Some will say it is like 'Back to the Future'. Some will say, "the pendulum continues to swing". Others will simply say "thank goodness", or "it's about time".
The learning community of Woodland heights School knew excellence. It knew education and achievement at the cutting edge. It had been a well-oiled organization of talented and dedicated professionals all sailing the good ship 'WHS' in the same direction.
Then came 'No Child Left Behind'. Then came high-stakes standardized testing. Then came the language and labels: 'school in need of improvement', 'failing school', and 'corrective action'. Really? Well, as with most school districts who encountered difficulty meeting the bar of NCLB, administrators in Laconia took dramatic steps toward 'school improvement'. Many of these measures were consistent with what other school systems were doing to try to increase test scores, and not really improve the school. With the experience of the last handful of years, almost all educators are now taking a deep breath and without fear are now beginning to contemplate, "maybe there is more to a quality education, a quality school than test scores". Although we still must strive for increased performance on standardized tests, we at WHS now understand clearly that accountability measures of the past and 'teaching to the test' are woefully inept in determining and addressing the needs and skills critical for lifelong success, or for providing the educational experiences that children will need to be successful in the workplace of the 21st Century.
At WHS and at other progressive schools across the globe, it is known as the 21st Century Learning movement, recently refashioned into the 'Next Generation Learning' (NxGL) movement. At WHS we are not only in the thick of this movement, we are at the forefront of it here in New Hampshire.
The following is information is organized and presented by the Partnership for Next Generation Learning. This coalition of states, educational organizations, and business foundations promotes a realistic perspective on the flaws of our country's educational system and offers a realistic approach to addressing the imporvement needs of our society's educational institutions. If school systems are to really meet a bar that would constitute success for public education now and in the future, they would be striving to meet the following blueprint that our U.S. Department of Education Secretary, Arne Duncan, is now beginning to promote.
The Six Critical Attributes of Next Generation Learning
The work of the Partnership for Next Generation Learning is rooted in six attributes that form the foundation of a redesigned education system for all learners. The attributes describe the characteristics or conditions of a transformed student experience that will lead to higher levels of achievement and successful transition to postsecondary education, work, and adult life for all students.
Sources of the Attributes
The attributes spring from three primary sources that did not exist or were not relevant when the current system of education was designed:
Recognition that the world has changed
We have moved from a highly-localized industrial and agrarian economy to a technology-enabled global knowledge and service economy.
Economic shifts are playing out in every community, and the end game for public education has changed.
Greater knowledge of how learning happens
The science of learning has progressed dramatically since the basic structures and processes of public education were put in place.
We know more from neuroscience about how learning occurs and what kinds of experiences best foster learning.
Deepened understanding of social and cultural factors
The United States represents a highly diverse segment of the global population with an array of assets and needs.
The education system must have more intentional relationships with families, community agencies, and formal and informal learning providers.
The Attributes as Design Principles
The attributes are not program strategies. Rather, they serve as a set of design
principles to guide and inform the process of system redesign to a new, learnercentric system of public education. Grounded in a solid base of research and best practice from around the world, the attributes are:
Personalizing learning calls for a data-driven framework to set goals, assess
progress, and ensure students receive the academic and developmental
supports they need
World-class knowledge and skills require achievement goals to sufficiently
encompass the content knowledge and skills required for success in a globallyoriented
world
Performance-based learning and assessment puts students at the center of
the learning process by enabling the demonstration of mastery based on high,
clear, and commonly-shared expectations
Comprehensive systems of learning supports address social, emotional,
physical, and cognitive development along a continuum of services to ensure
the success of all students
Anytime, everywhere opportunities provide constructive learning experiences
in all aspects of a child’s life, through both the geographic and the Internetconnected
community
Authentic student voice is the deep engagement of students in directing and
owning their individual learning and shaping the nature of the education experience among their peers
As we at Woodland heights School have already begun; over the coming years, outstanding school systems across our country will be redesigning their programs and student learning opportunities to emulate these goals and attributes in order to provide a more meaningful, authentic, and effective educational experience for our nation's students. Our students come to us trusting that we will provide them with the knowledge, tools, skills, and abilities to lead happy, productive, successful, and fulfilling lives as adults. We must not disappoint our students by providing them with an education that was designed to serve the society and students populating our schools 30-40 years ago. The world has changed, and so must we.
