A Safe and Secure Environment for Teaching and Learning, Are You Ready For 2022-2023?

 A Safe and Secure Environment for Teaching and Learning, Are You Ready For 2022-2023?

Just weeks ago, the 2021-2022 school year ended, punctuated in violence by the school shooting at Robb Elementary in Uvalde, Texas. This horrific tragedy left the Uvalde community, as well as the rest of the United States, traumatized. Did the school district plan and create a School Safety and Security plan? Yes. Did the school district practice what to do in the event of an active shooter? Yes. Yet with all this planning, resources, and preparations, kids were not kept safe.

As far as school shootings go, the Uvalde school shooting is not an isolated event. As reported by Education Week, July 7,2022: “There have been 27 school shootings this year. There have been 119 school shootings since 2018, when Education Week began tracking such incidents. The highest number of shootings, 34, occurred last year. There were 10 shootings in 2020, and 24 each in 2019 and 2018.”

 

Echoing from Columbine, Sandy Hook, Parkland, and now Rob Elementary, is the thinking that it is not a matter of if a shooting will happen at your school, but when?

 

21st century Risks and Threats

Schools are not exempt from all that is happening in society today. Gun violence, political polarization, and global pandemics are some of the conditions generating fear, anxiety, and depression. All of these are adding to the expectations and responsibilities of principals, teachers, support staff, superintendents, boards of education, and community stakeholders to keep kids safe and well while at school. The landscape of public education is now different.

 

For school leaders, school boards, parents, and community stakeholders, school shootings are just a part of all that must be considered in creating a safe and secure environment for learning. Traditional risks and threats have evolved from “trips and falls” and physical plant security, to now include cybersecurity, mental and physical health, and wellbeing. Optimizing teaching and learning by providing positive working conditions for school staff and students now requires new thinking, procedures, and policies. Old thinking is no longer viable.

 

How did we get here?

My safe and secure school experiences began as an Iowa high school social studies teacher, with fire and tornado drills, practiced twice a year. Moving into administration, it then included school bus evacuation. Before the Columbine High School shootings, as a middle school principal in a high-needs school district, we recognized the benefit and secured grant funding for a school resource officer to be assigned to the building. At the time, this was unheard of. A uniformed, armed deputy sheriff in a school, to many educators, was considered as unnecessary. I received criticism for not having control in my school. After the Columbine shootings, the criticism stopped, and many asked how I was able to make it happen!

 

As a high school principal, and later as a superintendent, safe and secure school expectations grew. Updated planning through lessons learned from school shootings grew to include building evacuation to a secure site, parents’ reunification with their children, and how and what to communicate to parents and community stakeholders. As I look back now, it’s interesting to note that after-action long-term mental health care was not part of the operational planning. 

 

When the school district I led as superintendent became one of the first in the nation to go “one to one,” that is to provide all students grades 6-12 a digital device, new dimensions of school safety and security were discovered. Cyber security needed to be added.

 

Preparing to be a school principal, and later as a superintendent, school safety and security was only briefly covered by college preparation classes. Specifically, as a superintendent, priority one was student academic achievement, then the dreaded “Bs” of buildings, budgets, boards, and buses. School safety was important, but instead of it being the first thing, it was but one of many.

 

I would venture to say my peer superintendents in Iowa, Tennessee, and those I connect with through social media nationally are all very much concerned with safe and secure schools. Like it was for me, it’s hard to stay abreast and keep the entire district, and all employees, diligent and engaged. It is important to note that those who choose to go into teaching, and those who go on to be become principals and superintendents, have a much different mindset and disposition than professionals in security and law enforcement. One is nurturing and trusting, the other observant and questioning. Both are needed to keep students and staff safe.

 

Preparing for the Unimaginable and Unpredictable.

As was illustrated in Uvalde, even with planning and preparation, a breakdown and human error can be tragic. The Education Risk Intelligence Center (ERIC) and the Center for Educational Leadership and Technology (CELT) understand this.

Beginning with the COVID lock down, I have been fortunate to work with these two organizations in developing processes and procedures to build capacity with school and community stakeholders to enhance school safety. ERIC’s focus on Risk Intelligence, and CELT’s work creating an Educator’s Holistic Perspective on School Safety and Security complement each other. Implementing them together will enhance the learning environment

Risk Intelligence

From the ERIC website, Risk Intelligence is described as “practices that go before, along with, and beyond risk management. Whenever there is a concern for safety and security, there is also the necessity of risk intelligence. Risk intelligence is an antidote for excessive fear and doubt. Organizational strategists apply risk intelligence when discussing integrative systems.  It belongs in any conversation about improving readiness, reliability, resilience, agility, governance, compliance, strategy, value creation, well-being, and leadership.

“Risk intelligence is a school district’s shared knowledge about the effects of uncertainty, combined with the essential language, skills, and tools it chooses to help achieve better outcomes.” 

This means that throughout the district, in every school, classroom, lunchroom, or on the bus, all staff think holistically about the effects of uncertainty, have a shared language abouts risks, can articulate them, and understand expectations and actions to mitigate them. This is the essence of a Risk Intelligence mind set.

 

CELT: Educator’s Holistic Perspective on School Safety and Security

CELT has been working for several years to define the landscape, stakeholders, conditions, and dispositions to address the threats and vulnerabilities to the learning environment. The result is the Educator’s Holistic Perspective on School Safety and Security.

CELT’s Comprehensive and Integrated School Safety process is a holistic approach that engages stakeholders and service providers to create a safe and secure learning environment. With school safety and security at the center, it builds out through the domains of Social and Emotional (red), Digital (light blue), and Physical (dark blue). Resources and stakeholders are identified in the red boxes and connected to the target creating a framework. Utilizing and leveraging technology as the connective tissue between the framework domains, school safety and security can be enhanced, monitored 24-7, and have the potential to be proactive instead of reactive.  

Here come the students

The beginning of the 2022-23 school years is at hand and the question to be asked is, are you totally ready? I know firsthand what all goes into the start of a new school year, and the excitement, anxious energy, and last-minute adjustments that need to be made. Teachers have attended pre service workshops, worked in their classrooms, and had back-to-school night open houses. Principals have worked with custodial staff all summer long for this moment, hired staff, met with the superintendent and district office personnel, and are ready to go. Bring on the students!

 

The thing is, in all the preparations, has school safety and security been a focal point? Do all staff members recognize, understand, and think about the risks and dangers they will face with school in session? Have the physical plant and grounds been inspected? Do all the security cameras work? What is the process for controlling visitors' access into the building? Are student and staff information kept digitally? Is network infrastructure secure? How will student and staff dealing with stress generated outside the schoolhouse door be monitored and how will they be supported? Ready or not, the school year begins.

 

School safety and security is foundational to a healthy learning environment and place for employees to work. Creating and maintaining this in society today is a challenge. It requires focus, constant conversations, and deliberate actions. ERIC and CELT have done the research and have ready-to-deploy staff development and tools. Like you, they want to make a difference. I very much recomend visiting and reviewing the CELT and ERIC websites. Reach out and connect with them.

Educating our young people is foundational to our freedoms and civilization.

Have a wonderful school year. Good luck and blessings to you all.

Public Education: Battle Lines are Being Drawn

We are now 22 years into the 21st century, experiencing a global pandemic and political polarization, and navigating inflation. Change was happening before, but in the post-COVID world, it has accelerated. As I stated in my July 6, 2022, Growth Rings post, “Family, relationships, religion, public education, commerce, business, industry, and governance, once the bedrock of society and civilization, are now being reflected on, questioned, and evaluated.” Factoring in recent Supreme Court rulings dealing with abortion and gun rights, it is hard to discern whether we are in a time of chaos or growth.

Public Education is in the Crosshairs
Author and futurist Rick Smyre, in his book Preparing For A World That Doesn’t Exist -Yet (1988) talks about “weak signals.” These conditions and actions represent new thinking that has not yet gone to scale or become mainstream. They are the prequels to what society will become. Those who notice and embrace “weak signals” and can adapt to them become the creators and innovators, and benefit socially, emotionally, and economically. Those who cannot become filled with confusion, frustration, and fear as they hold on to outdated mindsets and what once was.

Citizens of the United States have, or are, losing faith and confidence in the public school system. It is my observation that public education in the United States has, for the most part, been extremely slow to embrace weak signals and now finds itself struggling to adapt and respond. Parental dissatisfaction and concerns have been ignored or not addressed. The current educational system was not designed to provide individualized, personalized, and differentiated instruction for all students. The current system is unable to adjust to the students; students are expected to adjust to the system.

Access to the new norms of 21st century technology, ranging from video conferencing to artificial intelligence, to wireless handheld digital devices, to robust, affordable, reliable, internet access, has created a condition of haves and have-nots, depending on your zip code. Author Michael Soskil, writing in Teaching in the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Standing at the Precipice (2018) - “We are now entering an unprecedented time in human history. Increasing computer power along with ubiquitous Internet connectivity will change the way humans live, work, interact and relate to each other.”

It has been my observation and experience that crucial conversations that include these emerging societal conditions have not been happening within the walls of school and districts, but they are happening outside the walls.

Battle Lines are Being Drawn

Two distinct, polarized groups are now emerging regarding public education: those who want to keep public education as it was and is, and those who want to take it down. Both sides are passionate about their positions, and as of today, neither side is willing to engage in meaningful conversations. Historical public education, K-12 plus higher education, feels berated, threatened, and in many ways insulted that their past practices are being questioned. Parents, business, industry, and large swaths of society, feel public education has lost its way, gone rogue, and is not empowering young people with the skills to read, write, think, be creative, and have imagination. They believe that the moral compass is not being developed and that historical public education is ignoring, or not even acknowledging, the discourse. “The Dissatisfied” are organizing, planning, raising funds, becoming politically active, and preparing for an insurgent war to retake public schools. The battlelines are being drawn.

The Dissatisfied

“Neither of us is an academic with a PhD. But we are Americans, working to preserve the right to share what we have learned. This book offers an explanation for our nation’s biggest problem while it finds a path forward rooted in our smallest citizens... Perhaps it takes flawed regular guys to find something that was there in front of us, but no one seems to see” -

Battle For the American Mind. Uprooting a Century of Miseducation,

Pete Hegseth with David Goodwin (2022)

Writers Peter Hegseth and David Goodwin and their book, Battle For the American Mind. Uprooting a Century of Miseducation, are in the camp of dismantling K-12 public schools and their call for action is undeniable. They see “the struggle is not military, but instead political-cultural. We are not looking to topple our government, but instead to defeat the monopoly of government-run schools – and the leftist unions occupying power.... we increase our control and build an alternative educational model... we regroup and reorganize while weakening the control and legitimacy of our foe, and finally we replace their power structure with reconstructed schools based on freedom and faith.” Their book gives their diagnosis of how public education has been hijacked, and the game plan for dismantling and replacing it. Like the tactics used to overthrow Roe vs. Wade, their followers are holistically, strategically, and politically planning for a three-phase insurgency. The war is underway.

The ranks of The Dissatisfied continue to grow and they will be the focus, as well as the pushback (or lack thereof), from established K-12 public education in later posts. My goal with this post is to begin to describe the most extreme Dissatisfied and to awaken K-12 public educators to the clear and present danger.

Both Peter Hegseth and David Goodwin attended public schools, and by all accounts, have lived successful lives and strive to be contributing members of society. In their book they share their faith, and like me, claim Jesus Christ to be their Lord and Savior. They acknowledge that neither one has had professional training in education, teaching, and learning, and their observations and perceptions of public education are from “the outside looking in.”

Mr. Goodwin’s professional career is in the technology industry. He helped to found The Ambrose School in Boise, Idaho, serves on the board of directors, and is the editor of The Classical Difference magazine. Pete Hegseth is a nationally-known author, co-host of Fox and Friends-Weekend, host of numerous Fox Nation documentaries including The MisEducation of America, served in Afghanistan as a senior counterinsurgency instructor, and is the father of seven children.

What’s Wrong With Public Education As It Now Is?

Authors Hegseth and Goodwin raise many good points, some of which I agree with, but I respectfully disagree with their conclusions and action steps for change. The rhetoric of their book is combative and suggests that there is, and has been, beginning in the 1900s, planned, organized, and implemented action to highjack education by leftwing, progressive Democrats with Marxist leanings. Hegseth and Goodwin label all public schools as government-run monopolies, controlled by teacher unions, that hold students captive for 16,000 hours, with the sole purpose to indoctrinate them away from a Christian lens on life to an agnostic one.

Their thinking develops around the concept of paideia, meaning the ideas, presumptions, beliefs, affections, and ways of viewing and understanding life. Prior to the 1900s, education was aligned in the Western Christian Paideia (WCP) developed through classical Christian education. Christian education teaches students to think well, to speak well, to write well, and to discern what is true, good, and beautiful, all while cultivating their knowledge and devotion to God through Christ. Hegseth and Goodwin put forth the idea that over the last 100 years, progressives have successfully moved America in a different direction. 

The authors use this as an illustration of the divergence of thought. (p.54)

Western Christian Paideia (WCP): A lifelong search for greater meaning in life
American Progressive Paideia (APP): Search for a job.

Western Christian Paideia (WCP): Seek Wisdom
American Progressive Paideia (APP): Seek Facts

Western Christian Paideia (WCP): Study History and Classics
American Progressive Paideia (APP): There is nothing worth knowing that wasn’t just thought of.

Western Christian Paideia (WCP): Teach the application of reason.
American Progressive Paideia (APP): Preach the acceptance of indoctrination.

Western Christian Paideia (WCP): There is a divine order, revealed in Christ.
American Progressive Paideia (APP): There is humanist anarchy

Western Christian Paideia (WCP): Strong-spirited citizens who are better together.
American Progressive Paideia (APP): Weak-spirited citizens who better serve the state.

In that the concepts and their thinking have merit, the unanswered question, once the “war” is over, how will this be made operational to meet the needs of all kids? They do not address how their strategies will meet the needs of diverse students from different social economic classes and learning styles. Many details are missing.

Be that as it may, there should be no question that Hegseth, Goodwin, and their growing legion of followers, are committed to the cause of recasting American education aligned with classical Christian education, grounded in a Western Christian Paideia. As they see it, “It is a battle. A war – a war over correct ideas. And our goal is to win back every single hour of the 16,000 hours in which our kids are educated, from kindergarten to high school graduation. The classroom is the battlefield, the hearts, and minds of our kids the prize. The very survival of the American Republic, and the greatness of Western Civilization, are at stake. And right now, we are losing.” (p. 219)

The Guerrilla War
The Battle For the American Mind: Uprooting a Century of Miseducation calls for action now. The book identifies, for The Dissatisfied, the tactics and strategies for waging an insurgency to overthrow public education. The Dissatisfied understand this will take time, but they have their playbook and game plan, and are on the move.

Phase 1 calls to organize, prepare, plan, build cells, recruit new members, and establish a covert network. This is happening now in earnest. COVID and distant learning energized parents and gave them insight into what is being taught in classrooms. Dissatisfied parents are connecting, organizing, attending school board meetings, questioning curriculum, and establishing local and national networks. The book encourages that “Individual schools, the Association of Classical Christian Schools, thought leaders, pastors and media personalities need to spread the word – not just about problems, but about the solutions staring us in the face.” (p.231) For The Dissatisfied, this is a return to an educational system founded on the Western Civilization Paideia (WCP). They are becoming politically active at the grassroots, national level, and are building momentum.

Parts of Phase 2 are happening now, too - targeted sabotage, delegitimizing attacks and establishing a parallel structure. The upcoming election cycle has conservative Republican candidates attacking public schools as being woke and indoctrinating children to hate America. Their propaganda, that beginning in elementary grades, schools are teaching Critical Race Theory (CRT), the 1619 Project, and gender identity, and do not have the ability to keep kids at school safe from bullying and gun violence. Their objective is to disrupt and for “parents, over time, to develop an ‘ick factor’ when it comes to their view of public schools.” (p.232) This tactic is not only working with parents, but also contributing to the mass exodus of teachers leaving the profession. The Dissatisfied are succeeding.

Phase 3 is conventional warfare that achieves political objectives and destroys the enemy and is on the horizon. The Supreme Courts now has a conservative majority. The Congress is balancing a 50-50 split. Charter schools, vouchers, educational saving accounts, homeschooling, and parent choice are now challenging funding for public education. At the state and school board level, parents are engaged and running for elected office. All this is happening and it seems that public education is oblivious. There is a great awakening happening.

Refugees
As I reflect on my 40+ year career as an elementary teacher, high school teacher, principal, superintendent, union president, and teacher contract negotiator, as well as college instructor, I have experienced the American education system and agree with The Dissatisfied that things need to change. The system is broken but it would be unfortunate that a “war” would need to be waged to facilitate change. I am afraid the victims in this, as with all wars, will be the children.

I do appreciate and value the work done by the authors and thank Mr. Hegseth for his service to our country. Their book, amplified by FOX News, is planting seeds with millions of Americans. 

Public Education must take notice.

What is Public Education to Become?

What is Public Education to Become? 

“If the rate of change on the outside exceeds the rate of change on the inside, the end is in sight.” - Jack Welch

 

This quote has resonated with me for a long time. In retrospect to the world today, with the rate of change accelerating exponentially, and the struggle for legacy institutions to keep up, it does seem like we are approaching an end. Some say we are at the “tipping point,” but with every ending, it is important to realize that there is also an opportunity to begin a new beginning.  

 

Family, relationships, religion, public education, commerce, business, industry, and governance, once the bedrock of society and civilization, are now being reflected on, questioned, and evaluated. This condition is not only happening in the United States, but globally. The world is changing, and the question is, how will mankind evolve? 

 

It is important that mankind “look in the mirror,” reflect on mistakes and accomplishments, and look forward, over the horizon, to chart a course as to what could be. This presents mankind with three choices to respond: engage to hold on or go back to what was, strategically build new futures from mistakes and accomplishments of the past, or not engage and just let things happen.

 

There are those who are trying to push back against change, desperately holding on to nostalgic ideas and traditions. They are seeking to understand 21st century realities through a 20th century focus. There are also those who for many reasons - ranging from being overwhelmed by change, feeling helpless, or in denial - that are choosing not to engage and are hoping to ride things out. For me, my choice is the second one, to “strategically build new futures from mistakes and accomplishments of the past,” and to look forward to what could be.

 

As a white, male, middle class, citizen of the United States, I acknowledge my bias and the limitations of my observations, perceptions, beliefs, and opinions. It is my position that the way forward is to grow through exploration, dialogue, tolerance, and empathy with civility. Through discourse and consensus, the direction forward should not be limited to one perspective, but be inclusive, flexible, and adaptable to many perspectives and conditions. Mankind’s next steps forward should not be conceived in echo chambers or silos.

The Importance of Education

“The backbone of our society is education. All around the globe from the most affluent cities to the most isolated rural villages, schools are the center of the community. Societal health is dependent upon our ability to pass skills necessary for survival to our future generations.” - Michael Soskil, Teaching in the Fourth Industrial Revolution: Standing at the Precipice

 

In the United States, the concept of free public education has been one of the bedrocks of our democratic society. It has been perceived as the great equalizer. Financed with tax dollars, governed by locally-elected school boards, regulated by state boards of educations, state legislatures, and influenced by the US Department of Education, the intuitional purpose of public schools over the last 100 years was perceived to teach the three Rs: reading, writing and arithmetic. 

 

Today, public education’s responsibilities are more far-reaching than just teaching academics. Food and nutrition, before and after school care, athletics, and co-curricular programs, and now in the wake of COVID mental health, schools are expected to provide complete wrap around services. The political polarization and discourse in communities and society is impacting schools. Schools are now struggling with their sense of purpose and how to address the question, what is it we want our kids to know and be able to do?

 

20th Century Thinking Does Not Fit In the 21st Century

For over 40 years, I have been a part of public education in the United States. Beginning as a Social Studies classroom teacher and athletic coach in a small rural school district, and later in a large suburban school district, I designed lesson plans based on following the prescribed curriculum, used the textbook, provided standardized tests, and embraced the perceived expectations for preparing students for college. I was a cog in the machine.

 

I have lived on the other side as well, actively involved with the local teachers’ association, state education association, and National Education Association. Here I experienced the business side of public education and was elected president of the local education association. As president, this meant representing district teachers in the collective bargaining process for the master contract each year. The adversarial, negotiated master contract covered every aspect of teacher employment, from salary and benefits to hours of service, performance evaluations, and job descriptions. 

 

My perception of teaching being an “art and science” morphed with new realizations. Salary was tied to years of employment in the district, graduate hours, and degrees earned, no matter what the teacher’s skill levels, or their students’ academic achievement and performance. Teachers were not “at will” employees, and the termination processes favored them. There was little incentive for innovation, and conformity was expected. This was the environment in which adults were expected to teach, and students to learn.

 

The Winds of Change: From Gentle Breeze to a Hurricane Warning

Magazine covers from 2008

 

As a principal and school superintendent, working in Iowa and Tennessee, I have felt the winds of change and experienced the pushback to status quo. There are many reasons for the pushback, which will be explored in later posts. The fact of the matter is that for some time now, there have been voices calling for a change in public education, and these voices have grown. On July 23, 2019, USA Today  posted results from a “Where trust is worst” survey, which indicated that 20% of the respondents did not trust public school principals. In 2022, I am confident that number has grown.

 

In this vacuum of change, many are organizing. Some are calling for the complete dismantling of public education and the creation of something new through charter schools, vouchers, and parental choice. Others are advocating an insurgency to retake American public education and recast it with a Western Civilization Christian focus to “train children to apply reason to find Truth, sourced in God, not themselves. And to reject indoctrination.” (The Battle For the American Mind: Uprooting a Century of Miseducation by Hegseth and Goodwin, 2022).

The bottom line is that just as society is in upheaval and our politics polarized, so too is our public education system. The rate of change outside of schools does exceed the rate of change within schools. It has for some time. The choices before us all now are these: will you hang on to the past, let go and work to create new, or hunker down and ride it out?

 

Those who hang on to the past too long, end up with broken arms.

My last post, sixteen months ago, focused on fear, the fear around me, and yes, the fear inside me. Twenty-four-seven updates from Social Media and cable news on the pandemic, political discourse, severe weather events, and violence was overwhelming. For me, I had to pause, reflect, and gain perspective.  Taking time to mentally separate from the discourse, breath, and regain my balance again, has provided an opportunity to refocus and get a glimpse of the challenges and opportunities that are ahead. This fills me with hope as new Growth Rings are added to our tree of life. 

New Realities, and New Normal

Spring 2022

Twenty-two years into the 21st century, mankind is experiencing a deep dynamic time of transition and change.  20th century system thinking, beliefs, traditions, and institutions are being challenged.

 

Some would say that change has been gradual and taken too much time to arrive. Others, who are clinging to the what was, are anxious, fearful, and resistant to embracing new.  The reality of the COVID pandemic, global warming, emergence of technology, and armed conflict is stressing relationships, governments, alliances, and legacy institutions at both the micro and macro level.  It seems mankind is reflecting on the worth, validity and relevance of what was, and is conflicted with what is still valuable. There is a push and pull of letting go of what was, accepting what is, and how to go forward. All this is happening simultaneously at an accelerating speed. New realities, and new normals are emerging.

 

Our “printing press moment in the history of mankind”

The 21st century digital – information age is part of the next “Growth Ring” in the evolution of mankind. From written language first chiseled in stone, then on parchment paper, to the movable type of the printing press, to radio, television, and now digital devices connect to the internet, the ability today to exchange and share thinking globally, in real time, has the potential to bring mankind together in never imagined connections. An internet connected, digital device provides access to unlimited knowledge and moves individuals from their limited physical location, to a new global community. This is our printing press moment in the history of mankind.  

 

New Mental Models

Are our lives better?

From the wheel, lever, fire and domesticating animals to computers, 3D modeling, and artificial intelligence, labor-saving innovations have empowered and reshaped the quality of life and reframed each generation’s societal mental models.  The emergence and adoption of these labor-saving tools redefined mankind’s sole purpose from physical survival, to having “free time”.  Paradoxically, many in the United States struggle with how to use this “free time”. Filling up the “free time” with “past time” activities has taken on new meaning.

 

With each generation, the mental models of work, family, relationships, and community evolved. In the United States, the primary transmission to youth of these mental models was once done via the family.  With both parents working, and single parent families, by default, schools and institutional childcare have assumed this responsibility.  Gaps between parents’ desires for their children, and assumptions by educators, is causing friction and heated discourse. The once rock-solid trust between home and school, now has cracks.

 

The Next Chapter for Mankind: What are we to become?   

It seems mankind is conflicted between curiosity and wonder; order, and predictability; those who question, explore new, and seek understandings, with those who are comfortable with following rules, conforming and are risk avoidance.

New ideas and thoughts that challenge established traditions, norms, and stereotypes, for some, trigger excitement and positive energy, for others, fear, and loss. Those who resist change, cling to the status quo, and stop growing, die. Those who can see new emerging norms, adapt, and embrace them; evolve, and lead others forward.

 

“Again and again in history some special people wake up. They have no ground in the crowd and move to broader, deeper laws. They carry strange customs with them and demand room for bold and audacious actions The future speaks ruthlessly through them. They change the world.” Author: Rainer Maria Rilke

Preparing and empowering mankind’s next pathfinders to be imaginative, collaborative, creative, and innovative; to be able access, discern and apply knowledge across disciplines for solutions to real world predictable and unpredictable situations, cannot be left to chance. It requires rethinking current public school learning practices and redesigning them around emerging system thinking and societal needs.

 

No one person or institution has the answers. Globally connecting and sharing through “grassroots” conversations on the “what’s next” has the potential to stimulant forward momentum for change. These conversations need to be ongoing and seek to be inclusive of all perspectives. The desired outcome to move from talking and speculation, to action and doing. The goal to create and facilitate a synchronicity of thought and action for the transformation of teaching and learning. Specifically, but not limited to:

• Overarchingly, to discover, design and align processes, protocols and structures that empower students with the ability to learn, unlearn and uplearn, as context and situations evolve.
• To decern the forces impacting public schools and define the purpose of learning in the 21st century.
• To identify what mankind needs kids to know and be able to do, how do we know they know it, and what do if they don’t.
• To decern how to individualize, differentiate, and personalize learning that aligns learner’s passions and abilities to professions and life purpose.

Creating a voice, gathering the tribe.

I was asked recently what I planned to do with the next third of my life. That is a very good question. For over 40 years, my professional life was that of education, teaching and learning in the public schools. Now retired, and outside the “forrest” of education, I can now see the “trees”.

My calling now is to share, connect, and collaborate with others to collectively explore, define and discover what learning needs to become and what structures are needed to support it. 

This is a once in a lifetime opportunity, to contribute to the next Growth Ring in the tree of life.   All are invited to participate and share your comments, perspectives, expereinces and observations. They will be appreciated and valued. I am excited with the amazing journey ahead.

 

Growth Rings: How could post COVID-19 schools be revisioned?

On August 31, 2020, I had surgery to replace my left shoulder. Now, six weeks later, I am at a point of being able to type again and excited to re-enter the conversation of change and transformation. This was my first major operation, and as such, I have tried to observe and process all I experienced. From the flow of work of the medical professionals, to the scaffolded structures of support, to the use of technology in my surgery and rehabilitation, this has been a great learning experience.  As I have thought of what education, teaching, and learning, could be, I can’t help but think, our educational system could benefit from and apply many of the strategies, practices, and protocols from the medical profession. Just as Dr. Richard Elmore's work suggested, school administrators institute "instructional rounds" based in practice on doctors "medical rounds", there could be deeper connections and applications of medical practices and protocols to teaching and learning.   

Flow of work
From the time of my injury, the goal was to regain use of my shoulder and arm. The initial diagnosis by my nurse practitioner to begin the process was easy, my shoulder hurt a lot and did not work. She ordered an x-ray at the local hospital which showed that indeed my shoulder was messed up. My nurse practitioner then referred me to a bone and joint specialist.

The surgeon at the Bone and Joint Institute prescribed an MRI to give greater detail on the damage to my shoulder and arm.  With this information, surgery was scheduled, performed, and I got a new shoulder. The surgeon was highly skilled and qualified. It should be noted that he was supported by a physician’s assistant, specifically trained, but not a doctor. Leveraging the physician’s assistant, less qualified than the surgeon, increased the ability for the surgeon to apply their advanced skills to more patents.

 

Upon completion of the surgery, rehab was prescribed to be performed by yet another specifically trained group. Again, it was interesting to note that the rehabilitation was provided by a licensed therapist, who was assisted by a “therapy tech”.  Like the surgeon, the tech enabled the licensed therapist to see more patients.

 

I think it is interesting to note that the process began with my nurse practitioner, who is not a doctor, establishing the diagnoses.  As the diagnosis progressed, special trained individuals were added and courses of actions were designed. 

In many instances in schools today, the classroom teacher not only has to diagnose the student’s learning challenge, but also prescribe the corrective action. A teacher may have an associate for support, but in many instances these associates have little or no training. 

 

It seems a child’s learning challenge has to be acute, or highly discrepant from their peers in order to be “eligible for services” beyond the basic education. It is assumed that if a teacher has a “teaching license” they are highly qualified to serve your child. But the fact of the matter is, just like my nurse practitioner, a school or teacher may not have the expertise or technology to truly diagnose and address a problem or concern.  This creates frustration for the student, the teacher, and the parents.

Scaffolded structures of support

I observed though my shoulder surgery experience how the medical profession is a TEAM of highly qualified individuals with specific training and expertise. There was no one person who could do it all. As my diagnoses progressed, specific needs were addressed, and actions taken. Through relationships, my nurse practitioner was able to access an x-ray machine at the county hospital and make a referral to a surgeon. The surgeon was able to access and order additional resources like an MRI, surgery suite, and anesthesiologist to perform the surgery along with making a referral to a rehabilitation provider. 

In education today the concept of scaffolding is emerging as a strategy to support students not only in their academics, but also in their behaviors. This is great in concept, but in practice it is calling on teachers to become the nurse practitioner, surgeon, and rehabilitation specialist all in one, with anywhere from 18 to 30 students in their class. In this time of COVID-19, social distancing, remote learning, and school closures, this is adding to a teacher’s stress.

 

Technology

My nurse practitioner, surgeon, and physical therapist were heavily dependent on technology, specifically internet access, wireless computers, email, x-ray machines, MRI equipment, and other technologies. The communication between all my health care providers was via email.  My surgery observations were this was a clear example of the Internet of Things (IoT) and the seamless embedding of technology. 

 

My paperless medical records were shared in almost real time between all concerned (even me!). Big ticket technologies like the x-ray machine, MRI, and surgery monitoring devices, were shared and leveraged, family clinic to surgeon, surgeon to hospital, surgeon to rehab.  It seemed many with expertise and skills were able to timely collaborate and provide me with the best patient care.  This would be hard to imagine without robust, reliable, affordable, high-speed internet access. 

 

Bottom Line

Due to COVID-19, the transformation of education, teaching, and learning, has accelerated. The need to approach and rethink systems of learning is before us.  In that the managed-health care model may not be a clean fit, there may be some concepts and strategies that are applicable to teaching.

Each child is unique, important, and special. The ability for teachers to access and collaborate with expertise beyond their classroom to address student concerns is powerful. The fact of the matter is a classroom teacher does not have the time or the resources to be the nurse practitioner, surgeon, and rehabilitation therapist for 20+ students. Perhaps restructuring class size and teachers’ workloads should be investigated? Maybe a new continuum of services needs to be designed?

I have said many times that each child is different, and as such should have a specific learning plan based on their learning styles and interest, much like I had a personal medical plan to address my shoulder.  Maybe the Special Education practice of Individual Education Plans (IEP) should be applied to all students? It is exciting to think what this could look like!

 

COVID-19 has raised awareness of the gross digital divide between students within schools. The ‘have nots’ definitely are at a disadvantage to those who have high speed internet, access to computers, and other technologies.  I can’t imagine what my shoulder surgery experience would have been like without technology. It seems the first step must be universal, equal access to the internet.

 

From these key ideas there needs to be further deep thinking, reflection, and actions steps designed.  Additionally, how is all of this to be funded? Is there sufficient funding available now if it were to be reallocated or re-tasked?

 

New GROWTH RINGS

The question is: "can we continue as we have historically done?" I am not conviced we can. The times have changed and we have to think differently. We have before us an opportuity to create new!