This topic takes the theme: SMALL SCHOOLS, EFFECTIVE SCHOOLS http://www.wiredbrain.net/ A building is not a school. It can be made into many schools. Teachers in one-room schoolhouses almost never lectured. These teachers knew that there wasn't much they could say simultaneously to a roomful of kids of different ages and stages of learning. So teachers moved from one group of two or three students to another. Because they couldn't spend much time with any group, they usually assigned some work to each, making sure that the group had a pretty good idea of how to proceed. Periodically the teacher would return to each group to make sure the work was being done correctly and to offer more help where it was needed. And teachers frequently asked students who'd mastered a particular task to help those who were still struggling to learn it. What one-room teachers did out of necessity -- avoid teacher talk and get kids to learn on their own or in small groups -- is actually a superior way of getting them to learn (Shanker in Fiske, 1991, p. 90). (Goodlad, 1984) offers an in-depth examination of 38 elementary, junior high, and high schools. Goodlad and his associates determined that these schools were representative of contemporary American education. The author details findings and offers restructuring plans. A major aspect of these plans is the multiage nongraded approach. Multiage nongraded grouping in American education offers a framework where quality can be found through development of uniquely appropriate strategies. Quality is realizing the potential within an environment. Choice in District 4 Quality was the concern in Community School District 4, East Harlem, New York. Choice developed as a way to improve education of inner-city students. Almost all students are members of minority groups. There is a high poverty level. Test scores of District 4 in the early 1970's were lowest or almost the lowest of all 32 school districts of New York City. Superintendent Anthony Alvarado gave teachers and administrators opportunities and authority to improve education in their classes by devising their own programs. They then received resources to "turn their ideas into little schools" (Fiske, 1991, p. 181). Students and parents who shared their vision could choose to attend a particular school. In 1974 Deborah Meier with 100 children opened Central Park East Elementary School. The school served grades K-2 only. Children who attended came because their parents chose the school. Central Park East uses child-centered approaches to learning and stresses content, thinking, experimenting, discussion, research, and writing. Dramatic success of the school gave rise to two others, Central Park East II and River East. Central Park East Secondary School, part of Ted Sizer's Coalition of Essential Schools, opened in 1985. The 50 District 4 schools include alternative, bilingual, and theme schools. All began as small schools. Rather than grow larger, popular schools were copied in new locations. "Less is Better" is the district belief. "Fewer students per school and classroom, less bureaucracy, and less top-down management make up their reform formula. [Says Mrs. Meier,] `Small schools are not the answer, but without them none of the proposed answers stands a chance'" (Fiske, 1991, p. 184). Small schools seem to be happy schools. They tend to have high levels of participation, cooperation, and coordination. Students in small schools are likely to spend time on task, learn good study habits, and become self- reliant. Structure of the school requires high levels of participation by all students. Standardized test scores appear to be at least equal to larger schools, holding SES constant. Small school structure offers greater opportunity for educational quality. Some reasons are discussed below. Quality in Education PROBLEM: 10% or less High School graduates ready for college (N.A.E.P. 1). It is clear we have an educational problem on our hands involving all students. As Jack Bowsher, the former educational director at IBM said; if 25% of production is broken during manufacture and if 90% don't work 80% of the time (72% defect rate) the company would have to rethink the entire production process.. (2) This is the 30-40% "drop-outs" and the disfunctional (less than 5th grade) reading and math skills of the public high schools. The way we see the problem is the problem (See Stephen Covey in Seven Habits of Effective People). We have created a group of young people 14 -18 without effective alternatives. Many could benefit from apprenticeships, co-op education, or just drop the leaving age to 14 as the traditional age of becoming a young adult. Social creations such as the comprehensive high-school become social problems, then new social creations such as Youth Services and Corrections are developed to take care of the problem caused by the original institution. The AWDA (Disabilities Act) has vastly expanded the learning disables, ADD, etc because the children that haven't learned then become the problem not the system that help create them. (Association for Direct Instruction). It also pays. Our students lack cognitive skills and practical thinking abilities. They have not been asked or put in situations where they think in extended ways (3). The educational process needs to change as much as General Motors did in the creation of the SATURN plant. The message is largely in the process and methods. If we expect Z type students we must create a new system. (William G. Ouchi, Theory Z How American Business can meet the Japanese Challenge) 1981. The survival of the nation as a competitive culture is seriously questioned. For example a recent want-ad for a production worker at Motorola uses the following job description; (Fortune, Dec 17, 1990) The worker is expected to understand the process involved in production. (What is going on here) Think of alternatives -collect information Design and conduct experiments; Analyze data from small scale research - try changes - check for consequences - (Deming p 4) " On most days fewer than 10 students will be working hard, the rest do little more that sit there (if they bother to come). If you ask the idle students why they are not working, they will tell you that work is boring, they don't need it, and no one cares what they think. (5) Public schools grew up with the factory system. Scientific managerial practice suggested division of labor into separate units; division of time marked by bells. Rows of desks were attached to floors. Textbooks were divided into units. One reason for compulsary education was to make American out of immigrant children. Teachers, standing before the class, covered material in specified segments of time. Students, seated in fixed desks, all "learned" in standard fashion. The advent of school busses -- "with comfortable seats, heaters, windows, and front and rear doors" (Covert, 1928, p. 2) -- and paved roads encouraged consolidation of small schools into larger factory-like buildings. Scientific management encouraged standardized testing as an accurate measure of educational effectiveness. Because of lack of documentation, we will never know if or how effective one- room nongraded schools were. During the early part of the twentieth century a prejudice evolved-- one-room schools lacked the latest in fashion and the latest in facilities. There was much local control of one-room schools. Consolidation reflected political power as well as educational and managerial theory of the times. Education concerns character and thinking. Many educators have long been uncomfortable with the factory system of schooling and its large impersonal bureaucratic organization. Education is personal and moral. With the economy moving away from factories into information processing, old style industry is disappearing. Eighty percent of employment today is in small business and information processing. Schooling has always followed the leading economic institutions of the period. Education now is dealing with down-sizing, decentralizing, school-based management, and other ideas currently fashionable in the industrial world. As Dewey was the prophet of post-industrial management styles, he was keenly aware of human and moral dimensions of education. The connection of thinking with doing, of learning with practice is critical in modern information- processing businesses. It is equally critical in education. Small is beautiful. Less is more. Fix the System American schooling faces a serious systems problem. Deming urges business and industrial management to fix the system, not the blame. Students must be viewed as workers, not products to be processed. "The traditional model of schooling is . . . incompatible with the idea that students are workers, that learning must be active, and that children learn in different ways and at different rates" (Shanker, 1990, p. 350). Too many American schools today remain based on the factory model where employees produce piecework and scientific managerial principles are administrative guidelines. Small Schools and Educational Quality In a small school quality is easier to accomplish. With fewer students and fewer disruptions, teachers can focus on children. With teacher cycling and multiage nongraded grouping a learning community evolves. Students cannot merely lean on their shovels. They must be involved in their own learning. Good or great education can happen anywhere. Smaller school size is not the entire answer to America's present educational dilemma, but it is a viable place to start. For size to help significantly, schools must become small enough for people to know each other well. Small schools offer opportunities for development of stable, caring learning communities. Today America has about 8500 small nonpublic schools and about 1000 one-room public schools. Evidence suggests these schools are interesting and worthy of further study. Small schools and small sailboats are reminders of our simpler past. Small schools involve a human connection of teachers and children. Small sailboats involve a spiritual connection of sailors and surroundings. Supertankers on autopilot involve a disconnection of thinking and doing. Edward B. Fiske argues . . . the time for tinkering with the current system of public education is over. After a decade of trying to make the system work better by such means as more testing, higher salaries, and tighter curriculums, we must now face up to the fact that anything short of fundamental structural change is futile. . . . . American public schools grew up around an early industrial model that has outlived its usefulness in education as well as in the industry that created it. The renewal of public education in this country requires nothing less than a frontal assault on every aspect of schooling -- the way we run districts, organize classrooms, use time, measure achievement, assign students, relate schools to their surroundings, and hold people accountable. Trying to get more learning out of the current system is like trying to get the Pony Express to compete with the telegraph by breeding faster ponies (Fiske, 1991, p. 14-15). A major helpful educational reform is simply making schools smaller -- MUCH smaller. Educational Reform - Its' not difficult! IG's and BRIGADES - Easy and fun, you can raise productivity 50% within a year and 100% in a few years - then the sky the limit. The best guides I know are Fiske (Edward) Smart Schools Smart Kids and Goodlad (John) High School This is based on District #4 in NYC.. See Wiseman file High Schools II and Sizers More Effective Schools (If you are for real which I doubt because no one can be in CHARGE of reform - it has to be an collective effort A process - continuious improvemnet - see Deming papers on http://gold.doi.com and ftp:/205.245.0.203 All you want to know about school reform but were afraid to ask The Florida State Dept of Education and US DE have What Works guides that are not bad... On the first teacher day of the school year, the staff assemble in the gym. Everyone takes a short opinion instrument measuring ( from 1 to 5 on a scale from 1. strongly agree - 2. agree 3. no opinion 4. disagree 5. strongly disagree) their opinion on 20 question like these: 1. The must be order before freedom? 2. I must plan my activities. 3. I go only by the facts - concrete information. 4. There must be structure in every organization - that means someone in charge. 5. New conditions and change bother me. 6. It's its not broke - don't fix it. 7. I am materialist......idealist are out-of-it 8. conservative.....liberal are zoos 9. practical....experiment has no place here 10. tough.....easy going people let things go too far 11. stick to your subject... 12. don't push me...what I do is enough of a challenge, etc. 13. I only teach my subject....I don't need new subjects and methods 14. I like the school the way it is.... 15. Some student learn - other can't or won't....every child can't learn some subjects. 16. The rules protect us...the structure doesn't limit us 17. The authorities should take the responsibility... 18. Not my job man.....I can only do so much 19. Look out for #1......or no one will 20. This is stupid...... When everyone has a score from 20 to 100, and are asked to line up in order of their scores. Count off groups of 4 to 7, the ideal size is five. Groups (IG for Instructional Groups or some other name such as fellowship, order, band, association etc could be used) are formed depending on any breaks in the numbers. The low scores are those that need order and patterns, the higher numbers those that are more adventure-some. ( The Gregorc and Keirsey temperament sorter could be used but are more complex and uncertain. The Myers-Briggs first dimension is thinking (TJIS) to feeling (FPEI) but this is not simple and I don't think it works as well.) Each (IG) group is now stable for the term or year or for ever. It gives it self a positive name (Achievement Place, Success House, etc.) and selects a temporary leader. People can be put out of groups, or decide to leave, but it becomes their responsibility to find another (IG) group that will have them or form a new (IG) group of exiles. These IG's have a place to meet and keep supplies. Every subject is broken up into subjects, weekly assignments, projects, tasks, and other activities. Groups work on all subjects together. There maybe all Language Arts or Science in a IG, or any mixture. Their activities will focus on what they know and like. They (IG's) develop a message and a mission. They take a name and a leader. When the students arrive each IG has a table (like the old college registration process) and the students (with their parents) apply to several groups. The groups have an admission policy and select the students for their programs. (Like District # 4 in East Harlem ). Groups need to be balanced by race and achievement in a general sense. Students not selected will be assigned by a random number process. Groups could be stable for years like a one-room schoolhouse. The school building is divided by color codes and other signs that this area is IG "x", the school-in-school name is clearly displayed. Outside facilities could also be used - community centers - churches - business locations. This method can applied to elementary, middle, high school, community college, University or any learning organization, class, training activity or task or association. The students in each IG are broken up the same way as the teachers were (different questions, same idea) into Study Groups (SG's, or BRIGADES) and work with their IG of teachers as their home-base. SGs of students (called BRIGADES) should be of different ages, abilities, and interests. There is little as possible administration, the rule being everything that can be delegated to the IG's should be. The IGs report their results on a regular basis. A presentation and point system is used. 5= creative, gone the extra mile above and beyond required, 4= very good to excellent, everything required, 3= sound work, but lacking something, style, form, appearance counts, grammar, paragraphs, typing etc 2= not very good , try again, this is not the best you can do, lack of interest and character 1= didn't really try - sloppy - minimum effort. These scores are multiplied by the difficulty (like in diving) or the amount of work (estimated hours) required. A activity that takes 8 hours is worth 4 points x quality index or .5 credit per hour, from 4, (4x1) to 16 (4x4) depending on quality. Scores are kept on a Lotus123 spread sheet. I use activities of all the same size which makes it simpler. The reports, science demonstrations, theater or video productions, journals, portfolios, exhibitions, newsletters and Creative writing little magazines, et al are scored with points. Grades are given on the basis of points earned, with or without traditional tests unless you want them for points again. A 3 hour subject is about 15 activities (5 points each plus bonus points, attendance points, etc. for a total of about 113 for an A). I don't give grades students earn them. It's a lot better that way. There is no required normal distribution, more that half can get A, but that is up to you and your IG. A project may earn points in Social Studies, History, English, Science and Math. The study (and action) on bike trails, the Slave Trade, 16th Century Theater, Video arts and information, The Technology and Social effects of Space travel, Global Classroom, the Model UN, International Studies, rivers and lakes, forest and fields, food production and distribution, banking or business, etc. etc..Networks are critical to the future classroom and not expensive. The instructional IGs hold a fair where all the students, parents and community can see their work. They recruit new members by application. They develop a theme and philosophy for their IG's and Brigades. The use of mixed-detachments for special projects could include members from several IG's. A student brigade may take all subjects from their home instructional IG, (if they include all subjects) or the teacher IGs may exchange science for language instruction with another IG, i.e. you take my brigade in Science and we will take yours in Social Studies/English 10 hr a week . Each student must have the state required subjects by these IG exchanges or using consultants. A average IG would be five teachers and 80 students. (16:1) This ratio is important and can be achieved without additional cost by reductions in administrative overhead and supervision and use of aides and volunteers. Since the central idea is self-management by the IGs themselves, freedom and responsibility, they need resources but not supervision on a regular basis. They could do advisement and special education, attendance and other paperwork with part-time help. Purchasing could be done on the discount market using a credit card. IG's should have their own phone, copy center, computer and office space, as if they were professional CPA's or lawyers, or engineers. The central administration is overseen by a policy committee of IG leaders, parents, community and outside consultants. The system is performance based and those IGs that preform are left alone or helped, those IGs who need and accept help get what help they need. Those IGs that can't be helped are broken up and reformed. There is no doubt test score will incease at least 1.5 years for each year of time. There will be fewer in any discipline problems, absenteeism, vandalism, crime, etc. The IGs should have uniforms (teachers and students) - the ratio should be worked down to 12:1 by reassigning most professional non-classroom staff to teaching in the classroom and cuts in central office costs. In-service money is given directly to the IGs, there is no need for area superintendents, subject matter specialist, discipline committees, etc. etc. All these activities could be purchased by the IGs on the open market. Even busing, maintenance services, library services, media centers etc could be by contract via the computer network. Central evaluation maybe needed but open records and performance means that parents can select IGs that work and avoid IGs they don't like. This is the best evaluation. IGs will want to show they preform by doing testing, demonstrations and promotion. Much of this could be on-line. There should be a least three levels of teachers, master teacher, and head teacher. Some programs can be offered by "consultants" in art, drama, video arts and sciences, foreign language, sports etc. It is nor hard, its fun, it will work better (heavens knows what we have been doing is not working very well) it is less expensive. There is almost no administration - everyone - teacher IGs and student Brigades are self governing. It can start with the current curriculum and move to new subject organization over time. It is important that the IG's are connected by networks and computers. Staff and students should have home computers. WEEK 3: RUTS & CREATIVITY: CREATIVITY: You and others. Perceptions are associated with STYLES. What you see depends on your experience and feelings. Different people see the same things in different ways. They experience the world in distinctive ways. These habits have been learned. The idea is to increase awareness of "rut" or habits and begin to break out so that you can understand yourself and others. Journal: Tell stories using articles from newspaper, experience outside of class - movies, T.V., other books and reading in other classes. Give real work examples of "rut" and habits, taste and traditions. What have you found out about yourself and others. Can you use the information is being more effective in getting and giving information. Journal review of perceptions. How is what you see influenced by culture and training. What impact does visualization have upon problem solving? WEEK 3: RUTS- CREATIVITY Sociology Chapter 3 (Japan and Information AGAIN on week 7) and 4 Culture Korea Society Social Science CHAPTER 1 (AGAIN from week 1) Chapter 3 Life in Groups Men and stress. Humans become human by training. People learn their role and "how to behave" from the social system - families, schools, churches and other institutions. This is tradition, folkways, customs, morals, totem and taboo. Gemeinshafts are small village and clan systems where people are individuals within a semi-closed society. Gesellschafts are complex modern societies which become impersonal. People become roles and function, rules are semi-rational and technical, and there is more competition, exchange and conflict. Information processing - setting goals and objectives (sub-goals) - knowing where to find information; ordering the vast amounts of data (good, poor, and terrible) into a useful system, looking for alternatives, and making choices based on facts and reasoned risks is the critical survival skills of today and tomorrow. We start with creativity because first we have to look out side the ruts we are all in. Social systems and traditions are both guides and ruts. If you are lost its sometimes a good idea to follow in the ruts of others and hope they know where they are going - but sometimes its a good idea to look up and set your own goals based on your own vision. First we need to pay attention. Open our eyes! What is going on here? What do we do when we don't know what to do? See # 10 Being Human THINKING The class is designed to improve thinking skills. The way students learn these skills is by making connections between the chapter and the activity. Then in their journals they can make the relationship to their lives in the real world. Often, students say in their journals that they do not see the connections. In the same group others have excellent ideas about what are the relationships. Why don't they talk to each other? I try to explain the connections but some just don't get it. The groups need to talk, because someone will have a great idea. Learning is a process where the group shares ideas. This is not done enough in school. People have little experience in working in groups and really talking to each other. When people get practice in thinking and sharing ideas, it can take off. Therefore, the group practice in finding connections is central to the whole class. If the teacher just tells you something it doesn't seem to stick - it doesn't register as a really useful idea. If you and your group come up with ideas they are meaningful to you and they work for you in your life. It makes a much stronger impression. Groups can reward new ideas and support creative thinking. Group process can be very rewarding. The workbook requires students to make connections between the chapter in the textbook, and activity and their daily lives. Problem solving skills can be learned in practice. The technique of making connections between ideas that on the surface seem different is the heart of the creative process. The old type schools trained people for the "X" type factory. This education is out of sink with the new world of work. Cooperative learning in groups is the way of the future. Local employers require skills in thinking and group process. The new world order and "information age" technology requires thinking by most workers. Business must have workers that can work in groups to increase quality, productivity and control costs. The old "X" factory schools are harmful to the skills of students in thinking skills. Remember, the key process is in making connection. You will practice solving problems in a group. This is a very valuable skill in today's job market. The study of social science should include "social Laws". These laws regulate most societies. "Common sense" and universal human "nature" and experience demonstrate certain principles. Order and progress in society requires a balance of individuals, families, larger groups into a whole culture. Symbols and rules to provide a basic structure for human behavior. This behavior must be learned. Proper behavior requires judgment. The rules of society cannot be "proven" but are the most likely understanding of the range of observations and facts. There are rules that almost all societies have followed and there is an objective reality to collective human behavior. In the natural sciences there is a universal understanding of reality that is independent of the observer. Such abstract understanding is difficult in human affairs. The survival and growth of civilization have left us a knowledge of "social laws." There is a clear reason for teaching social laws.