A couple of years ago, the New York school IS 281-The Joseph B. Cavallaro Intermediate School was given a "developing" rating in the Quality Review's Instructional Core and was scored as "fair" in the 2015-16 School Quality Snapshot. After receiving the second-worst rating on the "Rigorous Instruction" category, it was clear that the school needed to re-align its curriculum.
School leaders began by asking the tough question: What was the underlying cause of these low results? One of the answers was that they needed to help all students build their literacy skills across the curriculum. They then began working on a solution...
Issue 46: August 2018
Since knowledge is power and how we present and what we present to students is derived from a variety of different places that don't always tell the whole story, it is imperative that we start including students in these powerful curricular decisions.
As part of its Public Understanding and Demand initiative, the Nellie Mae Education Foundation partnered with KnowledgeWorks during the 2017-2018 school year to offer four school districts the opportunity to host customized workshops exploring the future of learning. These districts were already engaging their communities and stakeholders in dialogue about what student-centered learning could and should look like in their contexts, and adding a future lens provided a new perspective on that ongoing work. These workshops engaged a variety of audiences - including staff, teachers, students, parents and other community members - in exploring the future of learning as a way of sparking new ideas, partnerships and strategies for supporting learning experiences that benefit all students. To support district leaders and other education stakeholders in engaging audiences in conversations about how schools and communities might respond to the changing landscape to shape the future of learning, this toolkit presents selected activities from those workshops.
Twenty years ago, the Renaissance Program at Twinfield Union School was launched following an honest reflection from a learner who saw dropping out as the only way to reinvigorate her passion for learning. The traditional system had taken that passion from her. Listening intently, the then principal, Christine Barnes, and elementary educator, Debra Stoleroff, formed a committee to imagine a system that would adapt to not only this learner but also the many others who felt underserved by the limiting curriculum and teaching styles of that era.
We are grateful for the support of our partners: