Changing Student Task (Why and How)

Transforming Task (Why and How)

One of the topics of recent discussion on the "Jeffco Generations" Facebook page is shifting student "task". Task is where the student gets the chance to engage, practice something, create, or solve a problem. Task is the experience that is part of the learning process. Without task, what you get essentially is a Sunday sermon with a teacher standing a delivering information to students. 

The first question that needs to be answered is WHY? Why do we NEED to change the student "task"? 

We've all heard the doom and gloom condemnation from education "reformers" across the country, so I'll spare regurgitating their rhetoric. Instead, let's look at some not often mentioned data points. 

The image below is a Gallup Student Poll (2015) of almost one million U.S. students from 3,300 schools across 46 states. There is a consistent decrease in levels of engagement as students get older, ultimately bottoming out in 11th grade where less than one in three students feels engaged in school. The survey indicated that ONLY HALF of adolescents reported feeling engaged in school, whereas one-fifth were actively disengaged. Even more heartbreaking is that one of the steepest declines in the survey is from the item "the adults at my school care about me" decreased from 67% of 5th graders saying yes to 23% of 11th graders agreeing with that statement. 

2015 Results: http://news.gallup.com/reports/189926/student-poll-2015-results.aspx 

This indicates that many students, particularly at the high school level, don't feel individually known or cared for at school. This is a survey of almost one million school aged children! This survey and it's results should concern everyone and challenge the thinking of those of us who work in education. We need to take responsibility for the results of this survey and transform both the learning experience and school design. 

The further you dig into data, the more concern there is and the greater necessity for changing the current ways of operating. An analysis of the U.S. Department of Education (2016) reported that 6.1 million students (13.1%), nearly one out of every eight students in school's in this country, missed 15 or more days of school. In high school, more than two million students miss 15 or more days of school. When you disaggregate the data, there's more alarm looking at the statistics for our minority students. 13.3% of Hispanic, 16.4% of black, and 22.2% of American Indian students are chronically absent from school. 

Forget the B.S. the reformers spew about the American Education Crisis, half of which is spin. The reality is we have a global world of work evolving at a rapid pace, with change accelerating at a blink of the eye. Public education is the genius of our democracy. A democracy that remains vibrant and a society that remains free largely due to the work done within our schools. If we are going to prepare ALL students for THEIR future, a future where they are prepared for ANYTHING -- we must make significant shifts and impact the engagement and absenteeism data mentioned above.

Just think about these facts:

• The largest taxi company owns no taxis. 
• The largest movie house owns no cinemas.
• The fastest growing banks actually have no money.

Education in America runs the risk of being Blockbuster or Kodak because it failed to change and adapt. Sitting there thinking this can't happen to me (or us) is foolish and misguided. Jeb Bush will tell you flat out his vision for education is millions of students at computers and someone sitting at a computer somewhere being a "teacher" (or proctor) to millions of kids. The mission of schools being #FutureReady is one undertaking that we simply cannot ignore. It's imperative first and foremost for ALL kids and THEIR future. Secondly, if we do not adapt and do not change, we run the risk of the vision of "reformers' like Jeb coming to fruition. The work, the magic that happens in our public schools in America is far too important to turn over to a computer and a misguided vision that cares more about profits than kids.

As mentioned in Jeffco Generations conversations transforming student task and innovating school design for that matter are big shifts. I feel personally that having a solid foundation of a few things will make the shifts easier. 

At the most fundamental level, the focus of education has to be on creating conditions in which students will want and be able to learn. Everything else HAS to be arranged on that basis. Next, and generations touches on this (professional model of teaching) teachers have an important role to facilitate students' learning. Doing this well is vital. For this to happen, principals MUST create the conditions in their schools in which teachers can fulfill these important roles. Their leadership and school culture are vital to the success of ALL students. Show me a culture that stinks and the performance results you share with me from that school also likely stink. At the district level, our school boards and leaders need to create conditions for principals to fulfill their important roles. 

Learning is a key cog of the Generations document. The heart of our schools is learning. If we are going to improve outcomes, we must understand the nature of learning (how students learn best and the various ways they do so). Take a look back at the statistics around engagement and absenteeism mentioned above. Now put yourself in a lecture based classroom with a teacher talking at you for 40 minutes to an hour at a time or leaving you to your own devices for 40 minutes to an hour with mindless worksheets for your enjoyment to complete. The engagement and absenteeism statistics aren't that great of a surprise when you envision what student life is like in classrooms like I just mentioned. They don't want to be there. Can you blame them? 

I would never want to fly on an airplane where the pilot learned to fly by completing worksheets. Our students NEED to engage in authentic tasks that are high in rigor, personalized, and fun. 

Education should enable young people to engage with the world within them as well as the world around them. Education should enable young people to become active and compassionate citizens. Education should enable students to understand and appreciate their own cultures and to respect the diversity of others. Education should enable students to become economically responsible and independent. 

The heart of this all, the heart of HOW we transform task and school design is RELATIONSHIPS. The fundamental purpose of education is to help students learn. Doing so is the role of the teacher. We have so much clutter around this purpose in America -- political and otherwise -- at the end of the day the purpose is student learning. Period. The heart of education is the relationship between the student and the teacher. Everything, absolutely everything depends on how productive and successful that relationship is. If that relationship is broken, so is the system. John Wooden always said "you have not taught until they have learned." If you are the sage on the stage delivering content and your students are not learning, education isn't happening.

If we are to create and sustain task transformation and school design innovation in Jeffco or anywhere -- we need to create the conditions within our schools where the relationship between teacher and students can thrive. Education is and always will be about PEOPLE. Too many schools or districts miss that mark. 

Take one look at this video of the awesome Hamish Brewer, one of the best principals in America. https://www.nbcnews.com/video/how-this-principal-s-unconventional-style-is-changing-lives-1100939331516  This is a leader. This is someone who gets it. Our schools needs more Hamish Brewer's in them. We need to stop with this preconceived notion of what a principal is. A leader is a leader. Period. Whether they skateboard in the hallway or come from PE like I did, a leader is a a leader, and they don't have to tell you they are a leader. They just lead and serve others. It's about putting the needs of others first and foremost. Too many people get a title and an office and forget it isn't about them or protecting their title and office. Education is about people, those we are fortunate to serve as a leader within a school community. 

My daughter wrote me a message in my office today. It says "don't blend in if you were born to stand out". We can continue the status quo in education or we can stand out and make a truly significant impact in the lives of students, families, teachers, staff, and entire communities. The choice is yours. 

"Enough is enough and its time for a change" - Owen Hart