One thing that really resonated with me in terms of the BPHS is “Are charter schools cheating?” I’ve been thinking about this a lot in all of my classes. It seems that all the schools we look at with big change are charter schools. Though some of us may get jobs in charter schools most of us are going to work within the public school system in a tradition school setting and I know that Dr. Lawler says, “know the culture, be the culture, change the culture” but none of these books have really examples of how this has work in traditional high schools.
Another thing that really struck me as brilliant is the idea of smaller schools with in a larger one. I went to a high school of only 1200 students and I really felt connected to and responsible for the culture there. That suggestion seemed like one of the easiest things to do with in a high school.
I think all the change that we’ve been looking at requires one thing overall: dedicated teachers. Teachers who are invested in the goal of the school. I’ve noticed also in my CP 2 that in order to have teachers like that you need a principal with a purpose. Teachers are more willing to work towards something if they know the principal is too.
I think a lot of what it said in chapter one was common sense. My friend Erin (who taught in charter school in NYC) said last night that the reason they do that is because a lot of the common sense has been taken out of education. For example, the idea that students will do better with personal attention. Of course they will! Wouldn’t you? I always do better when someone is pushing me.
You can see all six of the components of reform in this but I think the easiest to see is restructuring the school. I think that it’s important not to think about that as just restructuring the day or the goal but restructuring how education is.
Thoughts for later: How can I bring these thoughts to my school?
I agree that many examples have been charter schools - remember their organizational purpose is to explore these sorts of experiments. Do remember that charter schools are public. Sadly though, they are often selective, and thus effect the populations of the traditional schools. Back to your question though, I think many reform practices are in place in public schools. The most common example is to break up large schools into smaller communities (see Lincoln HS in SD).
ReplyDelete"A principal with a purpose" - yes, you say a lot there. I agree.
Yes, maybe it is simply that the common sense has been taken out of education.
Know, Be, Change...