Extraordinary Learning for All

How Communities Design Schools Where Everyone Thrives
1. Auflage 2024
ISBN: 978-1-394-23054-9
Verlag: Wiley

Buch, Englisch, 304 Seiten, Format (B × H): 156 mm x 227 mm, Gewicht: 331 g

Proven methods, hard-won lessons, and practical tools to create a better future of education

Extraordinary Learning for All: How Communities Design Schools Where Everyone Thrives delivers a hopeful, humane, realistic, and compelling portrait for how we must reinvent schooling for a new century, drawing on the voices and experiences of real school communities who are on that journey and illuminating the specific actions that school and system leaders can take to spark these journeys in their communities. The frameworks, concepts, and stories in this book, emanating from direct, in-the-trenches partnerships with innovators on the ground, show, in genuine detail, what makes this work hard—but also what makes it possible.

Written by the co-founders and Chief Learning Officer of Transcend, a leading nonprofit in school innovation, this book provides solutions to the major problems we face in education, including approaches that:

- Reverse declining enrollment rates and chronic truancy, especially in large urban districts, through better student engagement
- Mitigate our national mental health crisis through school designs that address higher-than-ever-rates of boredom, stress, and chronic anxiety
- Engage and collaborate with parents and communities to improve local schools
- Uplift the voices and expertise of teachers, 300,000 of whom left the profession between 2020-2022

For educational leaders in communities of all shapes and sizes, Extraordinary Learning for All: How Communities Design Schools Where Everyone Thrives is your blueprint to break free from the traditional model of schooling and build a better future for all.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Samouha, Aylon

Wetzler, Jeff

Henry Wood, Jenee

Weitere Mitwirkende

Canada, Geoffrey

Fachgebiete

• Sozialwissenschaften Pädagogik Schulen, Schulleitung Schulleitung, Schulentwicklung

Inhaltsverzeichnis

About the Authors xv

Acknowledgments xvii

Authors’ Note xxi

Foreword xxiii

Introduction 1

Two Schools, Two Districts, Two Possible Futures 1

Our Case for Change 2

School and Its Industrial-Era Design 4

How to Read This Book 7

Who Is This Book For? 8

About Us 9

Part I Extraordinary Learning for All

Chapter 1 Extraordinary Experiences and Outcomes 13

Extraordinary Outcomes for All 14

Extraordinary Experiences for All 16

Chapter 2 Community-Based Design 33

The Basics of Community-Based Design 35

Part II Stories from Four Community Design Journeys

Chapter 3 DC Public Schools’ Van Ness Elementary Washington, DC 55

Community and Leadership Context 59

The Blueprint: Overview of the Whole Child Model Learning Environment Design 60

The Blueprint: Goals and Guiding Concepts 62

The Blueprint: Student Experience 69

The Blueprint: School and System Elements 75

Chapter 4 Northern Cass Hunter, North Dakota 81

Community and Leadership Context 84

Early Innovations Toward Competency-Based Learning: Pursuing Greater Learner Customization 85

How the Design Cycle Guided and Supported Northern Cass’s Design Journey 92

Chapter 5 Brooklyn STEAM Center Brooklyn, New York 103

Community and Leadership Context 106

The Blueprint: Overview of Brooklyn STEAM’s Learning Environment Design 108

The Blueprint: Goals and Guiding Concepts 109

The Blueprint: Student Experience 115

Chapter 6 Intrinsic Public Schools Chicago, Illinois 127

Community and Leadership Context 129

The Academic Model: How Community-Based Design Strengthened Learning 132

Part III How to Embark on a Community-based Design Journey

Chapter 7 Launching Your Design Journey 143

“Gear Up”: Lay the Foundation for Your Community Design Journey 145

“Map It”: Craft a High-Level Vision for the Entire School or System 150

Chapter 8 Deepening Your Design Journey 167

“Zoom In”: Craft a Detailed Vision for a Specific Aspect of the Student Experience 168

“Test-Drive”: Test and Refine the Student Experience 177

“Look Ahead”: Prepare to Continue the Journey 185

Chapter 9 Advancing and Sustaining Your Design Journey 189

Shift from “Test-Drive to Full Speed”: Advance a Component of the Student Experience from Testing to Multiple Cycles of Implementation 191

“Zoom In Again”: Design Additional Components of the Student Experience 199

“Map It Again”: Continue to Refine the High-Level Vision for the Entire School or System 202

“Perform Routine Maintenance”: Maintain the Process and Leadership Over the Long Haul 207

Part IV How to Turbocharge Your Community Design Journey

Chapter 10 Your Leadership Matters 213

A Special Kind of Leadership for a Special Kind of Challenge 215

What Do Learner-Centered Leaders Do? 215

How Do Learner-Centered Leaders Have Impact on Conditions? 220

The Source of This Framework 223

Be a Learner-Centered Leader 225

Chapter 11 The Policy Environment Around You Matters 229

Policy Impact 230

Assessment and Accountability Systems 231

Seat Time and Graduation Requirements 236

Funding for Innovation 238

Navigating Your Policy Environment 241

Conclusion 245

Conclusion: You Are Not Alone 247

Explore New Models that Make the Leaps 247

Find a Design Partner 248

Where Do I Find Design Partners? 250

Build Your Own Capacity 251

Join a Growing Network 252

Extraordinary Learning for All 252

Endnotes 255

Index 271

Über Autor(innen)

Aylon Samouha (Chicago, IL) is Co-Founder & Co-CEO of Transcend Education. Prior to co-founding Transcend, Aylon was an independent designer providing strategy and design services to education organizations, schools, and foundations. Aylon also served as Chief Schools Officer at Rocketship Education; leading the highest performing network of low-income schools in the state of California, designing the academic model and blended learning approach, and growing the network from 3 to 7 schools.

Jeff Wetzler (Hastings on Hudson, NY) is Co-Founder & Co-CEO of Transcend Education. Prior to Transcend, Jeff spent a decade in senior leadership roles at Teach For America. Jeff was a founding board member of Leadership Prep Charter Schools and has served on the boards of Uncommon Schools NYC and the National Academy of Advanced Teacher Education. He currently serves as board chair of New Classrooms Innovation Partners.

Jenee Henry Wood (New Haven, CT) is Head of Learning at Transcend Education, an organization which helps schools across the country build & share innovative new models of learning. Transcend has served over 800,000 students through their work with nearly 400 districts & schools. Transcend directly supports schools and systems in their design work, democratizes design support through resources, tools, and professional learning, and catalyzes systemic change by engaging funders and system leaders to understand and advance innovation.