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Monday, January 10, 2011
Innovation Schools
Lately there has been much discussion about Innovation Schools. What are your thoughts?
3 comments:
The Insider
said...
The Leadership Academy/Innovation School at NBHS is on the way and if teachers vote to approve it they are voting to cut their own respective throats. The plan calls for an incoming freshman class the first of which will be between 100-200 students to be “aggressively recruited and chosen by lottery; up to eight certified teachers who agree with the philosophy of the program; the use of all classrooms on the first floor in one of the houses.” If all goes well, by the 4th year there will be 400-480 students, up to 32 teachers, and they will take over the entire house with their own staff and “administrative leadership.”
The rational for this program is that NBHS is in such bad shape that one could infer it should be blown up or reconstituted. The author/s state that NBHS is experiencing academic, behavioral, and budget challenges, has a high dropout rate, large numbers of failures in core subjects, low MCAS scores, and fails to meet AYP goals in math, English, LA, and attendance. The author/s further state that the school has yearly losses of staff due to attrition and budgetary constraints, experiences a large number of expulsions, suspensions, daily discipline issues, handbook violations, threats and aggressive behavior.
They go on to say, among other things, that this new program will have “competent and caring leadership, smaller classes, curriculum and staffing autonomy, budget autonomy, scheduling autonomy, common planning time, their own teacher hiring and evaluation procedures, extra pay for an extended day, extra pay for summer school, extra pay for consulting. Students will have access to elective classes and AP classes through on-line courses and Virtual High School and dual enrollment.
Further, “….educators in the NBLA will possess the knowledge, skills, and values required to achieve the vision and mission of the smaller school, which is, to facilitate the students to become well adjusted, high functioning citizens able to lead effectively in the 21st century.”
The Insider is convinced that much like Charter Schools this effort will take much needed funds from the big school budget to use on selected students (Even the rhetoric that students will be selected by lottery sounds like a Charter School.) and negatively impact the big picture at the high school.
The Insider also finds it insulting to the administration and teaching staff at NBHS that thinly disguised shots such as “competent and caring educational leaders and teachers who will possess the knowledge, skills, and values…”) which reflect the attitude and personality of the author would be used in the narrative.
It is particularly discomforting that the author/s of this effort care so little about the impact on staff and students who are not selected for participation in this effort. Obviously the teachers not selected won’t possess “the knowledge, skills, values, etc. needed.” Obviously the present administrators at NBHS are not “competent and caring.”
If the teachers at NBHS vote in favor of this they deserve it. Never before will so many have been betrayed by so few.
I'm a teacher of elective courses at the high school. If we pass this program, does that mean there will be less elective classes needed to be scheduled since this students will take their electives via the internet? I would also like to thank The Insider for being there for us and providing so much information. He/she seems very knowledgeable about what goes on and what impacts us.
To the blogger worried about elective classes being offered on line. Let me answer your question two ways. First, if the designer of this self serving program had his way, yes it would result in layoffs since there is now a trend designed to lower class size in some states via the virtual school and computer learning. The NY Times educational section just carried a headline which stated "In Florida, Virtual Classrooms With No Teachers", just computers in the room with a "facilitator" to handle any technical problems and to make sure students progress. Students log on to a Web site to gain access to lessons, which consist mostly of texts with some graphics, and they can call, e-mail or text online instructors for help.
The second part of my answer deals with the kind of student motivated enough and mature enough to be successful in this kind of envronment. Is this program designed to deal with self motivating students mature enough to take responsibility for their learning. It seems to me this kind of student will be successful with or without this program.
If not, then can you picture unmotivated students, like we deal with every day, in charge of their learning, without supervision, and with access to a computer? It can't happen two ways. Either the program is designed for those who need it or not.
Either way, teachers will be impacted. Either by larger classes or by fewer elective teachers.
3 comments:
The Leadership Academy/Innovation School at NBHS is on the way and if teachers vote to approve it they are voting to cut their own respective throats. The plan calls for an incoming freshman class the first of which will be between 100-200 students to be “aggressively recruited and chosen by lottery; up to eight certified teachers who agree with the philosophy of the program; the use of all classrooms on the first floor in one of the houses.” If all goes well, by the 4th year there will be 400-480 students, up to 32 teachers, and they will take over the entire house with their own staff and “administrative leadership.”
The rational for this program is that NBHS is in such bad shape that one could infer it should be blown up or reconstituted. The author/s state that NBHS is experiencing academic, behavioral, and budget challenges, has a high dropout rate, large numbers of failures in core subjects, low MCAS scores, and fails to meet AYP goals in math, English, LA, and attendance. The author/s further state that the school has yearly losses of staff due to attrition and budgetary constraints, experiences a large number of expulsions, suspensions, daily discipline issues, handbook violations, threats and aggressive behavior.
They go on to say, among other things, that this new program will have “competent and caring leadership, smaller classes, curriculum and staffing autonomy, budget autonomy, scheduling autonomy, common planning time, their own teacher hiring and evaluation procedures, extra pay for an extended day, extra pay for summer school, extra pay for consulting. Students will have access to elective classes and AP classes through on-line courses and Virtual High School and dual enrollment.
Further, “….educators in the NBLA will possess the knowledge, skills, and values required to achieve the vision and mission of the smaller school, which is, to facilitate the students to become well adjusted, high functioning citizens able to lead effectively in the 21st century.”
The Insider is convinced that much like Charter Schools this effort will take much needed funds from the big school budget to use on selected students (Even the rhetoric that students will be selected by lottery sounds like a Charter School.) and negatively impact the big picture at the high school.
The Insider also finds it insulting to the administration and teaching staff at NBHS that thinly disguised shots such as “competent and caring educational leaders and teachers who will possess the knowledge, skills, and values…”) which reflect the attitude and personality of the author would be used in the narrative.
It is particularly discomforting that the author/s of this effort care so little about the impact on staff and students who are not selected for participation in this effort. Obviously the teachers not selected won’t possess “the knowledge, skills, values, etc. needed.” Obviously the present administrators at NBHS are not “competent and caring.”
If the teachers at NBHS vote in favor of this they deserve it. Never before will so many have been betrayed by so few.
I'm a teacher of elective courses at the high school. If we pass this program, does that mean there will be less elective classes needed to be scheduled since this students will take their electives via the internet? I would also like to thank The Insider for being there for us and providing so much information. He/she seems very knowledgeable about what goes on and what impacts us.
To the blogger worried about elective classes being offered on line. Let me answer your question two ways. First, if the designer of this self serving program had his way, yes it would result in layoffs since there is now a trend designed to lower class size in some states via the virtual school and computer learning. The NY Times educational section just carried a headline which stated "In Florida, Virtual Classrooms With No Teachers", just computers in the room with a "facilitator" to handle any technical problems and to make sure students progress. Students log on to a Web site to gain access to lessons, which consist mostly of texts with some graphics, and they can call, e-mail or text online instructors for help.
The second part of my answer deals with the kind of student motivated enough and mature enough to be successful in this kind of envronment. Is this program designed to deal with self motivating students mature enough to take responsibility for their learning. It seems to me this kind of student will be successful with or without this program.
If not, then can you picture unmotivated students, like we deal with every day, in charge of their learning, without supervision, and with access to a computer? It can't happen two ways. Either the program is designed for those who need it or not.
Either way, teachers will be impacted. Either by larger classes or by fewer elective teachers.
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