Rowland Foundation

"...site provides information about systems theory and describes an effective way to view school systems - by looking at them as consisting of three domains. Using this perspective can help you simplify the complexity of school systems, adopt multiple ways of viewing them, and better understand the interconnectivity of their various parts. "

I think that as educators we often become so engrossed with opportunities to implement change and our own vision of what that change should look like that we sometimes forget that we need to think systemically. How does our vision fit within the school as a whole? And, when we determine what change is necessary...how do we determine how to implement that change in a sustainable way? Too often we become experts in Programs, but have little understanding of Planning and Process. What do you think? Once we identify the need for change and the means to address that need, how do we make that change happen and stick?

"The KED program is a concept for personalized education. This means that students, with the guidance of their coach, set and work towards their own personal goals, with the ambition of achieving high final results. Students allocate their study time based on their previous educational experience as well as their individual strengths and weaknesses."

"In Swedish, "Kunskapsskolan" means "the knowledge school." Our name is an expression of our passion for providing excellence in learning and knowledge for the next global generation."

"A continuous research and development program identifies correlations and possible common denominators for achieving excellence. In all these key areas - student outcome, student and parent satisfaction, teacher satisfaction and motivation, and financial performance..."

In December 2010, NEA President Dennis Van Roekel created a national, independent commission to study the teaching profession and make recommendations on maximizing teacher and teaching effectiveness. Drawing on the wisdom and experience of accomplished teachers, expert researchers, policymakers, and academicians, the Commission on Effective Teachers and Teaching (CETT) examined the policies and practices governing the teaching profession and crafted a teacher-centered vision of teaching and the teaching profession. On December 8, 2011, CETT presented the NEA with its final report, Transforming Teaching: Connecting Professional Responsibility with Student Learning, which outlines the Commission's vision and recommendations for the teaching profession.

New England Secondary School Consortium's third annual conference for secondary educators to share success stories, exchange best practices, and build momentum for innovations that will prepare all students for success in the colleges, careers, and communities of the 21st century.

WHEN: Thursday + Friday, March 22-23, 2012 WHERE: Four Points by Sheraton in Norwood, Massachusetts WHO: Educators and teams from high schools, charter schools, and technical schools across New England engaged in school improvement COST: $75 per person (includes appetizers, beverages, breakfast, lunch, and materials) PROGRAM: Click HERE to read the session descriptions

"Leadership has several aspects, each of which contributes uniquely to school competence and to school excellence. The current focus in leadership theory and practice provides a limited view, dwelling excessively on some aspects of leadership to the virtual exclusion of others. Unfortunately, these neglected aspects of leadership are linked to excellence-a revelation now unfolding from recent research on school effectiveness and school excellence."

Five leadership forces: Technical derived from sound management techniques Human derived from harnessing available social and interpersonal resources Educational derived from expert knowledge about matters of education and schooling Symbolic derived from focusing the attention of others on matters of importance to the school Cultural derived from building a unique school culture.

Interesting and short bit of writing that hits on my personal beliefs about where the majority of transformational focus should be...simply supporting good teaching.

"Education reform needs a face lift -- one that includes higher standards for entry into the profession and mentor teachers assisting those needing to improve."

Agree about the necessity to pursue improved educational outcomes, yet as with other professions (i.e. doctors & lawyers) 50% finish in the lower half of their class. As with all things educational funding is the sacred cow and asking for higher standards of entry, while a worthy goal, would ultimately fall on the sword of budgets.

"Ever since Finland, a nation of about 5.5 million that does not start formal education until age 7 and scorns homework and testing until well into the teenage years, scored at the top of a well-respected international test in 2001 in math, science and reading, it has been an object of fascination among American educators and policy makers."

"Critics say that Finland is an irrelevant laboratory for the United States. It has a tiny economy, a low poverty rate, a homogenous population - 5 percent are foreign-born -..." Perhaps irrelevant for the US as a whole, but what about for Vermont?

"Dr. Darling-Hammond said. 'Thirty years ago, Finland's education system was a mess. It was quite mediocre, very inequitable. It had a lot of features our system has: very top-down testing, extensive tracking, highly variable teachers, and they managed to reboot the whole system.' "

If we really want to "transform" education we need to stop worrying about if the initiative is going to succeed or fail. Because, as I've said before...there are no failures...only first attempts.I know I post quite a bit...this article, however, has more to teach than most.

"...the most important insight from design thinking was that you have to make sure you've defined the right problem before you try to solve it. So, you act like an anthropologist to understand human needs and problems before jumping to solutions."

"...this shift in mindset requires a different kind of leadership. ... linear analysis for planning and executing when the decision-making information is known, and a discovery mindset when they must use small bets to create the data."

Documents via Sarah Bertucci from the Proficiency Based Graduation Requirement Workshop. Includes documents/pieces from Harwood, Vergennes, Big Picture.

"This is a graph for the ages, and it comes from a presentation by the New Jersey Commissioner of Education given at the NJASA Commissioner's Convocation in Jackson, NJ on Feb 29." Notice of "Selected Schools"

"...reality is that Free/Reduced lunch alone explains about 2/3 of the variation in proficiency rates across schools." We want Education Transformation in Vermont...address this issue alone. Reach this population... This is both the hardest problem and the most obvious...why is our focus not 100% on this issue?

I would love to share with others my work during my sabbatical on the Achievement Gap at Burr and Burton Academy. I am willing to do consulting work for schools in Vermont about how to address poverty in a white, rural state.

"Regardless of the number of years someone has been on the job, anyone can benefit from a coaching experience."

An excellent, more substantive article on Coaching was added by Greg Young back in October. It is worth a second look.Personal Best: Top athletes and singers have coaches. Should you? http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2011/10/03/111003fa_fact_gawande

Great resource on creativity, innovation, and change. Has implications for working with students, professional development, program design and implementation, and more.

Page 10 "Planning for Innovation" could be helpful to the 2012 Fellows.Tables 3 and 4 are great ways to assess the environment for change in any of our schools when "I" is replaced with "we" or "our school".

Google Doc folder containing: Printable Matrix for resources and attributes, Content Curation Digital Gallery - Editable Google Doc 5 Attributes of Content Curation - Infographic 5 Attributes of Content Curation - Clarification/Criteria 6 Degrees of Kevin Bacon Curation - Game for thinking about linking

Thought that this might be a useful tool for those Fellows presenting at our conference on the 27th.

"Specialist High Skills Majors let students focus on a career path that matches their skills and interests while meeting the requirements of the Ontario Secondary School Diploma (OSSD). Students receive the SHSM's seal on their diploma.

While this program is definitely more career based, it could be modified to provide flexibility in what I am calling the "focus area electives"...which can be highly personalized by individual students within the same Focus Area who are career or college bound...or are not quite sure yet of what they want to do after high school.

"People spend about 2500 days of their life in school, time enough to develop an opinion about what was good and bad about their experience. We all know someone who is more than happy to share their stories and subsequent expertise in all things educational; teachers often complain that, almost alone among professionals, they are sitting targets for unsolicited advice on how to do their job."

Dan Rothstein and Luz Santana, authors of the book, Make Just One Change, explain why teaching students to ask their own questions just may revolutionize the classroom. Audio clip.

"The simple shift in practice, from teachers asking questions of students to students learning to generate and improve their own questions, leads to significant cognitive, affective and behavioral changes in students."

Do you teach to inform...or to facilitate learning? jf

To be eligible for a garden grant, applicants must be a ... nonprofit K-12 school that is developing or currently maintaining a school garden project that will help children engage with fresh fruits and vegetables. Garden projects may be at any stage of development; planning, construction or operation."

At the conference there were a number of schools interested in the work being done by Peter and Tom. This might be good "seed" money to start similar programs.