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Episode 11 takes us to Salem City Schools in Virgina and a conversation with superintendent, Dr. Alan Seibert and learner, Alayna Johnson. We talked about the complexities of bringing a learner-centered mindset to a system at scale, how internships and externships break down the walls of learning, and how learner-centered environments put less focus on grades and fixed response assessments and more focus on learning.
Salem City is located near Roanoke, Virginia, approximately four hours southwest of Washington D.C. Salem City Schools serve 4000 students in six schools (4 elementary, 1 middle, and 1 comprehensive high school featuring both career and technical programs and an International Baccalaureate program). Alan has served in Salem City Schools for 26 years in several capacities: a high school science teacher, assistant principal in the middle and high schools and principal in an elementary school. He is in his 11th year as superintendent of Salem City Schools. Alayna Johnson is a Junior in the Early Childhood Education (ECE) program at Salem High School. She aspires to be a teacher and perhaps an elementary school principal as part of her current career goals. Alayna recently shadowed Dr. Seibert for a day as she investigates and prepares for her future career plans.
Our conversation with Alan and Alayna inspired us to think about the following questions:
- What barriers are you experiencing moving from school-centered to learner-centered? What have you heard today that can help you address these challenges?
- In what ways can learner-centered leadership honor the complexities of the education profession?
Resources:
Thank you Lynn and Randy for the opportunity to share. Not only are people with questions welcome to contact us here at Salem City Schools, I know that many listeners will have ideas and insights that can help us accelerate our work, so suggestions are also welcome! Also, if interested, my Twitter handle is: @haseibert