Throughout the country, education leaders and policymakers are leaning into the concept of redesigning schools from the standardized factory model to one that can enable stronger academic and social-emotional outcomes for every student.
Redesigning schools for deeper and more equitable learning requires systemic approaches that cultivate strong, supportive relationships and positive climate as well as engaging, student-centered learning, integrated student supports and meaningful family and community engagement, explained researchers and practitioners who participated in a Dec. 9 webinar hosted by the Learning Policy Institute (LPI).
Legislators and local educational agency governance teams play a crucial role in advancing policies that make schools more relevant and effective by building the infrastructure needed to sustain these efforts, said Cheryl Jones-Walker, director for the LPI’s Center for School and System Redesign.
“In a redesigned school, educators attend to the whole person by focusing on the conditions of the learning environment and the processes to support both learning and development,” Jones-Walker said. “This means that the classroom and schools are personalized, rather than being large and bureaucratic. The goal is for curriculum and instruction to be authentic and relevant, so often, it means that it’s presented in applied modalities, whether that’s inquiry or project based, performance task with assessments, thinking about internships and communities, in and outside of the larger educational ecosystem. In a redesign school, the learner is centered. Therefore, they are co-creating expectations, norms, and they’re participating in restorative practices when problems arise.”
Among the resources shared was a report released by LPI outlining 10 features from effectively redesigned high schools from across the U.S. and examples of schools already putting these features into practice.
The 10 sections dive into the following features: positive developmental relationships; safe, inclusive school climate; culturally responsive and sustaining teaching; deeper learning curriculum; student-centered pedagogy; authentic assessment; well-prepared and well-supported teachers; authentic family engagement; community connections and integrated student supports; and shared decision-making and leadership.
Each section includes research and examples of LEAs already engaged in school change efforts, as well as videos, cases, tools and policy reports, Jones-Walker said.
LEAs interested in pursuing this work should consider the role of governance teams in adopting policies and allocating funds that ensure high-quality professional development for a pipeline of educators from diverse backgrounds; high-quality instruction materials that align with the framework for redesign; and redistribution of resources in order to provide support for the most marginalized learners, she continued.
Meanwhile, to support LEAs in this work, state and federal agencies, “need to build capacity within the system and create an ethos of improvement, not compliance,” Jones-Walker said. “We need to think about the data collection and feedback, and how this can support better outcomes for young people. And we need to focus on expanding powerful learning experiences, and rewarding student achievement, and the reallocation of funds to address the needs of under-resourced students in order to address gaps in opportunities.”
