Everyone who is anyone in education reform these days will tell you that the American high school experience needs to be reinvented to ensure that all students graduate with the ability to produce, analyze and communicate knowledge necessary for success in the 21st century.
While the diagnosis for high school reform is commonplace, concrete strategies for changing the institution are less readily available and examples of successful high school redesign are even harder to find. Reformers consistently voice a refrain concerning the need to bring rigor, relevance and relationships to American high schools. These calls for reform should be supplemented with evidence of what effective high school reform actually looks like from the field. Yes, high schools should be smaller learning communities that support more meaningful relationships between teachers and students, students and communities, and students with their peers. But we need to provide guidance on how teaching and learning looks different in redesigned high schools. Small schools alone are not enough, we need teaching and learning environments that dramatically change the way educators teach and students learn.
The degree to which the rigor, relevance and relationship foundations of high school reform are actually realized remains highly dependent on the teaching and learning environments present in high schools across the state. With support from the North Carolina Business Committee for Education (NCBCE) and the Center for 21st Century Skills, the Center for Teaching Quality (CTQ) has recently evaluated teaching and learning environments in redesigned and early college high schools across the state.
The resulting report, Teaching and Learning Conditions Improve High School Reform Efforts, indicates that redesigned and early college high schools in North Carolina vary in terms of design, organization, and instructional practices. However, each is fundamentally committed to a common vision of creating meaningful relationships with students, providing students with relevant instruction that prepares them for the realities of the world around them and ensuring rigorous learning opportunities that help them excel in college and the workforce.
The report and related recommendations should inform school practices and policy decisions for supporting high school reform in redesigned, early college and traditional high schools across North Carolina. The recommendations provide specific details regarding how high schools can benefit from:
1) Focusing on not only the quantity, but also the quality of non-instructional time for teachers;
2) Reviewing current standards and assessments to align with 21st century skills;
3) Building partnerships to improve instruction, make learning relevant to the real world and improve access to and utilization of technology;
4) Empowering teachers to influence more school-based decisions; and
5) Concentrating on a common vision for success.
Over the next two weeks, CTQ will run a three part blog series highlighting the insights of teachers, principals and administrators in successful redesigned and early college high schools in North Carolina. The voices of these educators and related recommendations will focus on how specific working condition interventions can improve 1) rigor; 2) relevance and 3) relationships.
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