A4LE Learning Scapes Conference 2016: Revolutions in Learning

I am a member of the ACT Chapter of the Association for Learning Environments (A4LE). The mission of this association is to improve the places where children learn.

The Association supports a diversity of membership, and that diversity is certainly part of its strength - but also one of the key things that attracts me to the association. In addition to architects, landscape architects, project managers, school principals, business managers and educational administrators; the association's membership also includes professionals in state government, catholic and independent school systems, product suppliers and manufacturers - all of whom contribute to the development of quality learning environments.

I became aware that A4LE was holding its American conference in Philadelphia while I was to be in the US and so I prioritised attendance at the conference (having attended a number of Australian events - all of which were high quality).

Attendance at the conference saw me catching the AMTRAK train from Penn Station in New York down to Philadelphia each day and then returning each evening - one way the trip was just over an hours and fifteen minutes. There's lots to be said for train travel in the states with a very efficient ticketing and loading and unloading of passengers at Penn Station. Philadelphia station is a beautiful established building that houses a dominant statue that salutes fallen soldiers - the Angel of the Resurrection.

As anticipated, attendance at the conference was a diverse schedule including school visits, challenging keynotes and engaging workshops.

Day 1 - school visits

Delaware County Community College

We were specifically visiting Delaware to look at the STEM Centre. Opened in 2010, the STEM Center was designed to promote the latest trends in STEM education, including small-group collaboration, hands-on learning, the use of multimedia tools, smaller class sizes and cross-disciplinary approaches. With brightly coloured interiors, light-filled rooms and large windows, the Center offers a stimulating environment for learning. The Center was created as part of the College’s commitment to facilities redesign and infrastructure upgrade.

Operating since 1967, Delaware County Community College is a Middle States-accredited, associate degree granting institution that maintains a policy of open admission, providing academic excellence to anyone who can benefit from its programs. The College ranks sixth in size among the eighty-plus colleges and universities in the Philadelphia region.

Springfield Literacy Center

The Springfield School District is proud to have built the Springfield Literacy Center, the first new school constructed in Springfield in more than 50 years. The school houses all the kindergarten and first grade children from Springfield and Morton. The building has won several architectural and environmental awards and is the foundation of Springfield’s Literacy First initiative by which every child leaves elementary school reading on grade level.

Episcopal Academy

Episcopal Academy has been in existence for more than 200 years currently located on its third site.

Initially an all-boys school, The Episcopal Academy offered a curriculum focused on classical languages, religion, and mathematics. Trustees included two signers of the Declaration of Independence.

Originally and all boys school, the shift to coeducation was the product of years of strategic planning. Girls were admitted to Devon’s kindergarten class in 1974, and were added to each year’s incoming class thereafter until the school was fully coeducational. The first coeducational class graduated from The Episcopal Academy in 1984.

A 123-acre tract of land in Newtown Square is the home of the current campus. The land was purchased with a $20 million donation, and the $212.5 million campus project would be completed in time to open for the 2008-2009 school year.

The Newtown Square campus boasts state-of-the-art academic, arts, athletic, and spiritual facilities. However, it also features keepsakes from the previous campuses: original stained glass windows in the Class of 1944 Chapel, the clock that currently stands on the Clark Campus Green, and several other artefacts.

Today, students enjoy a curriculum that includes Advanced Placement (AP) classes, opportunities to study abroad, interdisciplinary study, and online courses with internationally renowned faculty. They are enriched by arts, athletics, and spiritual programs.







Upper Dublin High School

Upper Dublin High School has an enrolment of 1600 Students and over 3 phases was constructed at a cost of US$97.3m.

It boasts an indoor pool and a state of the art performing arts centre.

It was interesting to hear of the process required by school boards to undertake in gaining approval for such capital projects. The Board of School Directors is a nine member political body elected by the residents of the Upper Dublin School District. The superintendent and district solicitor also sit on the board, but are non-voting members.



All the local schools districts in Pennsylvania ((except Philadelphia) - Upper Dublin sits outside Philadelphia district as I understand it) are fiscally independent and are supported through local and state tax revenues and financing.

The School District of Philadelphia is fiscally dependent. All other districts have their own taxing authority to raise funds for capital outlay.
To secure approval for a capital outlay of this magnitude, School  Boards go to the community with a referendum and the community needs to approve the capital outlay - which often requires a redistribution of or new collection of taxes.

Its interesting to seek to understand the national aspirations and local state approaches to curriculum design I think:

In 1999, the Pennsylvania State Board of Education adopted Rules and Regulations known as Chapter 4.  This regulation was developed to establish concise and comprehensive educational offerings for public schools.  Chapter 4 contains academic standards that identify the knowledge and skills students should learn in content areas by designated grade levels. The Pennsylvania Academic Standards, along with national standards, are incorporated into Upper Dublin’s curriculum development and revision process. 

The goal is to hold all students to higher levels of performance by transforming Upper Dublin schools into communities of learners where all students experience a rich and challenging curriculum. 

Chapter 4 regulations developed Pennsylvania’s Core Standards in English Language Arts and Mathematics, as well as for Language Arts and Literacy in History/Social Studies and Science/Technical Subjects and were adopted in 2014.

A group of Pennsylvania educators crafted the PA Core Standards, which mirror the academic rigor of the Common Core State Standards, set expectations in English Language Arts and Mathematics that all students should master by the end of each grade level.

The PA Core Standards are designed to be robust and relevant to the real world and reflect the knowledge and skills young people need to succeed in life after high school, in both post-secondary education and a globally competitive workforce.

Transitioning from existing state standards to the PA Core Standards had the following impacts:

• represented a shift in instructional intent from high school completion to college-and-career readiness for every student
• required students to demonstrate mastery of content, which cannot be acquired solely through lecture
• emphasized application and higher-order thinking skills
• at each grade may cover fewer topics; yet, content is taught in much greater depth.

REF: http://www.udsd.org/departments/curriculum/curriculum/#toggle-id-1

Day 2 to 3 - Conference proper

Next entry ...

New models and new structures delivering new opportunities through partnerships - P Tech High

Pathways in Technology Early College High School  provides new opportunity for career and personal success to a generation of New York youth who, in many instances, are first generation graduates. The potential that is being unlocked through the P Tech model is changing the trajectory for families - many of the P-Tech graduates are the first to graduate secondary school and first to obtain a college degree ever in some families; the social benefits, the generational benefits and the societal befits are significant in the truest sense.

My walk to P Tech High took me approximately one and a half hours from where I was staying near Prospect Park. My walk took me predominantly along Eastern Parkway past the Grand Army Plaza, Brooklyn Museum and the Brooklyn Public Library - all impressive buildings and precincts.

Along the Eastern Parkway I passed through a predominantly Jewish sector dominated by practicing Jewish people and Jewish buildings. I emphasise this because I looked into the practice of dressing that so many Jewish people engage in - all looking the same - it may surprise you (as it impacted me) to read:

Their statements about their dress identify that it is precisely because they dress the same that they can truly be individuals. Being an individual means having something unique about you that no one else has. According to the predominant Western paradigm, to be original one needs a weird shirt, cool shoes and an unusual haircut. The more unusual, the more an individual stands out from the crowd. It poses the question: is that really what makes a person different from everyone else? Is that all someone can do to be unique -- put on this outfit or that? Couldn't just anyone look the same?

In Jewish tradition, what makes an individual is not the clothing, but the character. When you are a part of a community of people that all dress the same, there is only one way to stand out: you have to be original, not your clothing. The people around you notice you for your character, the way you treat people, your manner of speech. You can't hide behind a superficial individuality based on hairstyle and fashion -- you have to be a real individual.
- interesting don't you think?

Another thing that impacted me on my walking was a recollection of a reflection I always recall hearing on the radio some time back (though I am unable to attribute it because I can't remember the speaker). Any way, this speaker said this (paraphrased):

'We all knew when we were growing up where that invisible line was where our neighbourhood stopped and someone else's started - where familiarity and safety were replaced by uncertainty and vulnerability'

I was reminded of this as I left the Eastern Parkway and headed into the suburb toward P-Tech High - I was reminded of the passage above not because of the invisible line however, but because of the stark change that occurred in the buildings, the street scapes and the people almost immediately once I moved off the main thorough fare. Things were far more degraded (less well maintained and manicured), the people were all african american, the street scape was different - things felt 'different'.

P-TECH is located at the Paul Robeson Educational Campus, in the Crown Heights neighbourhood of Brooklyn. The Paul Robeson school had been closed some time back due to underperformance and P-Tech has brought new life to that campus and new hope to that community. 

P- Tech is a partnership between New York City Department of Education, New York City College of Technology, The City University of New York and IBM. The steering committee for the school is made up of representatives from the Department of Education, NYC University and IBM - their focus now, 6 years since establishment is to stay true to the things that brought them together and establish the school - the values, the purposes, the directions, the operations.

Under the normal model of education prior to the establishment of P-Tech, 50% of high school graduates needed remediation in order to successfully transition to university. The P-Tech model successfully addresses this issue.

P-Tech incorporates secondary education, post secondary education and industry experience into one seamless educational opportunity for its students.

Students commence at P-Tech in Year 9 and conclude 6 years later having obtained both a high school diploma and a college undergraduate degree.

Every student at the school is assigned a learning mentor provided by IBM. Every student at the school (at the appropriate time in the education program) is given an internship at IBM and all those that graduate with a college degree are first in line for employment with IBM (if the student chooses).

This opportunity for employment not only motivates the students but also, according to Principal Davis, motivates the 'system' also.

The partnership between the state, the education institutions and the corporate partner are the building blocks of the success of the P-Tech model. Significantly and importantly IBM are not a philanthropic partner - to be so would limit the capacity for the model to be replicated. Rather it is the 'in kind' investment from IBM that improves the richness of the learning experience for the students as well as the motivation in the system.

Its important for the principal to understand that each of the partners in the P-Tech model has their own definition of success. The principal needs to understand what these definitions are and a critical element of the principal's role is to create outcomes that satisfy each partners success definition.

The student population at the school comprises 70% free admission or reduced fee intake, 90% black/hispanic, 75% male.

Whilst a non-selective entry school, priority is given to those that demonstrate desire and interest. There is a strong emphasis on STEM with a particular emphasis on electro mechanical engineering. Students can fast track through the program if they are capable and desire to.

Questions that shaped the structure of the operations and the learning approach at P-Tech included:

• How can we use time most effectively for our students?
• How can we engage with human capital differently?
• how can we tap the talent pool of those not graduating currently?

There are 581 students enrolled at P-Tech at the time of my visit.

P-Tech Brooklyn was the first P-Tech to be established in the US. There are now, 6 years later, 60 P-Techs across 6 US States.

The Australian Government has piloted the P-Tech model in Australia with 2 sites (one each) in Geelong and Ballarat and a further 12 sites to be established under its Pathways in Technology Pilot.

Advice from Principal Davis in regards to innovation is not to self correct along they way - this slows innovation; rather, get to the end and look back and make amendments to the next innovation cycle based on this reflection. To me this has strong alignment to the notions of continuous improvement, improvement science, Total Quality Management, Kaizen and similar philosophies espoused by many leaders I encountered on my travels. (More on that later I think).

As a (all but) final anecdote, as I was walking to P-Tech I noticed a significant number of trucks parked near the Brooklyn Museum - it wasn't clear what they were involved in as I walked early in the morning. On my return leg, things became clearer. They were filming a TV series and I discovered it was a Netflix original 'Master of none'. I was amazed at the logistics that went into the filming - film trucks, food trucks, lighting trucks, scaffolding trucks, trucks and more trucks - all for one episode of one series. Not something we in Canberra (let alone Australia) have a lot of exposure to - a whole new industry it would seem?

 

Lastly, it would be remiss of me not to acknowledge the staff at P-Tech - all of them were committed to their profession, to their students and to P-Tech itself. All of them spoke with such loyalty and admiration for their leader Principal Davis (this characteristic was so often observable in so many of the contexts that I visited - loyalty, belief in and admiration for the leader of the school). Thanks especially to Mr Smith (Parent Liaison at P-Tech) who took considerable time to provide me with a tour of the school and to introduce me to so many wonderful staff and students at this truly innovative and impactful school.