|
Welcome to INNOVATOR, an update on school and district transformation from North Carolina New Schools. Our newsletter aims to inform practitioners, policy makers, and friends of public education on innovation, workforce development, research and success stories from schools, districts and regions across the state. Please contact us to provide feedback and suggest ideas.
|
|
Beyond the grades: Helping schools improve
|
By Frank McKay
Education Innovation Specialist
NC New Schools
 The recent release of school grades across North Carolina has added to the already intense debate about how school quality is measured. Those in favor of the new grading system argue that it gives parents, taxpayers and policymakers a simpler gauge of school effectiveness. Opponents say it's a blunt approach that misses key factors that impact student learning.
At NC New Schools, we see examination of school quality as a means to help schools improve, whether a school is one that would receive an A or an F under the new grading system. When schools improve, students improve. It's really that simple.
With that goal in mind, we've designed an assessment approach in which each school in our network assesses itself each year through the lens of six design principles that we promote as a strong foundation for high quality teaching and learning.
The focus is on the progress schools are making to achieve "best practices" proven by evidence. We want schools to learn how to improve while also measuring how far they've come and how far they need to go. We've now built on that annual review with a new program to recognize innovation and academic excellence in keeping with our design principles.
Read more ...
|
|
Study: Academic gains would lift economy
|
A new study argues that the U.S. economy would see significant growth during the coming decades by closing the nation's achievement gap and raising achievement levels to those of other industrialized nations. The study, from the Washington Center for Equitable Growth, analyzes the potential economic benefits in comparison to other advanced nations within the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) that now outpace the U.S. on the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA).
The chart below shows the growth in the U.S. Gross Domestic Product, or GDP, by 2050 that the study projects would result from stronger academic performance, keyed to three different scenarios:
|
|
Local leader helps promote Bladen initiative
|
Tanya Head is no stranger to ambitious efforts to change education.
 | |
Tanya Head works with Susan Simpson of NC New Schools during a visit to Texas
|
During the mid-1990s, she was a member of one of the first assistance teams deployed by the N.C. Department of Public Instruction to reverse the direction of schools deemed low performing under the state's former ABCs accountability program. She admits she wasn't always greeted with open arms. Assistance teams were often perceived as more punitive than supportive.
Now, as assistant superintendent of curriculum and instruction for Bladen County Schools, Head is helping lead a different type of effort in school transformation - one that is gaining momentum across the state and winning fans among classroom teachers and principals with an approach that builds on educators' talent and strengths. "The idea  that students can earn college credits while in high school and experience a high level of support in that effort is tremendous," Head said. "It's been a game changer for our instructional program and students." After just one full semester of participation in the effort by the county's two high schools, initial results are promising, Head said. Students at both schools enrolled last fall in college courses amounting to 1,300 credit hours, and of those, approximately 90 percent of the students in the courses were successful, district data show. Four of those students enrolled in college courses reflected on their experience at a recent school board meeting. Their message was simple: "This has made me a better student." Read more ...
|
|
Thinking about design helps students think
|
By M. Leslie Snyder EavesNC New Schools Instructional Coach | | M. Leslie Snyder Eaves |
Before becoming a teacher and eventually an instructional coach, I worked as an engineer. My time in engineering left me with an appreciation for what we call "design thinking." Design is about accepting failure as an opportunity to grow and iterating through to a better solution. One resource defines design thinking as, "...a proven and repeatable problem-solving protocol that any business or profession can employ to achieve extraordinary results." Using a design thinking approach in the classroom helps stud  ents develop the skills to think, analyze, and solve problems. Recently, though, I have been struck with the power that design thinking processes hold to scaffold student thinking. I sat down recently with Sharrell Howard, an engineering teacher at a new innovative school in Charlotte, to plan a lesson that would guide students through analyzing their brainstormed ideas where I would model a student-centered instructional strategy. We reflected that students do not come to us knowing how to think the way we want them to think. We expect them to analyze, evaluate, and create; however these thoughts are complex and do not necessarily come naturally to them. We decided to use the Thinking Hats, an approach to giving feedback (a critical step in any design process). The process involves separating the types of feedback (or thinking) into different categories called Thinking Hats.
Read more ...
|
|
"Making" engages students in creating
|
By Rebecca Stanley
Director, Professional Learning
NC New Schools
The 2015 Scaling STEM conference is built around the theme, "Design. Create. Inspire." We will hear from educators how they have engaged and inspired their students to be creators -- not just consumers of content. To be makers.
 You've probably heard of the Maker Movement in recent years. With articles like "Maker Movement Conquers the Classroom" and TED talks like "We are Makers," it is hard to deny that making is the flavor of the month. But what is it and how does it fit into education?
Making has many names: tinkering, hacking, inventing, engineering, creating. Whatever you call it, it's really about a non-consumerist, do-it-yourself mentality.
Making Comes Naturally  This is not a new idea. Humans make things -- it's what we do. Maybe it's encoded in our genes, but we alter the environment in which we live to serve our own purposes. We also pass down the cumulative history of human making to our offspring; they pick up where we left off. Now, new technologies have reinvigorated the art of making, providing easier and cheaper access to tools for designing and prototyping solutions to authentic problems. Read more ...
We are featuring a Creator Fair at the Scaling STEM conference to showcase the amazing ideas that the Maker Movement has sparked within North Carolina and the potential that inventing and hacking in the classroom presents. Interested in hosting a Creator Fair at the Scaling STEM conference? Click here.
|
|
STEM conference highlights promising practices
|
 The 2015 Scaling STEM conference will focus on how to design, create and inspire student engagement. Sessions will highlight promising practices, tools and resources to:
- Design solutions for school-based problems of practice
- Create engagement in critical thinking through the "making" movement
- Inspire through partnerships with industry, community and higher education
The conference, set for April 13-15, at the Sheraton Imperial Hotel & Convention Center in Research Triangle Park, is designed for educators, STEM advocates, education innovation leaders, industry and community leaders and policymakers. The event is co-hosted by the NC Science, Mathematics & Technology Education Center and NC New Schools.
Click here to register and learn more about the conference. |
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
