Over the past few weeks I have been working with a group of thoughtful intrapreneurs who are planning to open the last new school in our school district. We have K-5, Middle, and High Schools and this new school is going to be a K-8. Our superintendant has given us the charge to "Change the way we do school."
So from the start we knew that we wanted to dismantle the factory model. What this means, of course, is we have to find a new model to base schooling on rather than the linear assembly line. In the words of Sir Ken Robinson it has to be more "agrarian." Paul Kim at Stanford calls it an "ecosystem."
So the first question we asked was, "What structure can we put in place that will prevent the new school from backsliding into the factory model?" This is a very challenging question. Teachers, parents, and students have all been indoctrinated into the factory system and to see outside of it is hard. Much like Plato's cave allegory, most people are strapped down staring at the cave wall and can't conceive of a different world.
This journey has a lot of questions and few answers. We keep looking for solutions that don't feel good because that is a sure sign you are pushing out of the box. At the same time, we are looking at models all over the world, scouring YouTube, the internet, gurus in education, people in the business world, etc. for perspective.
Our first take on one system is to develop an Adaptive Learning Platform (ALP). A computerized system that allows us to group and regroup kids based on need and challenge independent of grade. Student preferences, interests, passions, etc. will be included in the ALP as well has hard testing data.
This will also shuffle teachers around into learning spaces as needed for the lessons. Building in impermanence. It isn't an overt goal to make teachers uncomfortable, but it isn't an afterthought either. When teachers become comfortable they begin to ritualize learning. "My classroom" has a meaning. Almost like a workstation on an assembly line. "My kids" has another meaning. Lack of caring for other children because only this finite group matters to me.
While relationship is vital to learning, the idea of one teacher one classroom is a fossil of the factory. The school day needs to be more fluid. We don't want a teacher to open a file cabinet and pull out the same canned lesson as last year or last semester. Like real meals prepared from scratch, there are always variations depending on the ingredients and tastes of the guests. So that is what one goal of the ALP is shooting for regularly...variety.
As we explore this more we are looking for partnerships with technology companies and several have shown an interest. They all tell us the full version of our ALP is not out there yet. Pieces here and there, but nothing like we are describing. The next few months will be fascinating!
