Second in a series – K-12 education: In what direction are we headed? Do we share common goals?
We sense a vacuum. We see little shared understanding
of the aims of public education in Colorado’s polarized climate. We wonder: can
we at least agree on something, a few common goals?
In 2018 the Education Leadership Council (ELC), appointed by Gov. John Hickenlooper, produced “The State of Education.” Its goal: to articulate “a positive, shared vision for Colorado’s education system.” But this 57-page document now gathers dust. Why would anyone want to try again, especially so soon?
Besides, we all know that the work involved in developing a vision/mission statement can be exasperating. Even fruitless. Words words words. We know, too, that finding consensus among a large constituency can produce a statement that is acceptable to all, but truly meaningful to no one.
Nevertheless, I respect efforts by the ELC and several organizations to state our central concerns, to try to provide clarity on where K-12 education should be focused. In AV#253 I gather and share a page from six entities, most of them Colorado groups, including the ELC. Some attempt to craft a vision. Others suggest a road map to the future. Maybe they can those who seek such a road map, who believe we need common goals, if we are to go forward – together. (Or at the least, less divided.)
Geezers too tied to ideas and
words from the 1990’s? Time to pass the baton?
Confession time. I am 73. Veterans of education debates the past 30 years might be too tied to the past (and to an outdated vocabulary) to contribute to “a new vision.” On the pages that follow, I note how little we see of the reform agenda’s guiding principles of the past few decades – accountability, choice, and standards. (I highlight the few occasions.) These three words have become political footballs, even pejoratives. Accountability, some would tell us, is a means to “punish” schools in low-income communities. Choice is mocked as a mechanism to divert funds from neighborhood schools and further the divide between the haves from the have-nots. Standards—well, that’s old hat. Been there.
Another View is the wrong place to look for the new language and the new ideas to rally around. I am too stubborn or proud to abandon concepts and language that have felt right to me for so long. Furthermore, I would never have called this Another View if I intended to sail with the prevailing winds. On the six pages below, career (4), workforce (3) and economy (3) are mentioned more often than accountability (1) and achievement (1). Readers of my newsletters know how strongly I object to this (mis)direction for K-12 education. Be assured I will continue to try to tack into these heavy winds.
So yes, it is time for younger folks to articulate where
public education should be headed. Their future is at stake, as is their
children’s future. Here are five one-page excerpts from efforts to articulate
key goals for K-12 education in Colorado.
1. The State of Education, Gov. Hickenlooper’s Education Leadership Council, 2018
2. The Future is in our Public Schools - St. Vrain Valley Schools, 2022
3. Strategic
Plan - Roaring Fork Schools, 2019
4. Building a Better Colorado – K-12 Education, Whitepaper, 2021
5. 9 Building Blocks for a World Class Education System – National Center for Education & the Economy, 2017
**
1.
The State of
Education
Developed by: Colorado’s Education Leadership Council
- December 2018 (57 pages)
How do we move the state toward a positive, shared vision for Colorado’s education system, with a clear blueprint to guide the work? There is no individual person who can make this happen. There is no governance structure that ties all the different parts of our education system together. That’s why the effort will require Coloradans—students, parents, teachers, policy makers, interest groups, and everyone else—working together to drive alignment, effectiveness, and efficiency that will help Colorado become a leader across the nation.
…the State of
Education initiative is not meant to solve a specific “problem” but, rather, to
build a broad-based view of the future system that Coloradans want and work
backwards from that ideal to determine how we get there.
The Vision: In Colorado’s world-class education system, all learners are: prepared for a rapidly changing world; civically engaged; physically, socially, and emotionally healthy; competent academic scholars; and ready to contribute productively to the economy.
1.
Academic:
proficient in Colorado academic
standards, life-long learner
2.
Personal:
self-aware, flexible, resilient, adaptive
3.
Entrepreneurial:
critical thinker, problem solver, creative, curious
4.
Professional:
takes responsibility, leads others, manages tasks and time well
5.
Civic:
collaborative, culturally aware, civically engaged, effective communicator
10 Principles and Improvement Strategies
1.
Safe
and healthy
2.
Equitably
resourced
3.
Engaging
and relevant
4.
Technology-enabled
5.
Culturally
inclusive
6.
Learner-centered
The four key drivers of change will advance our system forward and link directly to the principles that define our picture of a world-class system.
1.
Responsive
Systems and Agile Learners
2.
Community
and Family Partnerships
3.
Educators
and Leaders
4. Student Learning and Transitions
https://www.cde.state.co.us/cdecomm/stateofeducation
2.
The Future
Is In Our Public Schools – Envisioning a Stronger
Public Education System for Colorado
and Beyond
WHITEPAPER DEVELOPED BY ST.
VRAIN VALLEY SCHOOLS - JUNE 2022 (23
pages)
From Executive Summary:
If we all can agree that the purpose of
public education is to ensure that every child has the opportunity to succeed
so that we can optimize our economy and improve our collective quality of life,
we can then create a platform from which to reclaim the narrative of the
importance and value of public education, and cultivate greater respect for the
teaching profession in order to inspire our future generation of educators. … We
must reawaken the public consciousness regarding the importance of public
education, and by doing so, reignite the promise of future generations.
from A Foundation of Excellence and
Accelerated Innovation (p. 18)
Colorado is at a turning point, and has,
we believe, a significant opportunity to redefine public education in order to
advance the future of our State. We must realize our responsibility to meet our
obligation under the state constitution to provide a “thorough and uniform”
education system, as the world around us has transformed at a pace far greater
than our K-12 systems. The conversation
around funding for our schools should be accompanied by a clear, articulate
vision in alignment with the fundamentals of an excellent education. The
following should constitute the foundation, not the ceiling, in every school
district in Colorado:
• Every student should have exposure to scientifically-based reading instruction, and updated, relevant, comprehensive, and rigorous curriculum.
• Every student should have dedicated and
highly-qualified teachers and staff with the time necessary to strategically
prepare their lesson plans and to professionally collaborate with their peers.
• Every student should have access to robust
co-curricular activities such as theater, dance, music, art, athletics, and
more.
St. Vrain Valley Schools
- http://stvra.in/whitepaper
3.
Strategic Plan of
Roaring Fork Schools (2019-2024)
(A few districts have created Strategic
Plans that are measured and thoughtful. I imagine a wide range of districts
across the state could endorse the chief goals of such plans. Consider this one
from Roaring Fork Schools. It does not have—I bet most district plans do not
have—the partisan flavor in the Strategic Plans from Denver Public Schools and
Douglas County School District. The focus here on student outcomes (happily)
eliminates adult agendas. Could a statement such as this capture the essential
goals for a good many—even a majority—of our 178 districts? Could it be a place
to start—to see what we do agree on?)
Bold mine
ROARING FORK SCHOOLS
Roaring Fork Schools
will ensure that every student develops the enduring knowledge, skills, and
character to thrive in a changing world.
Results
1.
All
students
graduate with the knowledge and skills to enroll in post-secondary education
without remediation.
2.
All
students
graduate with the character and life skills to succeed in college, careers,
family, and community.
3.
Students meet grade-level benchmarks
towards graduation in core subjects.
4.
Students complete high quality projects
that challenge them to develop and evidence academic skills and character
skills.
1.
Hold
high expectations for all.
2.
Guarantee
equitable access to grade-level assignments, curriculum, and assessments.
3. Ensure high quality instruction – supported by coaching, professional development, and data – so that every student gains knowledge and skills to thrive.
4. Plan for and provide differentiated supports for all students.
5.
Engage
students in relevant and authentic learning experiences.
6.
Create
an intentional culture of character in which habits of a scholar flourish and all
students feel a strong sense of
safety and belonging.
7.
Prioritize
and invest in early learning.
8.
Partner
with families and community in the education of the whole child.
9.
Invest
in talent to develop, retain, and attract great teachers, leaders, and staff in
all departments.
10. Optimize resources to achieve
strategic priorities.
https://www.rfsd.k12.co.us/mission-commitments-strategic-plan-00cf10a1
4. Building a Better Colorado
K-12 Education
Whitepaper
- December 2021 (72
pages)
Why Colorado’s K-12 Education System is
important
K-12 education as a COLORADO priority (pages 2-3)
Although the
funding and programming of K-12 education in Colorado has historically been a
LOCAL responsibility, our state government has always had a responsibility to
provide access to public K-12 education. As a requirement of statehood, the
Union required that Colorado include within its original constitution an
assurance that our new state would provide for a thorough and uniform system of
free public education.
Today, we
recognize the myriad benefits of a quality K-12 public education system,
including:
●
Providing the future workforce to serve our society’s needs.
● Contributing to each American’s individual quality of life.
To the degree that our K-12 education system prepares students to SUCCEED, it largely determines our state’s and nation’s productivity and standard of living. Conversely, to the degree that our education system FAILS to prepare students to succeed, it contributes to some segments of our society falling behind and subsequently contributes to civil unrest and the social problems that inhibit our society’s progress.
APPENDIX A: Potential Alternative Policy Pathways (p. 56)
Start with “WHY?”
Every public policy should be motivated by an underlying set of values and represent specific strategies aimed at achieving goals towards the realization of those values. Before we can meaningfully explore such opportunities to improve our education system, we each need to establish why it’s important to us, and what we want from that system.
1. Why do we think our education system is important?
●
Sustaining our civil democracy?
●
Improving our INDIVIDUAL quality of life?
●
Contributing to our COLLECTIVE quality of life?
●
Defining our society’s economic productivity?
Our goals for this year’s statewide conversation were to establish among participants a shared understanding of the current K-12 education policy landscape, and to inform participants of potential strategies for improving Colorado’s K-12 education system and solicit their opinion of the relative merits of each.
[Eight pages (pages 60-67) were devoted to strategies
in three broad areas:]
·
Improving
teacher effectiveness
·
Improving
student outcomes
·
Improving
the equitability of K-12 funding
http://buildingabettercolorado.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/K-12-education-whitepaper-21.12.pdf.
5.
“9 Building
Blocks for a World Class Education System”
National Center on
Education and the Economy, 2016 (12 pages)
The 9 Building Blocks for a World-Class Education System is a distillation of more than 25 years of research conducted on the world’s best education systems by the National Center on Education and the Economy. Our goal in conducting this research was to identify the strategies those countries used to outperform the United States in the hope that American policymakers could use that research to improve the performance of our own system. The study identified the following nine common characteristics of the best performing education systems in the world.
1. Provide strong supports for children and their
families before students arrive at school.
Countries in which young children who come to school healthy, eager to learn and ready to profit from the instruction tend to be countries in which those children do well in school.
2. Provide more resources for at-risk students than
for others.
Top-performing countries have made explicit decisions to create systems in which all students are educated to standards formerly reserved only for their elites.
3. Develop world-class, highly coherent instructional systems. Top-performing countries are constantly benchmarking their standards, curricula and assessments to other leading countries.
4. Create clear gateways for students through the system, set to global standards, with no dead ends. Instead of issuing a high school diploma -- essentially a certificate of attendance – top performing countries issue qualifications showing what high school courses the holder has taken and the grades earned in those courses.
5. Assure an abundant supply of highly qualified teachers. Top-performing countries recruit their teachers from the top ranks of high school graduating classes, most in the top third to top quarter.
6. Redesign schools to be places in which teachers will be treated as professionals, with incentives and support to continuously improve their professional practice and the performance of their students. Career ladders are created that develop the skills of the current teacher workforce and establish a culture and organization that supports continuous improvement of the school as a whole.
7. Create an effective system of career and technical education and training. The key to a healthy economy, lower wealth inequity and unemployment, and strong business competitiveness is a healthy, productive, effective system of vocational education and training.
8. Create a leadership development system that develops leaders at all levels to manage such systems effectively. Successful systems identify and develop leaders who can get broad agreement on goals for both students and staff, build career ladders, recruit highly capable staff, and create a school culture committed to getting all students to high levels of performance.
9. Institute a governance system that has the authority and legitimacy to develop coherent, powerful policies and is capable of implementing them at scale. In top-performing systems, there is a place where the buck stops that has responsibility for all policymaking or management functions directly related to education and can be held accountable for the design and functioning of the system as a whole.
2019 - https://ncee.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/9-blocksv100219Print.pd
2020 – Update - https://ncee.org/blueprint/
