Shift your paradigm

In this episode, we focus on leadership and a conversation with Big Picture Learning Co-Executive Directors, Dr. Andrew Frishman and Carlos Moreno. Our conversation dives deeply into how Big Picture Learning represents the five elements put forth by Education Reimagined and the key role of leadership in educational transformation. We also discussed a reframing of the term “relationships,” the power of giving up control, policy and mindset barriers and the shifting role of the teacher.

Key Competency

Learner-centered leaders explicitly redefine the role of the teacher. Teachers are no longer the sole keepers of the knowledge. Instead, as advisors, they develop deep relationships with learners and their families to co-create meaningful, personalized learning experiences.

Takeaways

Big Picture Learning (BPL) works to maintain integrity of its brand through intentional leadership. The engagement continues beyond the initial implementation. The BPL schools remain connected as a network. Those within Big Picture schools collaborate and learn with one another. Leaders, practitioners, and students connect with one another to share learning experiences with their own communities. This provides continuous growth and improvement in BPL schools.

Much of the work of transformation begins with the school leaders. They assist in providing “high touch” professional development for the school community. BPL encourages current school leaders to consider internal succession planning as well as develop their own talents. Veteran leaders are often tapped for additional leadership roles. Distributed leadership is employed to build capacity.

What does the learning look like in BPL schools? BPL seeks to lay out an approach to learning which encourages deep connections to learning and to each other as learners. Before students enter the school, they are connected with an advisor (redefined role of the teacher). An advisor works with the student to explore several questions – Who are you? What are you passionate about? How do you want to go out into the world? How can we help you design learning experiences to get you there? Advisors meet with the student and his/her parents outside of school in their community. The advisor seeks to understand the student as a learner and a person. They learn about the students’ interests, hobbies, challenges, etc.This connection goes far beyond academic content and technical skills.

Students are also connected to other students through advisory. A group of fifteen to twenty-five students stay with one advisor over the course of 2-4 years.  The combination of the deep individual relationship and getting to know students in advisory benefits the learners. 

Regarding relationships – the value is in the relationship itself. By placing the advisor/student relationship at the center of the learning, the advisor can work with the student and his/her family to co-create learning experiences.  For example, If a learner is interested in architecture, how would they find 5-10 places in the community where that is occurring? How can they set up a research interview? Who works there? How could they get that career? What does the day-to-day job/work look like? The students complete informational intervews to answer some of these questions. Then the work wth the advsor continues. How can we craft with you and your family an individualized learning plan? The advisor supports and scaffolds students experience in internships and helps students think about authentic projects and assessments.

BPL embodies the five elements put forward by Education Reimagined. The learning is open-walled, going beyond the walls of the school with internships and connections as shared above.  Learning at BPL is highly socially-embedded both in and out of school. Because it is student interest-driven, there is a tremendous amount of learner-agency. By defintiton, the work is highly personalized by each learner. Learners are developing and demonstrating competencies and skills. The competencies and sklls are deeply contextualized to the work the learners want to do.

Relationships in a school-centered environment look different from relationships in a learner-centered environment. In the learner-centered environment the deep, strong relationships are used as the foundation to co-design learning experiences. The connectons go beyond developing academc rigor; instead, the value is in the relationship itself. Buildng relationships and connections is important work.

In order to create this learnng environment BPL, does not completely abandon traditional elements of education. BPL sees the value in the concept of teachers, students spending some time in a school with peers, and some time with other experts, many of whom have more knowledge than the teacher. Teachers have to let go of control and the notion that they are the center of the room with all of the power and knowledge. Instead of transferring content, the advisors identify that each learner has a set of knowledge which the teachers do not have. The role of the teacher has shifted, and often that person may not be recognized upon immediate entry into a classroom. Voice and choice are distributed beyond the advisor to the learners.

BPL is a new form and design of a student learning experience that requires different cultures and structures in order to provide the most powerful experience. It requires a shift in mindset beyond the regularities of school. A key barrier to implementation of personalization can be a lack of resources – both human and financial. This system works across the country and around the world – 25 states in both rural and urban settings.

What competencies do leaders in this space need?  Leaders need a clear purpose for being in this work. Ideally, they are reflective practitioners with a continuous growth mindset. They care about students in very deep ways and believe in learner-centered education very deeply. How are leaders visionary? What is their vision 10-15 years ahead for their school? Leaders need to be distributive in leadership – not the keepers and holders of everything, instead sharing the leadership with others including students and staff.

What nugget of advice could you offer us and our listeners? Just do it! If you wait for conditions to be perfect, you wil be waiting forever. You will never have all the perfect technical skills. Get a group of people together and get excited! Start doing it? Make mistakes and learn. Iterate to get better. As you get into it, you will make more and more beautfiul things. Leaders need to embrace the messiness, and lean in as learners.

Connections to Practice

• We have advisory in our middle school and high school.  How can we better utilize this time?
• Change is loss, and that can be scary for our teachers and leaders. How are our teachers and leaders feeling about our vision?

Questions Based on Our Context

• How can we develop a family-like structure with our learners?
• Are our learners all deeply connected to an adult?
• On a regular basis, do we ask students where they want to be in 5, 10 or 15 years?
• Do our teachers believe they are the center of all content knowledge? If so, how can we shift that mindset?
• How would we redefine the role of the teacher? How can we best think about this question?

Next Steps for Us

• Evaluate our current advisory programs
• Talk with our learners in superintendent advisory council about whether or not they feel connected to an adult in school.
• Work with school leaders to plan with intentionality how we can support our learners to think about the world of work beyond high school.

In Episode 24, we had a wonderful conversation about learner-centered education, specifically, the World of Work initiative, with Dr. David Miyashiro, superintendent in the Cajon Valley Union School District in California, and Ed Hidalgo, Chief Innovation and Engagement Officer at Cajon Valley. World of Work is focused on designing career development awareness in K-8 schools to prepare teachers and students for the future world of work. We learn how the World of Work initiative is focused on the learner and has been one element in Cajon Valleys learning transformation.

Key Competency

Learner-centered leaders develop the resources, the people and the conditions necessary for transformation. In the case of Cajon Valley, the district developed the World of Work resources once the need for career awareness was identified. The board supported the development of the material resources with financial resources. David and Ed have developed their people in this process – helping learners and teachers uncover their own strengths, talents and values to amplify the why of how learners at all levels of the system fit into the future world of work. As leaders, they have also created the conditions that have allowed the people demonstrate their own agency and for the program to be successful. As David shared, “There are no passengers on this ship – we are all crew. We are all rowing.”

Takeaways

In a short period of time, Cajon Valley has moved from a technology desert to a digital environment under David’s leadership. This transformation was approached through a design process that engaged teachers. External partners such as TED.com and Google have helped accelerate and support the transformation.

The World of Work initiative is learner-centered as it is designed to help learners uncover their unique strengths, interests and values. What is at your core? What do you care about? What engages you? Answers to these kinds of questions lead to increased learner agency which is, and will be, highly valued in a world or work where employees are expected to manage their own careers.

Questions to ask learners: What is something you do really well? What is a strength you have on which you have recently been complimented? What do you think your work values might be?

The World of Work initiative is also highly personalized, contextualized and relevant to learners. The initiative has reinforced Cajon Valley’s greater WHY…. Happy students, building healthy relationships, on a path to financial and social well being. Every child will need some sort of job, business or career that will sustain them and a network of people that they can engage with once they leave secondary school. Career development is a whole new language for teachers, but it can be integrated into the work they do everyday. Revisiting the greater WHY has helped teachers think of the purpose of education beyond test scores in math and ELA.

The Holland RIASEC framework has been used in Cajon Valley as the foundation of the program designed for learners to find their people – to help them classify their interests. Once learners find their people, they will find their interests. In the World of Work curriculum, learners experience jobs on the RIASEC framework each year. At the end, learners use the TED talk framework to share their reflection. Putting them in this role is not only learner-centered but fosters the development of leadership.

The primary barriers to this work is time and a lack of understanding of how the economy has changed and will be changing between now and the time learners enter the world of work. The world of work has shifted since the current educational model was designed in the 19th century. The dominant paradigm of school is not designed for the success of all students. Business and industry is telling us we are not properly preparing our learners for success in the current and evolving economy and job market.

The World of Work resources are a scalable means of bridging the gap between K-12 and the world of work. Physical tools and the World of Work curriculum were developed by Cajon Valley. The board supported the development of these resources.

In terms of leading this work, leaders need a shift in mindset. Rather than thinking of themselves as principals, teachers or superintendents, a more realistic frame is as a company executive, rethinking the business model of public education. Do this by asking questions such as: What is the problem we are trying to solve? We hear about unfilled jobs, shrinking middle class, college graduates with no career in their major field. These things are the problems of K12. We may need to improve test scores, but there are larger issues included in our responsibility. And these larger issues should drive what we do.

We can blame policymakers for the shortcomings of our current system, but we need to do something from the ground up – rethinking the WHY of what we are trying to solve. We as leaders have the skills; we need to shift the mindset.

We can do this work – not more, but differently – when we collaborate with each other. Let’s let go of some of the things we think have to drive us. Refocus on the why and the level of engagement from everyone will rise. Let’s not tether ourselves to the local and state measures of the accountability movement.

Everyone has unique strengths and talents that are needed in the world. Moving to a strengths-based model from a deficit-based model will help every learner understand they have a place in the world.

Connections to Practice

• We have created a prototype for an internship program at our high school this semester. This is one way we are tapping into the strengths, interests and passions of our learners connected to their future world of work.
• Career awareness has become a component of our SPP score here in Pennsylvania.
• We have been having conversations around the greater WHY of transformation.
• Professional learning and the development of our people around the transformation has been important. 

Questions Based on Our Context

• How will we expand our internship program next year?
• How can we engage our younger learners in planning for careers and the world of work?
• How would our learners answer these question: What is something you do really well? What is a strength you have on which you have recently been complimented? What do you think your work values might be?
• How can the RIASEC framework help us to create a personalized experience to meet the college/career standard in PA?
• How can we partner with outside businesses and organizations to learn what skills and dispositions are most needed in today’s economy?
• How does thinking about the future leverage transformation?
• What is the TedX literacy curriculum?  How could our learners benefit from this tool?
• How do we engage policymakers differently in the work of transformation? What do we connect it to? Unfilled jobs? Shrinking middle class? Unfulfilled workers?
• What are we doing to uncover and release learner interests?

Next Steps for Us

• Evaluate our current internship program, planning for expansion on a larger scale.
• Work with school leaders to plan with intentionality how we can support our learners to think about the world of work beyond high school.

As we have become more proficient in the learner-centered paradigm through our work in the Salisbury Township School District, we have started spreading the learner-centered message!

Voice and Choice: The Learner-Centered Lens

What does it mean to give learners voice and choice in their learning? What distinguishes personalized learning, competency-based learning, open-walled learning, socially-embedded learning and learner agency in learner-centered environments from school-centered environments? What does it mean to innovate within your classrooms, school or district through the learner-centered lens?

 

Leading Innovation

Leading organizations with the learner at the center. Should this kind of leadership look different? How do we build our knowledge, skills, and dispositions to lead in new learner-centered environments? We think leadership in our schools today should look different! To explore this new territory, leaders in the Salisbury Township School District have been engaging Education Reimagined, learner-centered leaders and learners across the country in the Shift Your Paradigm podcast to uncover the characteristics needed to guide learner-centered transformation. The conversations are revealing the boundaries of what makes or breaks a shift. What are the lessons learned from national leaders who are co-designing innovative learning environments?

In Episode 23, we had the pleasure of speaking with Ezekiel Fugate and Jenny Finn from Springhouse Community School in rural Floyd County, Virginia. Springhouse Community School is a unique leaning environment where questions such as these are explored:

• How does a child successfully shed his or her childhood to fully enter adolescence?
• What does a young person need to deal with the complexity of adolescence?
• What does it take to emerge from adolescence prepared for young adulthood?

Key Competency

Learner-centered leaders create a learning culture that balances structure and freedom. Learners are invited to explore what is true for them and what they are curious about while also being introduced to experiences and learning they may not have otherwise.

Takeaways

Learner-centered leaders have a curiosity about culture change – creating healthy culture, helping teenagers get comfortable in their own skin through a learner-centered approach.

“The way in which we educate isn’t as important (competency-based, project-based) as the way we very intentionally choose to meet the learners here in our environment. We are committed to seeing learners as whole human beings who are capable of coming to know themselves and their potential. That has been the guiding light for us – the focus on wholeness and the belief that each of us carries something unique to offer to the world. Our job as teachers and mentors is to figure out how to connect our learners to that and how to empower them to offer that to the world.”

Springhouse is a competency-based school, with competencies rooted in its mission: to prepare adolescents for young adulthood by providing an educational experience that is individualized, rigorous and engaging.

Competencies are divided into four core areas – four pillars: relating, critical thinking, innovating, leading.

Relationship and relating is central to everything they do: relationship to self (Who am I? What are my gifts? What’s getting in the way? What brings me alive? What puts me to sleep?); relationship to other (How do I show up in a world where there are people I may not like, people I really like? How do I tend to human relationships? How do I cultivate the skills to navigate challenge, tension and all the issues that may arise?); relationship to earth and the natural world (We are not strangers to planet earth. How do we rework the human/nature relationship?)

Critical thinking is some of where the more conventional learning takes place: thinking scientifically, investigating mathematically, analyzing the past and present, being an effective communicator.

Innovation is developing the skills to create – from idea to bringing it into the world. This encompasses artistry and entrepreneurship.

Leadership manifests itself in the notion that the individual needs to know how they might show up in the world as an individual leader, the person who they are.

Springhouse has nine program areas: mathematics, language arts, science, humanities, design, entrepreneurship, world language, coming of age, and  health. These program areas are explored through four core practices: project-based learning, one-on-one mentoring, community collaborations and nature connections.

The adults in the Springhouse community are passionate and have the capacity to spark curiosity and listen to students. Students are empowered to explore a year-long passion project under the guidance of a mentor. Projects have focused on learning how to rap, homelessness, solar energy, evaluating water quality and just about anything you can imagine.

Springhouse has a significant component that engages the community – internships and experience Fridays. Community members volunteer their gifts and passions they want to share with students. Students are exposed to something new each week.

Everyone at Springhouse is there to become more fully who they are – adults and children. Every person has a light inside of them. The school and those working and learning in it are there to support and invite out. Everyone has a gift to offer and the world has a need for that gift.

Ezekiel and Jenny believe that transformation is by its nature counter-cultural. They are asking students and parents to step away from a culture of education with different values and engage in a deeper way of learning and relating. The culture they’ve created is rooted in “soul” and is used to speak to that place where everyone can be their authentic selves. There is less centeredness around the ego and material worlds at Springhouse. While offered, stepping into transformation is often not easily received in our culture. Springhouse, one could say, invites transformation on many different levels.

Springhouse is a school that doesn’t privilege the intellect. It values the development of the whole child.

Connections to Practice

• Ezekiel and Jenny are curious leaders who have spent a lot of time translating their thoughtful planning of a school into a reality for their learners. There is a lot of intentionality in how we are approaching change in Salisbury with the development of the Profile of a Graduate, interrogating our beliefs about learning and designing professional supports to assist our teachers and leaders in this work – Leading #YourSalisbury.
• The four practices – project-based learning, one-on-one mentoring, community collaborations and nature connections are areas we have considered exploring in terms of designing learning environments. We are currently exploring PBL within the Leading #YourSalisbury cohort. We have loose connections to mentoring, but are exploring community collaborations through a high school internship program. We have offered workshops on place-based education which has some connection with the natures practice.

Questions Based on Our Context

• How can we remain curious about this work amidst the successes and challenges?
• How do we uncover the gifts in others?
• Do our learners know they have a responsibility to share their gifts?
• This conversation helps frame the notion of relationships – among ourselves as educators and our learners. How do we take the conversation about relationships beyond the transactional that tends be our focus in a fast-paced, always-on world?
• How do we help learners understand relationships – relationship to self, to other, to the world?
• What do competencies look like within our Profile of a Graduate? How do we begin to provide some structure to the Profile?
• How might we be more intentional about a design for appropriate practices that will support our Profile of a Graduate and learning beliefs? Do we see other practices in our learning community? What are they?
• How can we draw our community in and help them understand we need them to do this work?

Next Steps for Us

• Relationship to self – understanding ourselves as learners – is one of the key components of relationships and a gateway to personalization. What supports can we put into place that make relationship to self – self-awareness – an intentional core experience of being a learner in Salisbury, whether young or old?
• Look at our Profile of a Graduate and identify competencies in various areas – such as the nine program areas.
• Determine which practices best support learning in the context of our Profile of a Graduate and learning beliefs.

In Episode 22, we learn about learner-centered education in the Fraser Public Schools. Superintendent, David Richards, along with learners Emily Ruebelman and Julia Wallace shared stories that highlight learning in Fraser. a school district of over 5,000 students located in Macomb County, Michigan. The District is currently in the process of implementing a competency based education model across all grade levels which will allow students to progress through their academic experience based upon demonstration of proficiency in each of the subject areas.

Key Competency

Learner-centered leaders provide learners with new opportunities. While this can be difficult and very different from traditional learning, leaders can open a new realm of possibilities.

Takeaways

We started the conversation by asking the learners to share three words to describe their learning. The learners described their learning as engaging, well-rounded, valuable, new, personalized, and open. Because the learning is competency-based, learners see the value in learning. Because the learning is personalized, the learning is self-paced and different for each learner. Learners may be more receptive to this kind of learning environment because they appreciate being co-creators.

What does personalized learning/competency-based learning look like in Fraser? It is difficult to personalize learning without making it personal. The District is driven by a system that allows every child to proceed at his/her own pace toward mastery. Learners in a learner-centered environment need to persevere. Learners need to learn, monitor their learning, and re-learn. The focus is on mastery and proficiency instead of having learning be fixed around time or the school year. Can they create a system which allows every child to advance at their pace?  “This is not a one and done environment.”  Some students need more time, and other students need less. While learning in Fraser still has community and social emotional components, the grade levels become more blurred.  

Students have the opportunity to have 1:1 time with teachers in a seminar. During seminar, students have diverse opportunities for their learning. Sometimes the learners need individualized time with teachers during the seminars in order to master content. There are also seminars for clubs and other activities (student council, peer-to peer, band). Learners may also use the seminar time for collaboration in the media center.

Technology makes personalization more convenient and efficient. In addition to getting extra practice, students can also accelerate. Teachers build content in the learning management system, and students can access the resources. Having this learning management system has given more control to the learners. Teachers have transformed by letting go of control of content in the LMS. Students appreciate that they can accelerate and move at their own pace.Even learners as young as 3rd or 4th grade understand they can create an individual path and move on to new content when they are ready.

Learners shared some challenges in this new system. Self-motivation can be a challenge for students. Learners have to learn new skills to manage the choices in a more personalized learning environment. Learners need to own the learning, and that can be a challenge.

Memorable learning experiences included a student-selected inquiry project as well as respectful, safe class discussions. Students relate content to their world and their personal values. Real-world connections are a norm.  

Learners are leaders in Fraser. Learners need to take initiative and understand growth. Because they are responsible for their own learning, they need to have their own drive and devotion.  Students are required to persevere throughout the competency-based learning process.  Learners trust learners during these discussions and group collaborations.

Thinking about advice for learners and leaders…Today’s learners have grown up with technology and are learning differently than students in the past. We need to be open to the new changes and adaptations so today’s learners are different. The heavy lift is creating flexible environments where learning is the focus. Learner voice is critical as we look at how we will redesign schools. Leaders need to rethink, redesign, and take back the conversation!

Connections to Practice

• Our learners are different from the learners when many of our staff members started teaching. Do we all understand our Generation Z learners?
• We have some opportunities for learners to earn college credit through dual enrollment and specific programs. Additionally, we are piloting an internship program this spring.
• We need a clear profile of what it takes to graduate. Students need to have the 4Cs. They need to be equipped with how to learn and relearn, They need to have grit and get through learning struggles. They also need to uncover their passions. How do we help people to do this?
• In Fraser, learners are leaders. Certainly our elementary students view themselves as leaders largely due to the Leader in Me.  Do all of our secondary students view themselves as leaders?
• Releasing control is necessary to release agency. What are our challenges in releasing control? How do we help learners and the adults manage choices?

Questions Based on Our Context

• How would students benefit if they could set their own pace?
• How do our students have the opportunity to develop inquiry projects?
• How do we provide authentic audiences for our students?
• How can we embed college experiences?
• How can we be courageous enough to provide opportunities so all learners have a personalized path?
• How do we balance the struggle of covering content for the test and ensuring each student reaches competency in a given skill?
• When is self-motivation addressed? Before an implementation or during?

Next Steps for Us

• Engage in conversations with learners about their experiences in our schools.  Do they view themselves as leaders? Do they own their learning?
• Engage in conversations with our leaders. What components of the Profile of a Graduate and Learning Beliefs do they have a deep understanding of? What support do they and our teachers need to understand better? What are the best ways they see to build that capacity which will lead to greater opportunities for our learners?