Focused Learning
Communities for 21st Century Results : The
Why, What, and How of High School Reform in I-SS
Dr. Bryan Setser
Chief Quality Officer
Executive Director of High School Reform
Dr. Steve Hill
Executive Director of Career and Technical Education
Mr. Lamar Lewis
Freshman Academy Director
Lake Norman High School
Mr. Mark Carter
Freshman Academy Director
West Iredell High School
Vision
The mission of the North Carolina
State Board of Education is that
every public school student will
graduate from high school, globally
competitive for work and
postsecondary education and
prepared for life in the 21st Century.
Iredell-Statesville Schools will rigorously
challenge all students to achieve their
academic potential and to lead productive
and rewarding lives. We will achieve this
mission with the support of parents, staff
and the community. Iredell - Statesville Schools
A new generation of students expects a learning
environment that integrates today’s digital tools,
accommodates a mobile lifestyle, adapts to individual
learning styles and encourages collaboration and
teamwork.
2006 American Life Project Report
Yesterday & Today? Tomorrow?
21st Century learners still need us to teach them what to do
when they don’t know what to do.
Dr. William Daggett
Children are native to cyberspace
and we adults are immigrants.
- Douglas Rushkoff
Then
movies
records
books mtv
tv cnn
vhs
magazines phone
pen & paper
radio cassette
Now
podcasts tivo pda movies :* web movies
ps2 & x box instant messaging bluetooth
blackberry :P records
fax books email mtv
iPod games :) cable tv
car dvd tv cnn pagers
video conf. cd/dvd vhs
magazines tm phone
net mobile phones pen & paper satellite tv
mp3 player radio wifi computers cassette
MySpace blackberry portable phones VoIP
Kids are wired differently today – evidence in neural research supports the
intensive amount of time engaged in technology has changed the prefrontal
cortex – kids can toggle and multitask much faster than adults (4-6 times
faster) International Center for Education, 2006
New Connections New Communities New Content
2000 2003 2005
Connected Individuals Virtual Communities Collaborative Communities
Today’s students are bored out their minds with “Farris Buhler” type of teachers who focus on paper
worksheets or computerized work sheets. www.leadered.com
Digital Native Students Digital Immigrant Faculty
Information gathering quickly from multiple Slow and controlled release of information
multimedia sources from limited sources
Multitasking Single or limited tasking
Pictures, sound, and video Text
Random access to hyperlinked multimedia Providing information linearly, logically, and
information sequentially
Working interactively and networking with
Working independently
many others simultaneously
Learning that is relevant, instantly useful,
Teaching to the curriculum and examinations
and fun
Ian Jukes and Anita Dosaj
The InfoSavvy Group, February 2005.
And yet....
Our High Schools are museums, and we have become the curators.
High School students reflect adult apathy and unwillingness to change.
Graduation rate in I-SS is at 64%
Nationwide the results are the same…..
12th Graders View of School
1983 to 2000
Percent
School Work
is Meaningful Courses are
Interesting School will be Important
in Later Life
The Condition of Education 2002, National Center for Education Statistics
"For the first time in our history, we are going to
face competition from low-wage, high-human-
capital communities, embedded within India,
China and Asia.
It will not be enough for us to just leave no child
behind. We also have to make sure that many
more young Americans can get as far ahead as
their potential will take them.
How we meet this challenge is what will define
our nation's political economy for the next
several decades."
What has I-SS done to get ready
for reform?
1. We have aligned our efforts with the
following national and state initiatives.
American Diploma Project
www.achieve.org
Results That Matter
http://www.21stcenturyskills.org/
NC State Default Curriculum
www.dpi.state.nc.us/sbe_meetings/0611//hsp
0611hsp05.pdf
2. Developed a website for HS Reform
http://www.iss.k12.nc.us/curriculum/high/
3. Formed a 2nd Generation High School
Reform Task Force (2003-2005) (2006-
present)
4. Moving from a teaching system to a
learning system via our model to Raise
Achievement and Close Gaps.
5. Planning for a 21st Century Skills
Academy, SHS Performing and Visual
Arts Magnet, Pilot studies with
podcasting, graphing calculators, and
interactive classrooms.
American
http://www.achieve.org/http://www.achieve.or
The Power of the PDSA Process
• Lamar’s personal PDSA journey
• A walk through the document
• 5 generations of revisions
• Executive Summary
• The Work
• AP, Virtual, and Registration Reform
• Funding
• Curriculum Guide Revisions
Focused Learning Communities
• Wading into the waters of reform by Mark
Carter
• Freshman Academies past and present
• Grant relief and/or sustainability
• FLC Leadership: The Road Ahead
I-SS 2010: How To Build A Student
For The 21st Century
• CCTL
• SHS Performing and Visual Arts
Magnet
• 21st Century Institute and Related
Academies
• North Carolina Default Curriculum
• Emergent Technologies and Pilots –
Podcasting at SIHS and The
Biotech Corridor
Challenges & Conclusions
1. Encourage students to take more art and career tech courses –
research is very clear that this improves reading and math skills.
2. No research supports that doubling up on reading and math in
elementary while dropping arts actually improves student skill
levels.
3. Reading is key to life-long learning and reading in the content area
is key to life-long reading.
4. You will not have change until you have more pressure for change
than resistance to change.
5. Change will be difficult --1/3 Effect.
6. Leaders must create community/business/parent led pressure to
facilitate change.
Q&A