style="font-size:15px;"> Chapter 5 uncovers proven strategies to guide schools in successfully collaborating with the outside. Within this touchstone are structures and systems to enlist meaningful involvement from external and internal partners, including nonprofit agencies, philanthropic donors, the business community, and Millennial parents. Measures to connect students and teachers to local employers, industry experts, and outside professionals will create a lasting impact.
Rounding out each chapter are Touchstone Takeaways, which include Points to Ponder and Rapid-Fire Ideas to allow readers to gain immediate traction with the strategies they implement. Throughout the book, readers will discover stories and perspectives from the field so that site-level and district teams can walk the path to future-focused teaching and learning together.
It’s important to note that this book is not intended to provide step-by-step instructions to get a school district from point A to point B. If you’re expecting a prescriptive user’s guide to innovation, strengths-based environments, personalization, or external collaboration, you may be disappointed. Every school and district will have a different starting and ending place based on student needs, work culture, organizational leadership, and current priorities. Rather, think of this book as a road map with a plethora of routes to reach your destination. Whether you take a direct path or follow a more meandering course, this book is meant to be a flexible planning tool to synchronize individual and team efforts.
Remarkable things are happening in classrooms, schools, and central offices across the globe. By sharing these remarkable things, it is my hope to tilt education practices away from adult interests and desires and toward students’ interests and desires. When this occurs, it’s a game changer for all!
CHAPTER 1
Rethinking Education
In a world of change, the learners shall inherit the earth, while the learned shall find themselves perfectly suited for a world that no longer exists.
—Eric Hoffer, American philosopher
A common narrative surrounding K–12 education goes something like this: when children reach age five, they’re ready to enter the system. Elementary teachers teach them to read, write, compute, and listen to prepare them for the next level.
In middle school, there’s no more recess or crying over spilled milk. The test score slump that often occurs between fifth and sixth grades leaves little time for slacking off. An ever-changing bell schedule integrates core subjects, electives, and advisement. Signs around campus implore students to work hard, behave, and remember that high school is just around the corner. Despite racing emotions, teachers do their best to keep these preteens focused.
Once in high school, it’s full steam ahead. Students hear from a young age that studying hard and getting good grades are their golden tickets to a bright future. If students are put in the right classes with the right teachers, they’ll do well. If they graduate with honors, they’ll be accepted to the best universities. Once students finish college, a well-paying job awaits. Not only does society prosper, students’ quality of life soars too.
Less capable learners land in average or low-level courses where they can meet graduation requirements without a lot of fuss. Some fall behind and transfer to the continuation high school. Others drop out. For those who do graduate, many go directly from high school into lower-paying jobs. Others pursue technical degrees that provide access to higher-skilled occupations.
The story many members of the public believe about education assumes the current system is sound. After all, the majority of us succeeded in this very system and are doing well today. For students who don’t do well, we assume we simply need to raise the standards, increase accountability, or provide more resources. However, this false narrative can be deceptive. In theory, education is supposed to pave the path to every youth’s future. But, Sir Ken Robinson (2015) has called this a “dangerous myth” that ignores
the alarming rates of nongraduation from schools and colleges, the levels of stress and depression … among students and their teachers, the falling value of a university degree, the rocketing costs of getting one, and the rising levels of unemployment among graduates and nongraduates alike. (p. xxii)
This inaccurate line of thought can also undermine many well-intentioned reforms that set out to improve the system.
Our job, as educators and administrators, is to provide a sense of perspective and context for the way we prepare students. Simply hoping change won’t happen or tying our wagons to outdated practices won’t cut it. The K–12 education system is of this world, not separate from it (Marx, 2014). Every institution in society is facing a reset. No one, not even our most beloved teachers and administrators, gets a free pass on this journey of rethinking the purpose of education.
This chapter lays the foundation for this book by discussing the shifting paradigm of schooling in a world that is experiencing technological, social, and economic changes at record pace. It makes the case for elevating students beyond average as we prepare them to enter an “any-collar” workforce. It will then delve into the characteristics required for future-ready teaching and learning, including the need for constructive rebellion against conformity. The chapter concludes with Points to Ponder and Rapid-Fire Ideas to get your team started on its journey to reimagine education in a world where learning is available anytime, anywhere, and at any speed.
The Changing Paradigm of Schooling
According to the PDK Poll of the Public’s Attitudes Toward the Public Schools, Americans overwhelmingly want schools to do more than educate students in the core subjects (Phi Delta Kappan, 2017). In fact, when judging school quality, the public gives more weight to students’ job preparation and interpersonal development than to test scores. While they still value traditional preparation, the vast majority of Americans (82 percent) wants to see career-related course offerings, even if it means students will spend less time in academic classes. And 86 percent believe the schools in their community should offer certificate programs that qualify students for employment in a field that doesn’t call for a four-year degree (Phi Delta Kappan, 2017).
If we want students to be prepared for whatever awaits them, our paradigm of schooling must change. One important change should be to the unrestrained focus on college entrance requirements. Algebra serves as a perfect case in point. Despite only 5 percent of entry-level jobs in the U.S. calling for proficiency in algebra, passing algebra remains a high school graduation requirement in most states (Rubin, 2016). If students want to work for NASA, they should be proficient mathematicians. But plumbers, playwrights, and pediatricians need other key competencies. Making algebra a mandatory graduation requirement overemphasizes a skill that’s not vital for the majority of the workforce. Even worse, it widens the opportunity gap for thousands of students who can’t pass algebra and subsequently leave high school without a diploma.
Another K–12 paradigm that calls for rethinking is the “college for all” philosophy that has come to dominate American culture (Fleming, 2016). Across the nation, we find policies and practices that encourage students to pursue a four-year degree over any other path. Meanwhile, student loan debt has closed in on $1.6 trillion, representing the second-highest consumer debt in America behind home mortgages (Goldy-Brown, 2019).
With 66 percent of students enrolling in a four-year university directly out of high school, young people are pursuing their dreams of higher earnings. However, many are discovering the job market and their subsequent earning power aren’t commensurate with the degrees they hold. Middle skills jobs,
