tanderup	Logan View
Daniel Tietjen	Yutan
Bill Trenhaile	Wakefield
Jennifer Trenhaile	Emerson Hubbard
Bob Uhing	ESU #1
Marlene Uhing	Seward Public Schools
Justin Wagner	So Sioux City
Lynne Webster	Boone Central School
Debra Welsh	Pender
Michelle Willamson	Norfolk Public
Russ Wissing	Seward Public Schools
Kristine Wurtz	Columbus
Kim Zach	Lakeview Community School


INNOVATIONLABS
Michael Kaufman Bryan Coffman Peter Durand Diane Castiglioni

Friday, October 07, 2005

testing

This is about you now moving into your district areas and take what you’ve just come up with in the areas of passion.

There are 19 different districts here. Each of you have a place to work here. This is where trust comes into play. You want to work in parallel so that you can get a lot more done.

When you’ve finished some piece of work, you can grab a poster board and document it or have us shoot your boards.

Seward
We’re going to have a discussion with staff about this meeting within our learning team groups. We want to define what a student should know when they graduate. We want to have all the constituents involved. We will have learning teams as an ongoing effort.

In the future we’re going to look at personal learning plans within the next 18 months. We’re in a block schedule period right now. We have a debate about using the time within that.

We talked about how to use time differently in the classrooms. If you can get kids to learn on their own, that creates more time.

Valentine
We looked at all nine areas and highlighted a couple we thought we could put into effect right away. The bottom third can definitely use some help but maybe the top third kids are not being challenged enough. I have a couple of daughters who wish they would have gotten more out of high school to be better prepared for college.

We have home room in our schools and we find it helps with the teacher-student relationship. It’s a great place to do some housekeeping. If a kid has a concern they get to air it there.

In the individual personal learning, we look at the needs of our students. I’m going to go home and interview a lot of my students. I’ll ask them what would make them more excited about school. We need more communication. Sometimes we get so busy with going from chapter to chapter that we don’t take enough time to see what’s working. We have school improvement programs and maybe we could have a survey to find out from everyone what would make it more exciting.

We tried to come up with our mission statement Literacy is important. Our kids need to be able to function in society. They’ll end up as criminals or on welfare. We need to prepare this bottom third to be good citizens.

Our assessment innovation still needs focus. I don’t like grades so I hope we can get away from that.

Norfolk
We picked 3 of the 9. We want all our teachers to interview the students.

We can do some of the kinds of process we did here and we want to talk about all kids.

We have an advisor program that we have once a week. We used to have the every day home room so we will consider that but also we want to have mentors and consider having the students choose them.

Madison
We were generic and didn’t pick the top 3.

We’re going to talk to our staff and take them through a mini-version of this whole process. We want to take them through learning groups and communities.

We’ll try to get this done in the next couple months. We’ll schedule a day in November. We’ll develop 5 or 6 learning teams and have them do some research projects.

Elkhorn Valley
We’re focused on learning communities. On Fridays we have an early dismissal to work on things and usually we don’t have that much to work on. Now we do. We’ll have staff communication about best practices. This way we can talk to our staff about how to handle various things. We’ll have an advisory team.

We’ll develop peer-mentor relationships. We want to build relationships and develop a committee to look at our school setting. We want to include a meeting with our kids.

West Boyd We want to have a personal learning plan. In a small school we have the luxury of every teacher knowing every student in the school. We want to make sure the members of the community are involved and the relationships with that are improved.

Thursday, October 13, 2005

Wednesday, October 12, 2005

Round 3: Education Objectives (Assignments 7-9)

Factors Driving Change

Factors Inhibiting Change

Timeline 2020-2050

Timeline 1990-2020

Timeline 1960-1990

Tuesday, October 11, 2005

High School Models

Conferences

Test

Monday, October 10, 2005

Expeditions - Top 3

Expeditions - Surprises

Expeditions - Types

Expeditions - Learnings

Expeditions - Long Term Ideas

Expeditions - Short Term Ideas

Expeditions - Others

Pre-Event Input & Ideas

Sunday, October 09, 2005

Participants

Friday, October 07, 2005

testing