Designing for the future: Key Components for a 21st Century School

Allison Zmuda, Facilitatorzmuda@competentclassroom.com

An innovator in your midst

National level conference this past summer

Garnered respect from leaders from Partnership for 21st century skills

Developed an interface for evaluation around the MILE guide

Who is it????

Six steps to becoming a 21st century school system

1. Increasing awareness2. Assessing your current state3. Narrowing to a manageable number

of skills4. Planning5. Implementation6. Evaluation and continuous

improvement

Goals for this session

1) create context-specific definitions for whichever skills a district has decided to begin with

2) create the [context specific] continua

3) develop a plan to conduct a gap analysis comparing present lessons, units, etc. to the continua that were developed

4) improve the quality of assessments

The world changed. Have schools?

21st century student learning

Instructional coreWhat are pervasive problems in each of these three areas?

TEACHER CONTENT

STUDENT

Richard Elmore, et. al. Instructional Rounds

Eliminating the buffer: Are students prepared for college?

Only about 35% of students who entered four-year colleges seeking a bachelor’s degree in 1998 had earned their degree four years later

Only 56% had graduated six years later-- David Conley, Standards for Success

Eliminating the buffer:Are students prepared to enter the workforce?

84% of employers say K-12 schools are not doing a good job of preparing students for the workplace

55% say schools are deficient in preparing students with basic employability skills

51% cite math and science deficiencies 38% cite reading and comprehension

deficiencies-- Findings reported in 2005 Survey of National

Association of Manufacturers

Copyright Zmuda 2009 8

Eliminating the BufferThe reality of contemporary times

The most notable feature of the new labor market, as just about everyone agrees, is that people don’t stay tied to companies anymore. Americans now change jobs on average every 3.5 years—a figure that has been declining steadily for every age group; and workers in their twenties switch jobs on average every 1.1 years, according to 2001 figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

--- Richard Florida

Eliminating the buffer:American students are not as competitive as they need to be (according to our own self-assessments)

“The skills of the workforce will increasingly be the defining characteristic that determines the extent to which an economy can develop and exploit new technologies and compete in the global marketplace. Knowledge workers in every industry require high-level cognitive skills for managing, interpreting, validating, transforming, communicating and acting on information.”

-- 2004 RAND ReportCopyright Zmuda 2009 10

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Eliminating the buffer21st century skills survey

80% of voters say that the kind of skills students need to learn to be prepared for the jobs of the 21st century is different from what they needed 20 years ago. 88% of voters say they believe that schools can and should incorporate 21st century skills such as critical thinking and problem-solving skills, computer and technology skills, and communication and self-direction skills into their curriculum. 66% of voters say they believe that students need more than just the basics of reading, writing and math; schools also need to incorporate a broader range of skills. 53% say they believe schools should place an equal emphasis on 21st century skills and basic skills.

Copyright Zmuda 2009 12

Eliminating the Buffer:Students need to move away from the traditional assignments.

“Just as the Web has empowered students to undermine pointless, rote ‘research assignments’ through copy-and-paste masterpieces, the new WWW shifts learning power to the students themselves. When the world of information explodes beyond what one head can hold, who decides what gets into that head? When students can demonstrate their learning in a persuasive essay, a sardonic blog, a moving short film, a robust wiki entry or a humorous podcast, why would we demand deadening conformity? The new WWW may do us all a favor and put assembly-line education out of its misery.”

-- T. March

Copyright Zmuda 2009 13

Eliminating the Buffer: More technology and resources does not result in higher achievement.

“Schools have conflated technology use with instructional quality and student engagement with improved learning and higher-order thinking. In all the excitement about new ways of teaching with technology, we educators may have neglected to pose the most fundamental question: Are students really learning?”

-- M. Burns

Copyright Zmuda 2009 14

Eliminating the Buffer: More technology and resources does not result in higher achievement.

“Laptops tend to amplify what is already taking place in schools. Whatever a school is doing well, it can probably do better with laptops. By the same token though, if a school is seriously troubled with discipline problems or unfocused instruction, laptops may amplify those difficulties by giving students a new means for off-task behavior and teachers a new tool for keeping students busy rather than teaching them. Laptops will make a good school better, but they won’t make a bad school good.”

-- M. Warschauer

Eliminating the BufferHow engaging is high school?

Two out of three respondents (67% in each year) are bored at least every day in class in high school.

Approximately half of the students (51% in 2007, 50% in 2008) are bored every day.

Approximately one out of every six students (16% in 2007, 17% in 2008) are bored in every class.

Only 2% in each year report never being bored.E. Yazzie-Mintz (2009). Engaging the Voices of

Students

What’s wrong?

More than four out of five cited a reason for their boredom as “Material wasn’t interesting” (83% in 2007, 82% in 2008).

About two out of five students (41% in each year) claimed that the lack of relevance of the material caused their boredom.

About one-third of the students (33% in 2007, 32% in 2008) were bored because “Work wasn’t challenging enough.”

Just over one-fourth (27% in each year) of respondents were bored because “Work was too difficult.”

More than one-third of respondents (35% in each year) were bored due to “No interaction with teacher.”

E. Yazzie-Mintz (2009). Engaging the Voices of Students

Is this really what we want?

Failure becomes a bad word and is to be avoided at all costs.

Giving the teacher what he or she wants is critical if you want to get good grades.

Questions are good only if they are on topic.

Developing good ideas must be done in accordance with the directions.

Daniel Pink

“We’re bribing students into compliance instead of challenging them into engagement.”

Instructional coreWhat are pervasive problems in each of these three areas?

TEACHER CONTENT

STUDENT

Richard Elmore, et. al. Instructional Rounds

What are the pervasive problems in these areas?

5-10 minute brainstorm5 minutes to whittle it down to less than six

Content (based on a regional conversation)

Too much content – needs to be more clear about essential learnings and 21st century skills

Subject areas are in silos – don’t have opportunities to make connections or apply learning

Pacing of content is too fast Overreliance on traditional and/or

superficial assessments

Teacher (based on a regional conversation)

Attitudes about 21st century skills as it relates to teaching to the test

Teacher contract/time Physical setup of classroom design How teachers learn Differentiation of instruction i.e. time,

materials, human resources Horizontal & Vertical discussions

between grade-levels (getting people together)

Student (based on a regional conversation)

Lack of relevance and motivation Students feel defined by their

deficits Lack of self reflection Unwilling to fail/learn from mistakes Traditional schooling—geared toward

the industrial revolution as opposed to 21st century learning

How much has actually changed?

“The core of schooling remains relatively stable in the face of massive changes in the structure around it. Schools legitimize themselves with their various conflicting publics by constantly changing external structures and processes, but shield their workers from any fundamental impact of these changes by leaving their core intact. This accounts for the resilience of practice within the context of constant institutional change.”

- Richard Elmore

The challenge ahead for schools

Kurt Fischer (2008) of Harvard University’s Mind, Brain and Education Institute

“We are not brains disembodied in the bucket sitting in the corner. And likewise, we don't learn by having information stuck into our brains. It doesn't work that way. We have to learn more actively than that. So it is not true that you can plug the world into the brain and thereby know everything. Instead, knowledge has to built.”

What learners needConference Board, Corporate Voices for Working Families, Partnership for 21st Century Skills, The Society for Human Resource Management

Critical thinking / Problem solving Information Technology Application Teamwork / Collaboration Creativity / Innovation Diversity

What learners needGlobal Achievement Gap (Tony Wagner)

Critical thinking and Problem Solving Collaboration Agility and Adaptability Initiative and Entrepreneurship Effective Oral and Written

Communication Accessing and Analyzing information

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What do 21st century skills really mean?

Push for reform from the outside in Cannot be done in addition to status

quo Rethinking and imagining required to

come up with a viable definition

What do 21st century skills really mean?

CREATIVITY AND INNOVATION Ability to synthesize to come up with

combinations that are new and useful Self-assurance, self confidence Ability to take risks Breaking or stretching generally accepted

rules Passionate interest -- the work is enjoyable Tolerance for disruption to existing patterns

of thought and life Largely driven by intrinsic motivation

1) create context-specific definitions

Look at the three sets here Look at the samples in the slides Come up with your “right answer” (HINT: THIS IS THE EASY PART! It will

be uphill from here….)

2) create the [context specific] continua

Identify a good model for each skill HINT: Don’t reinvent the wheel. HINT: You may pick and choose from

each of the three examples. HINT: Keep in mind it should get

progressively harder (both the level of the task and the level of performance).

Unpacking 21st century language

Criteria: Is it framed in terms of a learning

goal? (What the learners will accomplish NOT how the system works)

Is it framed in language that is measurable?

Is the language clear enough to give the necessary leverage to improve teaching practice and system effectiveness?

Powerful goalDeveloped in Virginia Beach, VA

Powerful goalDeveloped in Newport News, VA

NOVICE PROFICIENT EXEMPLARY

EMERGING

Powerful goalDeveloped in consultation with OCM BOCES

Information and media literacyAccess and evaluate information and sources critically; apply

information to complete the task in an ethical and legal mannerNOVICE PROFICI

ENTEXEMPLARY

EMERGING

3) develop a plan to conduct a gap analysis comparing present lessons, units, etc. to the continua that were developed

Use the continua as the benchmark Not good enough to “fit it” – stay

true to the language Look for areas of “weird-ness” –

don’t assume that students aren’t capable….somebody is already doing it

Immediate problems with gap analysis

It is difficult to measure the full scope of the standards.

Teachers will be instantly over-budget in terms of instructional time and assessment fatigue.

This cannot be done in addition to what teachers are already expected to do.

4) improve the quality of assessments

Transfer requires… Tasks with minimal cues and

scaffolding, Learning how to adapt, grapple

with new or unfamiliar elements, uses, or obstacles

The goal of schooling

Transfer of learning is the cornerstone upon which education should ultimately rest. In its broadest sense, transfer of learning is basic to the whole notion of schooling. If there is no transfer at all, students will need to be taught specifically every act that they will ever perform in any situation [which is impossible]. (Bigge & Shermis, 1992).

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Key questions for consideration

What are the key representative complex challenges spanning a field of study? What are the various challenges we

expect successful people to be able to handle?

What does it mean to “do” the subject? What are the representative tasks?

Think: the decathlon in each subject area

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Multidisciplinary assessment tasks

Problem/Solution- Identifies and defines a problem and generates a possible solutions (or solution paths), evaluates the viability of each solution, and offers a recommendation.

Inquiry/Investigation- Systematically develop questions and pursue an explanation/pattern based on, but not limited to, known information.

Source/Comparative Analysis- Analyze data, information, artifacts, and/or textual evidence to develop an explanation, interpretation, and/or determine impact.

Critique/Self-Analysis- Evaluate a given text, performance, or problem based on established criteria

Debate, Panel, Role Play- Present and participate in a debate, panel, or role play to provide information, gain insight and/or promote a particular point of view

Multidisciplinary assessment tasks

Performance / Product - Generate a performance/product using visual, multimedia, sound, writing, and /or speech to demonstrate understanding and/or communicate creative intent

Modeling/Simulation- Given a model or set of criteria/data/experiences, create representations to illustrate/predict outcomes or to deepen understanding

Correspondence/Interviews- Appropriately communicates and/or responds to an idea, point of view, concern, request or proposal to an audience to achieve a desired result

Persuasive statement- Develop an argument/artifact using supporting information and persuasive techniques to promote a particular point of view and/or cause action

Portfolio/Reflection- Collect work over time to demonstrate mastery in one or more modes of expression/College, Career, Citizen-Ready skills, reflect on growth, and/or set goals

Linking it to 21st century skills

Based on your drafted 21st century skills, how does this correlate to the ten performance assessments?

What is missing? (skills or assessments)

What is redundant?

In your teams

Look at the “ten” assessment vehicles. What’s missing? Where are there areas of

redundancy? Is it attractive to multiple disciplines?