Author: Lynn Fuini-Hetten and Randy Ziegenfuss

In Episode 10, we had a conversation with Mesa County School District 51 superintendent, Steve Schultz. We discussed engaging community to design the “what” and “why” of system transformation, the importance of providing the space and time for community to shift mindsets, and the value of “walking the talk.”

Key Competency

The idea of community ran as a thread through the conversation. Steve includes what we would traditionally call “stakeholders” in the community – students, teachers, leaders, board members and community representatives such as newspaper reporters and Chamber of Commerce leaders. Learner-centered leaders leading a system transformation, effectively engage community. In Mesa’s work over the past 18 months, community has been engaged to develop a model of proficiency-based learning that best serves the unique context and needs of Mesa County.

Key Takeaways

Mesa County was strategic in how it engaged community. Board members were engaged in the question, “What does personalized learning look like?”

Community members visited model programs around the country. After being inspired by what they saw, Mesa County community members engaged in conversations about what it could look like in their own unique context. In a large system of 22,000 students, buildings have been given autonomy in terms of implementation and time.

Mesa County listens to the community to inform the change. This can be a challenge because everyone is an “expert” in the system by having merely processed through it. Encouraging others to suspend previous opinion about what school school be can be a challenge.

Transformation takes time and close attention to pacing. It cannot be forced. Leaders need to provide the time for community to struggle through the shifts in mindset required. Not everyone understands the detail, but people are asking constructive questions. The transformation is growing throughout the system through engagement and transparency.

Implementation of the vision is through demonstration schools across the system. Mesa County is hiring people with experience in the work and creating the infrastructure of tools necessary.  Mesa County has had to push back on aspects of the traditional system: organization of central office (learning to be a more agile and responsive organization). High school has been the most challenging. Grade levels will not be abandoned until the system is ready.

Although the demonstration schools are implementing specific components of the vision (piloting a LMS, etc), all stakeholders across the organization (and even community organizations) are focused on development and growth mindset through this process.

Leaders need to shift their practice: practice what you preach; realize there are many ways transformation can happen – be open to listening to others; developing partnerships in the community is necessary and a long-term investment; transformation requires courage.

Connections to Practice

We followed a similar process of developing a shared vision. We engaged multiple sets of stakeholders and are now working to shift mindsets as we implement the transformation. We have also realized that this takes time. We had hoped to spend 2016-17 building a common understanding of language, but now realize this was not enough time to engage everyone and to build the understanding.

We have begun to identify areas of the system that need to be challenged: grades at some levels, agency as ownership, and use of time. Additionally, we understand we need to enroll our stakeholders in conversations about what is possible, and why we need to shift our thinking.

Questions Based on Our Context

• How does what we have learned in the Pioneer Lab help us manage those of a dissimilar mindset?
• How can we look at community differently? What can we do when engagement and commitment is low?
• How do we help our board understand the distinctions of personalized learning?
• What are the behaviors/competencies we need to articulate for each grade span/level? When is appropriate to begin this work?
• What structures of “school” will we need to re-evaluate and change for better implementation? Are there areas that need support but don’t currently have enough?
• As leaders, what personal areas of development can we focus on to fuel the transformation?

Next Steps for Us

• Help our leaders, teachers, board members and students understand the processes shared in the Pioneer Lab to engage community.
• Make engaging students in the conversation around transformation a greater priority this school year.
• Engage in conversations around behaviors/competencies for teachers, leaders and learners.

In Episode 9, we had a conversation about developing a positive student-centered learning environment with Dr. Cederick Ellis, Superintendent in the McComb School District in McComb, MS.

Key Competency

McComb School District “empowers students to change the world.”  Most of all , leaders in a learner-centered environment need to set an audacious vision. To work towards that vision, the leader needs to be invested, have a future-focused mindset for building something that cannot be seen at the moment, and plenty of patience.  Relationships with other leaders, teachers, students, and parents are critical in this journey. Learner-centered leaders need to rely on others and build passionate people around them to ensure everyone is on board for the journey to a learner-centered environment together.

Key Takeaways

McComb school district has an audacious vision and mission. The mission of the McComb School District is to become a premier, world-class school system where student success is inevitable and each student is cultivated to become a fierce competitor in a global society.

Learning spaces matter. Classrooms have been transformed into learning laboratories, and traditional grade levels have been eliminated. Each student has a personal learning plan. The teaching and learning environment also looks different. McComb has dynamic furniture so learners can feel comfortable and ready to learn where it is most appropriate. All students have a mobile device which is utilized to enhance instructional delivery.

What does a learner-centered environment look like at McCombs?  Student-centered teaching and learning is centered on 6 pillars. Students are grouped by readiness, assume ownership for their own learning, work at their own pace, show evidence of mastery, receive continuous feedback. In this model, teachers serve as teacher practitioners.

McComb knew the model they had was not working for students. The collective community wanted to personalize learning for every learner so that learning was more meaningful and authentic.

Learner-centered education affords McComb learners possibilities. Learners, or scholars as McComb calls them, can have more authentic opportunities to show what they know in various formats. Educators can provide importance to the students’ cognitive and non-cognitive for human behaviors. The scholars can develop an interest and motivation to learn.  This is more than differentiated instruction or blended learning. Learner-centered education also provides equity across the system – they system truly meeting the specific needs of all learners.

When transitioning to this learner-centered environment, the leadership has had to reflect and rethink some of its practices. Principals, or lead learners as McComb calls them, need to rethink how they allocate resources. The team has had to rethink how to administer professional development. Central office has needed to rethink how it serves the lead learners. That means the superintendent needs to meet with lead learners more and listen. All leaders need to reflect on what has been done and modify as needed.

Connections to Practice

Learners need to feel comfortable and safe in their learning environments. Some of our teachers have requested additional furniture to provide learners with some options. For example, some teachers requested standing desks. Our middle school staff spent a year researching and piloting a flexible learning space in order to better meet instructional needs.

We need to provide learners with opportunities for choice and voice, not only in what they learn, but how they learn it, and how they demonstrate their learning.

We have been thinking about developing our own lexicon.  McComb was very intentional about its vocabulary. The community is a community of learners. Teachers are teacher practitioners, and classrooms are learning labs. Using this vocabulary is important because it more accurately reflects the work and encourages people to shift their mindsets. The teacher practitioner needs to diagnose the needs of every scholar, and provide the proper prescription.

Many schools are using software which is designed to personalize learning. When selecting software, we need to be critical about what it does to enhance the teaching and learning. Does it provide for individualization? Does it differentiate for students? Does it personalize?  McComb uses Compass Learning to personalize learning for its scholars.

This process will take time and many iterations. We need to understand we will make mistakes, and we will improve as we move along this journey.  We need to be patient and engage our community in this meaningful process.

Questions Based on Our Context

• How often do our students have choice in content and/or path for their learning? Choice in showing mastery of learning?
• How could we group by readiness? Where do we already use that practice?
• How often do our students receive feedback? What does that feedback look like, sound like, and feel like?
• Is our system meeting the needs of all of our learners?
• How do we do a better job supporting our lead learners (principals)?
• How are we future-focused in describing/communicating our vision?

Next Steps for Us

• Look at aspects of the organization through the lens of learner agency. And ask the questions outlined above.
• Intentionally schedule time with learners to talk about the above questions.
• Talk to principals about the supports they need. Add an agenda item to our monthly principal meetings.
• Develop our own lexicon.

 

In Episode 8, we had a conversation with Dr. Suzanne Freeman, Superintendent of Pike Road Schools, and Ryan Kendall, a K-6 principal. We discussed developing a culture of learning grounded in the community’s vision.

Key Competency

Leaders create the conditions for those in the system to learn. They do this though a strong understanding of a vision, mission and beliefs about learning as articulated by the community.

In order to develop this vision as well as a shared understanding, leaders need to be open-minded and anchored in the school’s beliefs. What is right for the community? What is best for our students? Who are our students? Leaders need to ask, “Who is my ‘who’?  How do I design experiences that are both intellectual and for the heart?”

Leaders need to realize each other’s talents and leverage those talents for the greater good. Through openness and humility, the leader needs to engage in candid conversation to figure out what is best for students.

Key Takeaways

Leaders must engage the community when developing a vision and mission. Pike Road conducted eleven meetings with community members. During the meetings, leadership worked to help community members understand the possibilities. They asked, “What if…” questions. “What if your child experienced….?”  Teachers and leaders were also brought into the conversation, and they all worked together to breathe life into the vision.

Language matters. Pike Road Schools has changed its language to reflect a more learner-centered environment. Teachers are now lead learners, and classrooms are learning communities.

The school is developing lifelong learners where children own their learning. Students are encouraged to pursue their interests and passions and learn beyond their school community. A group of 6th grade students used donated sewing machines and learned how to sew. They used the sewing machines to make Bags of Love. Kindergarteners made homemade lip balm while they studied bees, and the lip balm was added to the Bags of Love.  The students then took the bags of love to a homeless shelter and helped serve a meal. Facebook posts and phone calls from parents to the school convey enthusiasm and excitement for these passion projects.

Learner-centered leaders acknowledge when things aren’t going so well. Dr. Freeman and Mr. Kendall shared that last year many classrooms were more teacher-driven, and this year there is more student voice. They have conversations about failure – everyone in the system is a learner. Leaders acknowledge that everyone has something to contribute and value. They celebrate both “mountaintop moments” – Wow! This is great! – and “valley moments” – This is messy, and not going right! Leaders have to keep each other going when things get tough through those valley moments. It’s not about being right – it’s about getting it right.

Conversations are characterized by candor with empathy.  While these conversations are often difficult, they are needed to determine what to do for the learners.

Connections to Practice

• We are progressing along this journey. We need to affirm our successes and embrace our failures.
• Visioning needs to occur with the full community (leaders, teachers, learners, parents, community members). We all need to be clear about direction and ensure everyone understands and embraces the beliefs.
• Sometimes we have to go slow to go fast. We spent a year developing a vision, and a year building a shared understanding.  We now know we need another year to continue to build a shared understanding.
•  While we know our learners, we need to better understand them so we can design experiences which will engage students’ hearts and minds. Learning more about personalized learning and understanding our learners will help us design more powerful experiences for our learners.

Questions Based on Our Context

• How often do our parents get excited enough to call the school or post about their child’s learning on Facebook/social media?
• Do our teachers and learners discuss failure?
• What is our language? How do we want to re-shape our language about teaching and learning?
• Do we have learners who are “obsessed” with their learning?
• How do we work together to find opportunities for our students?
• Are we planning or designing?

Next Steps for Us

• Engage in conversations about agency, student choice, and student voice with the leadership team.
• During monthly principal meetings, participate in walk-throughs where the conversation centers on the learning beliefs and the concept of agency.
• Engage in conversations about failure and progress with teachers, leaders and learners.
• Encourage principals to talk to students during observations. “What are you learning?”

 

In Episode 7, we had a conversation with Carrie Bakken, Program Coordinator and teacher at Avalon School in St. Paul, Minnesota, and Riley Molitor an 11th grader at Avalon. Avalon School is a project-based learning environment.

Key Competency

Avalon School develops learner agency in both learners and teachers. Carrie said, “All students have these really incredible gifts in some areas, and things they are working on in others. Everybody is on their own plan.”  Learners are encouraged to learn about themselves as learners, and then design the work they want to complete throughout their education. While learners complete this work, teachers are learning alongside them.

Key Takeaways

Avalon engages learners in the teaching and learning process from start to finish. At Avalon, all of the work is tailored to the students’ interests by the students, demonstrating a commitment to learner agency. Students examine standards and determine how they will meet them. For example, students might design a project, take a class, or read a book. In our conversation, Riley shared some of the projects she developed. “Everybody’s experience is unique at Avalon,.” she shared.  Learners identify the standards, set goals for the standards, and evaluate their work. In addition, learners write a reflective narrative about their work and the process they engaged in to complete it. Through the completion of these projects, Riley learned about herself as a learner. She learned she is more of a “doing” learner.

Sometimes the learners are actually harder when assessing themselves than when the teachers lead the assessment process. Riley identified that self-assessment can be “kind of difficult”.  While some of the components of the assessment are what we might typically expect (on time, readable, proper grammar, etc), others require more thought and consideration about what the student has completed and how he/she has completed it. Learners also reflect on the question, “How will this impact your next project?”

Different from many other learning environments, Avalon is run collaboratively. There is no principal, and teachers’ roles evolve over time. The teachers are operating with agency and autonomy as they are both leaders and learners. Learners also have the autonomy to create programs, clubs, and internships. Through Avalon Congress, the learners develop rules for the school and operate as the legislative branch; the teachers are the executive branch; and the peer mediators are the judicial branch. The community shares the leadership across the organization.

Other competencies learner-centered learners need: (1) ability to collaborate with learners and teachers;, (2) curiosity, (3) being able to ask for and accept help, (4) manage time and distraction; (5) talk to community members and network outside the Avalon School.

It is expected teachers will  learn from the school’s learners. For example, Carrie indicated as a history teacher, she learned how to put together a computer! It is important that teachers be comfortable with not knowing everything, and be willing to ask questions. Teacher retention at Avalon is 95%. Carrie attributes this to the fact that teachers always have the opportunity to learn something new!  

Avalon is aware that it needs to fit into the framework for meeting the expectations of higher education, and students do receive a transcript. Additionally, learners are graded and complete state-mandated standardized tests.  

Connections to Practice

• Every person in the organization is a learner in the learner-centered environment.  Teachers model this through their daily interactions with learners.
• This conversation shows that learners need to be involved in planning, implementing, and assessing their learning. Reflecting on the process of completing the work is as important as doing the work!
• A learner-centered environment creates relationships within and across the organization. In addition, learners need to develop the knowledge and skills to connect with community members. Through an advisory model, the Avalon teachers loop and advise learners for the years in which they attend the school. Working with the same learners each year helps teachers develop strong relationships with the learners and their families?  
• Teachers need to be empowered to create experiences for learners and differentiate.  Providing autonomy to teachers keeps teachers fresh and motivated to learn.
• Leadership needs to be shared between leaders, teachers, and learners. Creating structures for these opportunities develops a stronger learning community.

Questions Based on Our Context

• Do our teachers and leaders model the way as learners?
• What opportunities do our students have to network outside of school? Are they developing the skills to communicate and collaborate with community members?
• How do our students tailor projects to their passions?
• How do we engage student voice to the level of the Avalon Congress?
• How do we develop more agency in our teachers?  What knowledge, skills, and dispositions do our teachers need to develop?

Next Steps for Us

• Look at aspects of the organization through the lens of learner agency. And ask the questions outlined above.
• Identify strategies for engaging learner voice.
• Develop action plans to increase opportunities for real-world projects connected to learner passions.

In Episode 6, we had a conversation about competency-based learning with two leaders and a learner from Regional School Unit 2 (RSU 2) in Maine –  Bill Zima, Superintendent; Mark Tinkham, principal; Bryce Bragdon, learner.

Key Competency

In Episode 2, Allan Cohen describes transformation as a letting go of the past and creation of something entirely new -breaking from what has been done, not just improving it. In RSU 2, the leadership team has provided the space for teachers and learners to thrive in a competency-based system where diplomas are awarded based on proficiency. They’ve done this through a focus on building the mindsets and skillets of all stakeholders.

Bill suggests the role of leadership in this transformation: “My job is to set the right conditions in the right context. As superintendent, I’m trying to set conditions so the principals can work with the teachers to create what needs to happen inside the building.” Learner-centered leaders build mindsets and skillsets in ways that model the expectation for learning in the classroom. Bill later shared the “right conditions” include resources (budget, professional development time and structure) and mindset (supporting innovation and dialog, embracing a rigid philosophy but flexible thought).

Key Takeaways

Teachers and leaders in RSU 2 believe it is important to teach learners how to take advantage of a proficiency-based system. Learners are in contol of the pace of their learning – they can move faster or slower than their classmates. Learners have a tremendous amount of choice and voice. The capstone project was shared as an example of high quality learning in this competency-based system.

In RSU 2, all teachers and leaders are focused on cultivating hope in learners. Agency is defined as “the perceived ability of the individual based upon their capacity to shape their own future.” “Perceived ability” is the mindset. “Based upon their capacity,” is the skillset. RSU 2 believes in building both the mindset and skillset of every learner so they ultimately have the capacity (agency) to do whatever they hope to do. Students feel confident as learners because they have cultivated agency supported by strong mindsets and skillsets.

The biggest challenge for teachers is letting go of control. Teachers are no longer the sages on the stage, but rather facilitators, supporting students to build hope, deep thinking and agency connected to their passions.

RSU 2 supports teachers in shifting to the “letting go” mindset by providing proficiency-based professional development. Strong mentoring for teachers new to RSU 2 is also provided. Professional learning models learning throughout the system.

Another challenge shared by the leaders of RSU2 was shifting the mindset of parents. It’s important to meet parents where they are. Parent groups provide the opportunity to re-induct parents into the mindset. Parents begin to see proficiency-based learning as more constructive than the traditional model.

Connections to Practice

• Agency is such a keystone in transformation. Who owns the control? Once again, we hear from our friends at RSU 2 that giving up that control to the learner is one of the greatest challenges. We wonder how much agency we are giving to our learners and our principals.
• Many aspects of our professional development are proficiency-based. Certainly, they reflect the learning beliefs in many ways. Teachers and leaders provide feedback that supports this kind of design for professional learning.
• From a leadership perspective, we feel we model the kind of learning we want to see in the classroom – active, engaged.

Questions Based on Our Context

• How do we intentionally focus on agency as a key lever of transformation? What happens when learners and leaders resist agency? How do we overcome that?
• What are our mindsets?  How do we need to help build the mindset for powerful, deep learning experiences in teachers?
• How often do our teachers confer with individuals or small groups? Or is most of the instruction whole group?
• While our professional learning models good learning practices, does it provide the opportunity for learners to embrace agency? To what level are they ready to do so?  How does our professional learning build and re-shape mindsets?
• How do we create the conditions for more agency among our leaders?

Next Steps for Us

• Engage in conversations about agency with the leadership team.
• During monthly principal meetings, participate in walk-throughs where the conversation centers on the learning beliefs and the idea of agency. How does the conversation during the walk-throughs model and highlight the kinds of learning we would like to see in the classroom?
• Engage in conversations about agency and mindsets with teachers, leaders and learners.