Moving from industrial education to deeper learning

Key points:

Today's students need to develop a broad and complete body of knowledge. However, when this is compartmentalized into different areas of expertise, they may not develop the tools to integrate information and skills from disparate areas when they begin working in jobs we can't even imagine today. If we can move beyond the industrial model and engage in local education that connects with the community outside of school, teachers can still be experts, but they can also be facilitators who open the door to a world of potential partners with their own areas. . from experience.

The industrial model has also distanced us from the human side of education. There have been some efforts to bring back the human touch with a greater focus on social-emotional learning (SEL), but educators must put that work at the center of what they are doing.

Ulster Cooperative Educational Services Board (BOCES) is addressing these issues by adopting the competencies, or learning dispositions, of Deeper learning. The original Deep Learning Network was established in 2010 by the William & Flora Hewlett Foundation to serve as a source of innovation. The network of 10 school networks encompasses a mix of traditional and charter public schools in 41 states and serves more than 200,000 students. Each school network has a unique approach to delivering deeper learning with the shared purpose of promoting better educational outcomes for young people. Deeper learning creates profound experiences that tap into each student's uniqueness and are rooted in connection, relationships, and creativity.

Here's how this approach is transforming our teaching and learning, along with some tips for finding entry points into this type of work in your own district.

Overcoming the challenges of school transformation

Embracing deeper learning poses the same challenges inherent to any school transformation. How will we prepare students for state assessments? Where will we find time to reach out and collaborate with community partners? What happens if we do not carry out a particular activity that is linked to an evaluation?

The values ​​of a school or district are expressed most explicitly in its schedule and budget. If we have eight periods in a day and decide that students need six academic subjects, one lunch period, and one physical education period, what is the value here? Does that mean we need shorter periods to add one a day? Does it mean that we train our teachers to offer relational and human-centered education one day a week, or do we ask academic subject teachers to dedicate a certain amount of time to it each week? Each of these solutions has costs, but if relationships are important to us, we will find a way to fit them into our schedule and within our budget.

After COVID-19 hit, district leaders realized that students needed SEL now more than ever and found creative ways to work it into their existing schedule, and over time, many found ways to expand and incorporate it in new ways. more complete and natural way in their schedules. schedule and budget.

And the same goes for deeper learning. Something as critical as school transformation can't happen overnight, but every school and district has entry points to begin doing this work in ways that make sense for students, teachers, and communities.

Moving toward deeper learning in our own district

Ulster BOCES began working towards deeper learning with our partners in hhigh technology a decade ago. We were focused on learning how to create an environment that supported the types of relationships we wanted to help build between teachers and students. That's where the magic happens. In the school environment, teachers have the greatest and most direct impact on students.

The role of leadership is also important, and over time we begin to think about the conditions that allow enthusiasm, experimentation, failure, and revision to occur. Those conditions and the provision behind them are the same for high school students as they are for adult students. Our leadership team began asking its members:

• What are the leadership moves we should take so that our teachers feel good about assuming this role and feel prepared to be designers of these types of experiences?
• Are we leading in a way that models for our teachers how we would like our students to learn?
• Are we asking teachers to engage in the same process that we would like them to create in the classroom?

In the fall of 2023, we held a superintendents' conference where, for the first time, we invited all Ulster BOCES staff members, including custodial staff, food service staff, and administrative staff, to begin thinking together about protocols, structures and equity. principle-based provisions that lead to deeper learning. The main theme of the day was connection: revitalizing old connections and forging new ones. It was an opportunity to think about who we are as an organization and where we want to go next. It included acknowledging that we want to do things differently, while also highlighting all the wonderful things we do in our district and want to continue.

Once we made the commitment to deepen learning, micro-moments of change began to occur across the district as teachers learned and engaged. That is often the case with institutional innovation: change happens in small pockets. Innovation can be a lonely place; It is our role as district leaders to join those pockets into a quilt that everyone can share.

Identify entry points for your district

Sometimes the entry point for transformation is as simple as changing your professional development opportunities to enable your teachers to learn the way you want your students to learn.

In the specific case of deeper learning, I recommend experiencing it in action. This summer, Ulster BOCES will host Deeper Learning New York 2024 (#DLNY24), a conference designed to help school and district administrators explore entry points for this work and begin planning next steps. As participants participate in interactive workshops, engage in deep dives, and attend dynamic den talks, they will have the opportunity to experience deeper learning from the student's point of view.

Student voices should also inform the form the transformation takes. Bring them together to talk about what they would like to see before you begin, and continue the dialogue about their experiences as you begin to make changes. Ask them what's different about their experiences, how their opportunities have changed, and what new possibilities they envision in the future.

Along the way, take a look beyond the industrial education system as it exists. High tech High (HTH) has many resources and examples of how powerful deeper learning can be. No two school districts are exactly alike, and our entry points into this work (and the new models we will develop as a result) will vary accordingly. HTH is a leader in this work, but there are many other districts and schools across the country undergoing similar transformations. If the HTH approach to deeper learning doesn't fit your district's context, look for administrators interested in transformation in districts that are more similar to yours.

Rome was not built in a day. The point is continuous improvement towards more engaging, personal and equitable means of teaching and learning. Along the way, don't be afraid to explore. Some districts are further ahead than others in certain areas, but we are all trying to solve the same problems. Together, we will build a borderless network to have these conversations. If you feel like changing, let's discover together what is possible.