Have you ever attended a professional meeting and wondered if any real change will result? I know I have left meetings with that very question lingering in my mind far more often than I would like to admit. After having an opportunity to reflect on a recent meeting of superintendents and assistant superintendents, I could not help but think that there appeared to be a lack of urgency for change in the room. I honestly did not know if it was the reality or merely my perception. What I did know is that few, if any, of the high schools in our state appear to be much different from the industrial model for which they were designed. Why is that? The standards movement? Structural barriers resulting from socially unjust practices connected to class and race? Is it fear of change or Yong Zhao's (2012) application of Ehlrich's Evolutionary Hangover to the world of education? I am not certain that we will ever determine one root cause, as the cause is likely a convergence of numerous political and social factors. The question we are left with then, is can we create the changes necessary to meet the needs of all students? I believe that we can, but I do not think that any one individual can do it alone.
Feeling disconnected after the meeting, I decided to find out if I was alone in my thinking. Fortunately, I found a core group of leaders from my state who were very interested in examining the system of high schools within our districts. At our first meeting, we asked ourselves the following question: Are the high schools in our districts meeting the needs of all students? We then committed to engaging in a cross-district action research project to examine this question. Even more importantly, we committed to engage in transformational change based upon our findings. Our research and reforms will not happen overnight. We recognize that we will face many internal and external challenges. However, we know that this work is the right work for our students and their futures.
Our first task this summer is to engage in a joint study of the literature, research, and examples of high schools designed to meet the needs of students in the 21st Century. We plan to cull the best practices and lessons learned from these texts, as we simultaneously develop and conduct our in-district action research.
Our second task is to apply small, incremental changes to our systems that can begin this transformation. In the next post, I will discuss the Trojan Horse changes that emerge as a result of our early work.
References
Zhao, Y. (2012). World class learners: Educating creative and entrepreneurial students. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.
Feeling disconnected after the meeting, I decided to find out if I was alone in my thinking. Fortunately, I found a core group of leaders from my state who were very interested in examining the system of high schools within our districts. At our first meeting, we asked ourselves the following question: Are the high schools in our districts meeting the needs of all students? We then committed to engaging in a cross-district action research project to examine this question. Even more importantly, we committed to engage in transformational change based upon our findings. Our research and reforms will not happen overnight. We recognize that we will face many internal and external challenges. However, we know that this work is the right work for our students and their futures.
Our first task this summer is to engage in a joint study of the literature, research, and examples of high schools designed to meet the needs of students in the 21st Century. We plan to cull the best practices and lessons learned from these texts, as we simultaneously develop and conduct our in-district action research.
Our second task is to apply small, incremental changes to our systems that can begin this transformation. In the next post, I will discuss the Trojan Horse changes that emerge as a result of our early work.
References
Zhao, Y. (2012). World class learners: Educating creative and entrepreneurial students. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.