Rethinking the High School Experience
Project Overview

On 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 rethink the high school experience.

Just shy of 100 people representing 19 school districts convened the first conference kicking off this multi-year year process. The participants in this workshop represented teachers, administrators, counselors, several colleges, the ESU's and the state department of education. In that conference participants developed a list of nine areas where changes could be made to impact the experience of high school. 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

To view a summary document developed after that conference please follow this link. To view the real time record (the documentation) from that event follow this link.

In April of 2006 twelve people from the ESU's and the State Department met again to think about the upcoming fall 2006 conference. In that meeting they developed a first draft roadmap articulating how this change process could play out over the next 8 years. This roadmap will continue to evolve as more people get involved in the project.

The next conference is in October 2006.

If you have any questions regarding the material posted here or the workshop itself, please contact Rhonda Jindra from ESU#1 at 402-287-2061. You can also contact Bob Uhing from ESU#1 or Rich Katt at the Nebraska Department of Education.