Tuesday I attended the Governor's 2016 Future Ready Iowa Summit,
and after returning to my hotel, jumped on the #personalizedPD Twitter
chat. While it was a lot like "drinking water out of a fire
hose", I can't believe how rejuvenated I am for Iowa Public Education;
thanks primarily to the learning I received from both of these sessions.
Changes are happening all around our State to move away from content
delivery and standards, and move instead towards individual passions and
creativity. These are systemic changes to an institution that is in heavy
need of change. If you think about it, our current school system model
was developed to meet the needs of the industrial revolution. As our
economy has now surged ahead into the technology revolution, our education
system largely remains unchanged.
One speaker at the Summit showed the gap existing between rural
and urban districts in terms of post-high school education. I'll be the
first to admit, I am jealous of our larger school districts that have colleges
located in their school districts and places like the RAMS Center in Oelwein, Waukee's APEX program, and Iowa BIG in the Cedar Rapids
area just to name a few. It is undeniable that with these expanded
resources at their fingertips, more opportunities exist for their students.
Centers like these are popping up all over the country as it is easier to
build new in a larger district over implementing systemic change district wide.
If you click on any of the links above, you will take a virtual tour of
striking new buildings with state-of-the-art technology and a philosophy built
around student choice and innovation. You will also find a strong
partnership between education and the business community. As
superintendent of a small, rural school district, I know I can't compete on the
same scale of building a new center for this type of learning. I also
know that I do not have access to a college (nearest center to Central is a 40
minute drive) and the Central staff I currently have can barely cover the
mandatory "offer & teach" classes the State says we must provide.
So how do we in rural Iowa (which is the heavy majority of school
districts) keep pace and make systemic changes we all know needs to happen to
prepare our students for a future workforce?
Believe it or not, whole scale systemic change can actually be
easier to accomplish in our rural districts due to our smaller size.
Example, imagine changing the district calendar to a more balanced
calendar in a district the size of Cedar Rapids. Unlike here at Central,
Cedar Rapids has numerous buildings they have to align as a district and a much
larger population they need to foster "buy-in" to move any new idea
forward. This is why you see "centers" of change in our larger
school districts but not whole scale systemic change. Systemic change on that
scale moves much slower.
So what are some things we can do in our rural
school districts to allow more students choice and opportunity? Let me
share a few of my thoughts and seven things we are doing at Central:
1. First and foremost,
it takes strong leadership. Without strong leadership, any attempt to
change a system as long standing as public education will fail. Leaders
in schools of change share many of the same qualities, which include; ethics,
vision, approachability, delegation, trust, collaboration, humility, and a
sense of humor. Leaders must cultivate their vision and grow buy-in from
not only the staff, but also the school board, students, parents, and
community. Leaders must also have the courage to tackle and stand firm
against staff trying to sabotage the vision. I have found this to be the one
thing many leaders in public education are weakest in.
2. We must develop and
recognize teacher leaders and give all teachers access to coaches. Larger
districts had teacher leaders and coaches in place well before Teacher
Leadership & Compensation (TLC) came along, and for good reason. With TLC
being fully implemented in Iowa, all school districts, no matter the size, can
implement some form of teacher leaders and coaches. Central is working in
partnership with three other school districts (Starmont, East Buchanan, and
West Central) and I believe we are the only four-district partnership in the
TLC program.
3. If we want teachers
to personalize their learning environments, then we need to do the same with
our professional development times. Central has implemented Personalized
Professional Development that takes places ever second Friday of the month.
This gives teachers the opportunity to pursue their own passions.
If a teacher is passionate about something, wouldn't it make sense that
teacher's students would feel that passion? More information can be found
on our Personalized PD Website and
by following the personalized PD hashtag I shared above.
4. Small districts must
share their resources to offer our students more opportunities and choice.
In the 2016/17 school year, Central and Clayton Ridge will have a common
calendar. This will allow Clayton Ridge students access to Central's
Early Childhood Duel Credit classes and Central students will have access to
Clayton Ridge's Duel Credit Advanced Carpentry classes. Another advantage
to the common calendar is stronger PD. How often do our small districts
state concerns about "singletons" for PD purposes? By having PD
at the same time, we can match "singletons" from both districts.
5. School districts must
move away from traditional grading practices that don't give a true
representation of what a student really knows. In the 2016/17 school
year, Central will move into year two of implementing Standards Based Grading.
I've shared my thoughts in a previous post on
why I believe this change is needed in public education.
6. Utilize research and
best practices. Why are schools denying Dyslexia and best practices
surrounding Dyslexia when research shows one in every four students is affected
by some form of Dyslexia? If students can't read, it makes it very hard
to do any other type of learning, correct? Central is wrapping up its
first year of implementing the Fundations and Wilson literacy programs
specifically designed for Dyslexic learners. What is good for Dyslexic learners
is good for ALL learners. Our data is showing great gains with these programs,
which should free up more time for teachers. And time is a scarce
commodity!
7. Last, and maybe most
important, less is more. Research states that if teachers were to spend
just 30 minutes (not a lot of time to teach to mastery) to cover each standard
of the Iowa Core, we would need another nine years of education. We MUST
move away from a direct content and standards delivery model and embrace
student choice through STEM and project based learning opportunities that cover
multiple curriculum areas. Central has made some really awesome gains in
this area over the last few years. This starts at our school board
meetings where we added a Leadership & Learning agenda item. In the
past year we have had student groups present to the school board on why we need
to move toward plastic milk bottles (which we ended up doing because of their
research and presentation), two elementary students raising money for the
hungry, and another group presented solutions to keeping used tires out of the
landfill. Currently, Central has a group of students that have developed
a student-led composting project (the only student-led composting project in
the state). These students have started a Go Fund Page to raise
money for their project and made many connections throughout the state that we
could never teach through our typical content and standard delivery model.
Let me share a very rewarding email I received in regards to this
project:
Good afternoon Nick,
My name is Jenny Trent from the Iowa
Waste Reduction Center at the University of Northern Iowa. I have visited
Central Community School three times this school year and have been working
with a group of students on their food waste composting project. These
students are Jacob Jansen, Brandon Hach, Blake Rochleau, Tom Shirborun, and Ben
Whittle.
I personally have been working on the
issue of food waste through out the State of Iowa for four years now.
I've met many people in many different industries and have discussed the issues
associated with throwing away so much food in Iowa landfills. This is a
"hot button" issue with the USDA and EPA joining efforts to reduce
food waste in the United States by 50% by the year 2030.
Not once, have I had the experience
I've had with your students. They are committed, engaged, interested, and
compassionate about making a difference in our state. There is not one
other school I know of throughout the entire state that is doing what your
students are doing. There are larger corporations that won't or can't do
the things your students are doing. Your students are a cut above the
rest when it comes to dealing with food waste and the issues associated with
throwing away food.
There are other schools in Iowa that
are composting their food waste, but they simply hire a private hauler to take
the food waste to a county landfill or a large private composting operation
that offers this service (there are only four of these permitted composting
sites in Iowa that accept food waste). Very few communities in Iowa have
access to permitted food waste composting sites. The schools that are
composting food waste also generally administrator or teacher led initiatives.
So, the students at Central Community
School are indeed special. They have worked very hard to get a food waste
composting site in operation before they graduate this spring. This
undertaking is huge. They forge ahead and solve problems as they arise.
They find solutions, do research, speak at meetings to get community support,
and understand the regulations for such an operation. They have
spearheaded a project that will put Elkader and Central Community School on the
map in a positive environmental and sustainable light for the rest of Iowa and
the Midwest to follow as a model for replication in reducing food waste in both
schools and landfills.
It has been a sincere pleasure working
with these outstanding kids from Central Community School!
Jenny Trent
Environmental Specialist
Does
anyone think Ms. Gritzner (teacher of the class) had all of these answers she
could have taught the students? Of
course she didn’t, instead she peaked her students’ interest and gave them the
freedom to soar. Did these
students learn more than just science (which Ms. Gritzner teaches)? Absolutely, just look at Ms. Trent’s
last paragraph.
These are the
opportunities ALL of our students need in order to create a "Culture of
Passion and Choice". To
accomplish this, school districts will have to embrace systemic change and
stand-up against the Federal & State push for test driven classrooms.
I am excited about the direction of Central and confident a move in this
direction will meet the needs of a future workforce far better than reading a
set amount of words per minute or any other standardized test. We have a
few other things in the works so I plan on writing more about this topic in the
near future. Until then, stay tuned and thank you for your support!
Oh, and don't forget to donate on the Go Fund Page!
