Shift your paradigm

In Episode 16, we spoke with Roger Cook, superintendent of Taylor County schools in Kentucky, along with 3 learners – Weston Young, Lexi Raikes, and Lauren Williams – about learner-centered opportunities in Taylor County and their innovative 24-7 performance-based education school, Cardinal Academy.

Key Competency

Learner-centered leaders provide powerful learning opportunities.  They listen to their learners to find out what they need. Then they identify a way to create a program or other structure that supports the learners’ needs.

Takeaways

The superintendent, Roger Cook, seeks to provide success for all of his learners. Regardless of what the learner needs, he finds a way to provide an opportunity. This can look very different for individual learners, as it should, but he consistently engages in non-negotiables when addressing a learner’s challenge. In Taylor County, no one is allowed to fail. If a student wants to drop out, he/she needs to sit with Roger and talk about why he/she wants to drop out of school. Roger Cook is proud of the District’s 100% graduation rate! “If a teacher fails kids, the teacher is failing me.”  Not only are all current seniors graduating, but the District has also graduated 16 learners who dropped out of school in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s.

Cook developed a six-spoke “Wheel of Learning” that allows teachers and students to chose the instructional style they prefer for each subject. The spokes are:

1. Traditional: typical teacher-directed learning and lecturing
2. Self-paced: a flipped classroom approach, in which teachers develop video lessons that students can access anytime, and then complete coursework on campus
3. Project-based: students focus on applying knowledge to real-world situations
4. Peer/group-led: Teachers facilitated group work that allows students to teach and learn among another
5. Virtual: classes offered completely online from an outside vendor
6. Cardinal Academy: a group of advanced students who don’t have a class schedule or assigned teacher, but instead have standards to accomplish on a daily basis that they decide independently how to complete

Learners in Cardinal Academy need to be proficient on the state standardized tests,  and demonstrate responsibility and discipline. Applicants are interviewed before enrolling in the Academy.  Before graduating, Cardinal Academy learners are required to complete a culminating community project. Learners shared they appreciated the agency they have over their time in the Cardinal Academy. Learners can manage their schedules to earn college course credit.

Opportunities abound in Taylor County. Everybody has a 1:1 device and can utilize it it to engage in self-paced learning. The District realizes some learners still prefer and a need a traditional approach to their education. In the traditional path, the students learn with a teacher in a more traditional, blended school model. Examples were shared during the conversation pertaining to a student-led bank and grocery store, students earning their flight credentials, and career/technology education (welding, cosmetology and agriculture). Regardless of student interest, a program exists at Taylor that can be personalized to student passion and interest.

STARS – Students Teaching and Reaching Students – The district is building student leadership through Cook’s Kids in the STARS program.  Currently there are 350 students teaching and reaching other students. The STARS earn credit by supporting the learners who need extra help.

To create these opportunities, Taylor County had to readjust some attitudes.  For example, they don’t give learners zeros as they overcame the notion of giving up on learners. No zeros. No failures. No dropouts. No excuses. Dropout prevention Specialists will meet with students 1:1 to talk about barriers to learning. If students are not working diligently in class, they are pulled out of class for a conversation with the Dropout Prevention Specialist.  

Teachers and school leaders need to look at every student every day and help to keep them in school.  As the leader of the organization, Roger holds the teachers responsible for living this mindset. He truly values learners. “If you trust kids and you give them responsibility, they will perform.”

The learners shared their perspectives on learning in the rigorous learner-centered environment. Having more agency over the learning environment requires a strong, and sometimes different, skill set.  The learners in Cardinal Academy need to learn how to be highly effective in time management, realistic about what they can achieve, and how to prioritize their learning goals and study time. The students reflected that working with an individualized schedule supports future work at college.

Leaders also need diverse skills to be effective in a learner-centered learning environment. To Roger, it is easy. Listen to the kids. Be compassionate. Be interested in your kids and see what it takes to make them successful.  Get the staff to listen to kids every day.  Be open-minded. Instead of thinking outside the box, throw away the box. Support teachers as they try something new. If something is not working, find out why and fix it.

Professional learning is a critical component to the evolution of this district. Students are dismissed at 1:00 every Friday so teachers can engage in professional conversations and learning. If students are unable to go home, the STARS students will provide additional tutoring.  Providing alternatives and options helps learners get what they need.

Connection to Practice

Our teachers have significant professional learning time. By contract, teachers complete nine full days of professional learning.  Of the nine, two are choice days in which teachers have significant autonomy over their learning. Are we making effective use of the days? How do we know?

As a result of our 1:1 digital transformation, our learners each have a device which can be used to access resources, collaborate, create, communicate, etc.  How can the tool support our next steps in developing a learner-centered learning environment?

Our graduation rate is very high, but as leaders at the top of the organization, we are not consistently engaging with those learners who are considering dropping out of school. Should we have a process for engaging those learners and their families?

Questions Based on Our Context:

• Will we get to the point where we maintain the “traditional spoke” and yet have much more to offer?
• How do we support our leaders as we implement this vision?
• How can we build student leadership?
• How can we release agency to our learners?
• We believe we are supporting teachers in taking risks. What would our teachers say?

Next Steps for Us

• Engage in conversations with our teachers about learner agency and risk-taking.

In Episode 15, we had a conversation about personalizing learning through internships based on learner interests; and the power of relationships with leaders and learners from Big Picture Learning and Fannie Lou Hamer Freedom High School in Bronx, NY. We spoke with Dr. Andrew Frishman, co-executive director for Big Picture Learning; Naseem Haamid and Terrence Freeman, learners at Fannie Lou Hamer Freedom High School.

Terrence shared examples of extended learning opportunities – internships and panels.  Naseem shared his transition from learning what teachers wanted him to learn to learning about what most interested him.

Key Competency

Learner-centered leaders provide opportunities for their learners to develop their passions.  They keep the “students at the center, but practice at the edges.”   How do we design a set of classroom experiences that compliment that? A school that supports educators who do that? An evaluation system that determines who is doing that well? Learner-centered leaders understand the critical importance of learner interests in designing deep, powerful, learner-centered opportunities that shift life outcomes and trajectories.

Key Takeaways

Learners need diverse opportunities for growth. For example, Naseem learned to dress more professionallly, communicate professionally via email and network through his internship in Madison Square Garden. These opportunities provide motivation for additional leadership opportunities. Through this experience, and a subsequent internship, Naseem worked towards visioning his future and developing the skills needed to realize it. He tells us he wants to be President of the United States.

Learners will have to adjust to a new environment with new expectations. For example, the development of a portfolio requires learners to write more effectively. This transition may be challenging for some learners.

Big Picture Learning schools are designed for learners who are interested in pursuing their passions. BPL schools are organized around progressive ideas – connecting to young people’s experiences/interests. Learning through interest creates a pull and reward for learners.  Learning is about relationships, and as people we are biochemically connected. Learning requires practice.  Bridging these three ideas – interests, relationships, practice – creates a unique learning environment.

Advisors need to understand students’ interests and passions. Naseem and Terrence really value the mentoring program. The advisors put the learners in a position to succeed, learn more about themselves as learners, and grow. In a Big Picture Learning school, the learners learn from the advisors, and the advisors learn from the learners. Learning happens within and beyond the school, and advisors recognize that.

Naseem encourages teachers to take the time to really learn about the students, and see something in the students that they don’t see in themselves. Terrence encourages teachers to regard individuality. Students should not be on the same pathway, and will not meet the same expectations. Students are not machines that will just mechanically produce.

Connections to Practice

At Salisbury, we are investigating implementing an internship program. We are actually going to start with some internal internships. We are creating a Social Media Intern and a Design Intern. What will this look like for our learners?

We are talking about developing digital portfolios with our secondary schools. Our specialist teachers in our middle school have worked with all middle school learners to create a digital portfolio using Google Sites. Content area teachers are also using the sites to show the students’ work. In the high school, some teachers are tinkering with WordPress sites, but it is not yet systemic.

Learners can help us determine what is necessary in our schools/systems. How can we leverage #stuvoice to learn more about what is possible in our context. We are working with superintendent advisory groups in each of our buildings. How do we connect more with learners?

Questions Based on Our Context

• What barriers to change exist for us, and how can we push through them?
• How do we increase opportunities for learners to connect with their passions?
• How do we leverage our community to determine what is possible for Salisbury learners?
• How are relationships different between advisors and learners in a learner-centered environment as compared to a school-centered environment?
• How do we become more sensitive to listening to learner voice – the users of our educational system?

Next Steps for Us

• Engage in conversations with our learners to better understand the disconnect between what learners do in school and what learners do outside of school. How do we bridge that gap?

In Episode 14, we had an engaging conversation with Sonya Wrisley, Neel Pujar and Stacey Lamb from Design39Campus in CA. There were lots of takeaways as we listened to the story of designing a school to creating the conditions for intentional conversations about what to give up from the old school-centered model. One of the most significant parts of the conversation had to do with the intentionality of letting aspects of the school-centered system go.

Key Competency

When working with a small team of leaders and learners to design Design39Campus, principal Sonya Wrigley created space for the team to have intentional conversation about aspects of the school-centered system to let go. Learner-centered leaders are intentional about what is being given up in the transformation. Here is what they discussed letting go: control and power, teacher isolation, territory, traditional classroom spaces with “stuff,” learning only happening at a desk, homework for homework’s sake, grade level boundaries.

Key Takeaways

It takes time to create a sustainable vision for transformation. As principal, Sonya worked on this for two years. She researched other school models around the country that exemplified key principles – a school designed with the learner in mind, collaborative community, design thinking, global connections, inquiry, technology and other real world tools, and a growth mindset poised to change the world.

Learner voice was a key factor in the development of the school. Through a design thinking model, learners were asked, “Why are schools built the way they are?”

As they engaged in the design thinking process, they thought deeply about what to let go of during this transformation:

• They wanted to reduce the isolation and concept of territory. Teachers (learning experience designers) would not have their own classrooms, and Sonya would not have her own office. Instead they created community learning spaces for learners, and the open collaboration areas became design studios.
• They thought intentionally about traditional school-centered spaces and how they needed to be modified for this new school. Teachers were asked to “dump their stuff.” Instead, they created “makeries” by contributing all of their “making” supplies to the learning community. Classroom books were moved to the loft so students could borrow resources which interested them.
• Giving up control was one of the biggest challenges. Teachers gave up the position of power or being a sage on the stage. Learners have knowledge, and the learning experience designers can learn from them, too.
• Traditional school-centered seating was also abandoned. Learners didn’t have to be seated at a desk to be learning; learning takes place everywhere from hallways to community learning spaces.
• Homework akin to doing 20 math problems was no longer acceptable. Instead, homework was completed when the learning naturally extended beyond the school day because learners didn’t want to stop what they were doing.
• Grade level boundaries evolved into learners learning at a pace that was appropriate for them.

While engaging in the design and implementation, the team mitigated some barriers. They had to learn to trust the community – including their colleagues. Team members needed to rely on each other because no one person can do this work. The team reflected on its work continuously, made modifications and will continue to assess their work.

They needed to shift mindsets and perceptions – particularly in the parent and school community. Everyone needed to understand this is not the school they attended in the past.   Design39Campus conducted design workshops prior to and during the school year. About 100 people attended the sessions and talked through the ideas. Parent tours were conducted to help parents experience the learning environment.

If they wanted to change the way they thought about something, they had to change the way they talked about it. In addition to classrooms becoming learning spaces, the administration building was referred to as the welcome center.   The shift in language helped the community understand the differences.

Design39Campus discovered the more voice/choice learners have, the more agency. Learners take control of their behavior, thoughts, and actions. They take control of themselves, and changes are evident. For example, issues on the playground have decreased as a result of learners taking control, solving problems, and taking leadership – even in social situations. Learners are empowered with trust and ownership and they then want to make their learning space the best space possible.

Shifting the paradigm of education is not easy and it is not quick. It is hard work. In education, we need to build empathy for one another. We need to listen to understand where others are coming from in their thinking.

Design39Campus team members shared advice with our listeners. They encourage us to start small and make some changes with the learners in our schools. They encourage us to let go of control and share the leadership. We need to encourage teachers to fail forward and fail fast. The environment has to support this with strong trust.

Connections to Practice

• The design thinking process is woven through this experience. We have been iterating our professional learning over the past few years. We have also iterated leadership team meetings and goals. Where else can we iterate? Where can we start?
• It is essential to develop trust across the organization in order to provide the space for risk-taking and failing. As leaders, we need to be explicit about this expectation. How well are we communicating this across the organization?
• To shift our mindset, we need to intentionally shift our vocabulary. As we learn and talk with other practitioners, our language is evolving. We will work with our Leading #YourSalisbury professional learning cohort to develop our own lexicon.
• We need to provide opportunities for collaboration. Teachers work in PLCs through grade level teams, departments, etc. What structures do we have in place to encourage collaboration? How can we best support out teachers and leaders when they are working in these groups? How can we engage their voice and choice to cultivate ownership?

Questions Based on Our Context

• Why are schools built the way they are?
• How can we more effectively engage our parents/community through school visits?
• What can we give up? Who needs to be involved in these conversation?
• How do we build empathy for one other?

Next Steps for Us

• Consider the above questions
• Identify areas we can “give up”
• Identify a strategy for getting started on our lexicon

It seems with each episode of the Shift Your Paradigm podcast, we have the opportunity to see and explore new facets of learner-centered leadership. In Episode 12 and Episode 13, we had the opportunity to discuss learner-centered learning environments and learner-centered leadership with leaders and learners from the Portfolio School in New York City. We had the opportunity to learn along side co-founder and CEO, Babur Habib; Founding Lower School Director, Dr. Shira Liebowitz; Founding Director of Project Based Learning; Nancy Otero, Founding Director of Project Based Learning; and Lucas, a young learner at Portfolio School.

Key Competency

Regardless whether you are starting a new school design such as our guests or transforming a school-centered model to one that is learner-centered, there is a lot of work to do in terms of shifting mindsets. Learner-centered leaders exhibit characteristics of an entrepreneurial mindset. What are these qualities?

• The willingness to consistently stretch your learning and a willingness to adapt as you reflect upon and process your learning. This is the iteration process – constantly iterating.
• The ability to work collaboratively with others. No one person has all the knowledge and skills to transform an organization to learner-centered. Build the team, identify strengths and adapt to the needs of the work. Parents, students and teachers are important members of the transformation team.
• The openness to feedback and the mindset that feedback is not critical. It is designed to improve the work, find the best solution to challenges. Feedback from learners, teachers and other stakeholders is how we create the conditions for a better learner-centered learning environment.

Key Takeaways

Technology has a role to play in the transformation of education, but first and foremost transformation is about a powerful vision for learning – learning focused on passions and interest. A vision for powerful learning lets go of traditional notion of classrooms, disciplines, schedules, grades, and grade levels.

While we identify strengths in learners, it is equally important that we identify weaknesses. We need to raise the ceiling and the floor.  Portfolio school encourages learners to embrace challenges and find their passions. Learners develop passion projects and personal goals – based on interest and choice.

The team focused on transformation should be diverse in experiences, but unified in one area: passion for learner-centered education. Learning spaces and subject areas look different now. Portfolio school let go of the idea of classrooms. Instead they are taking cues from artist’s studios and other design centers.  In learner-centered environment there is a “radical” notion of interdisciplinary learning. Learners participate in 3 units per year. Each unit will last approximately 2-3 months. Learning is broken into two main blocks, AM and PM.  Embedded between the learning blocks is lunch, recess, and physical education.

For example, one current project relates to ecosystems and the domestication of plants and animals. A fish tank was donated to the school, and learners quickly became interested in filling the tank with fish.  Teachers designed a multi-disciplinary unit around this student interest. Once the unit commenced, the students determined they wanted to have a guinea pig in school. An artist in residence –  an expert in woodworking – assisted students in designing the habitat for the guinea pig. Students are writing about the process and their learning while preparing for their public exhibition.

The role of the teacher is one of co-learner in a learner-centered environment; teachers are no longer the keeper of the knowledge.  Even grades and assessment look different in this mixed-age (based on skill level, emotional maturity, or even a combination of both) grouping environment. Portfolios and exhibitions afford teachers and learners the opportunity to celebrate accomplishments and failures along the way. Showcasing their communication skills during public presentations (or exhibitions), learners take the stage to share their learning for an audience of 20-50 people.

Throughout the iterative process barriers exist and develop, but prototyping and reflection are two strategies to overcome barriers. The greatest barrier is translating educational research around learner-centered into formal learning environment. Team members and leaders working in this environment need to have an ability to stretch continuously and learn from iteration; an ability to work collaboratively w the team, students, and parents; and the ability to give and receive feedback.  This is where the heavy lifting occurs! 

Connections to Practice

In our context, more and more stakeholders in our organization are stretching themselves with new ideas and new thinking. Each year, this group grows. This has occurred due to formal professional learning opportunities, informal exposure to content/learning experiences, collegial inquiry in professional learning networks and teacher/leader supervision conversations. When will we hit a tipping point that transformation accelerates?

We have seen a shift in organizational conversations over the past several years: from technology being the dominant element to learning being the dominant element.  Years ago, when we began our 1:1 teaching and learning initiative, we focused on the technology and learned about the SAMR framework.  Our conversations no longer focus on the use of the technology; instead, they focus on the learning. From what experiences could our learners benefit?

We have spent a lot of time planning the vision. How much is too much? Babur shared, “Start as soon as possible.” Do we try too often to get it right on the first try and work too hard to limit the messiness? Are we emotionally attached to any one idea? Are we over-designing?

We do a good job of celebrating along the way. We believe people feel valued. This year’s Superpower focus will help this.  Stakeholders may nominate any staff member for demonstrating a superpower (collaboration, gap detection, risk-taking, energy, etc.)

Constant reflection has played a significant role in getting our organization to where it is.  Having colleagues to connect and reflect with has been critical to our iterative process.  How do we engage more people in the reflective process.

Questions Based on Our Context

• What can transformers learn from the start-up, entrepreneurial mindset?
• Portfolio school is a different context. What can we learn from transformation that occurs in contexts different than ours?
• How are we modeling continuous learning in our organization? What do others see from their formal leaders and peers?
• How has continuous learning propelled us to where we are at this moment in time?
• What are the qualities of entrepreneurial thinking, and do we exhibit them? How do will build this skillset in our younger learners?
• How open are we to feedback? How often does ego play into a feedback session? What are examples of feedback profiling us forward to a better solution?
• What traditional notion can we work on removing from our context this year? In the next year? In the next five years? What are the barriers? How do we overcome them?
• How do we do a better job of investing in the voices of learners, leaders, teachers and community members?
• How do we record reflections across the organization?  What structure could we develop to capture this important data along our journey?
• How could we do a better job of prototyping? If we did, how would our transformation process change?

Next Steps for Us

• Continue to focus on the learning conversation and weaving in ideas connected to technology. How can technology fuel the transformation?
• Develop mechanisms to engage the full gamut of stakeholders in this work, being open to feedback and using it to re-norm the vision. Remember, we cannot be wed to any single idea as it goes through iterations and development.
• Find areas we can do rapid prototyping.