When it comes to strategies for adapting to the needs of 21st century learners and preparing them for a 21st century world, members’ ideas reflected some common themes: (hyperlink to proper sections below)

1. Upgrade standards, curriculum and assessment
2. Support the characteristics students and teachers need to succeed
3. Address the infrastructure of the public education system
4. Communicate and work with partners in new and effective ways

Some answers came up again and again. These are listed in each category as Basic Tools. Other answers reflected more “out-of-the-box” thinking. These ideas are listed below as Power Principles

1. Upgrade standards, curriculum and assessment

Schools are currently:

• Using technology in new ways to prepare students for the global economy.
• Boosting computer literacy, offering online information and course opportunities.
• Integrating computers into instruction, rather than treating them as an isolated event.
• Doing more together, rather than competing with one another. The work in technology, curriculum alignment and distance learning in Genesee County are some examples of this.

There is still work to do:

• Infuse more academic rigor at the middle school level
• Allow students to earn [high school] credit in grades 7 and 8 and allow them to go to high school if they can pass 3 out of 4 core classes per semester.
• Consider “tracking” students so Vocational Education students and doctors-to-be don’t have to take the same classes.
• Design more classes that incorporate vocational skills and provide the availability for students to take them.
• Begin foreign language study at the elementary level.
• Educate kids as to how to pay bills, save money, get a loan, use credit cards, etc. Infuse real-life economics, not macro economics taught in many schools.
• Establish a real commitment to high academic expectations that focus on the development of academic skills and individual student interest.
• Give students a solid, basic education because we really don’t know what the jobs of tomorrow will be. We can guess they will need to understand chemistry, physics, math, reading and writing. If they can understand and apply those, they will probably be able to accommodate jobs of the future.
• Focus more on a well-grounded education, meaning better instruction in science, math, reading, writing and social studies. That means students will have less opportunities for some of the electives they have had in the past. They would still have time for band and chorus (example), but probably wouldn’t be able to take more, such as band, chorus and jazz band.
• Integrate technology into every aspect of the curriculum, and provide students with real-life applications of their knowledge.

BACK TO TOP

“Most people agree that we need courses that are more rigorous and relevant. We need to stop teaching from paradigms that involve: a) sorting and selecting kids and b) washing our hands of kids who need additional time and support.”

–Region 3

2. Support the characteristics students and teachers need to succeed

Schools are:

• Putting much more emphasis on—and directing many more resources toward—the social/emotional domains of our students’ lives. (repeated in next area)
• Looking at students individually; working with them to enhance and foster growth.
• Holding higher expectations for students and staff.

There is still work to do:

• Encourage more students entering college to major in math and science so that they can go on to medical, nursing, and engineering fields. We now need many more students taking on the study of math and science than we have seen over the past 15 years.
• do a better job at teaching our students to become self learners. This would better prepare them for the multiple job changes throughout life that most will experience.
• Show relevance of what students are being asked to learn to real-life situations.
• Use best practices for instruction.
• Do everything possible to have students reading at grade level by the end of 2nd grade.
• Require competency testing to graduate in core curriculum.
• Be sure that students leave vocational programs with a marketable skill.
• Create the desire and motivation in students to extend themselves toward higher levels of learning so that they can improve their chances at employment and a higher standard of living would be a goal.
• Educate students as to why a tougher curriculum is important. Show them that a 4.0 in a remedial course is not as good as a 3.0 in a rigorous college prep curriculum. Some kids take it too easy during their senior year.

BACK TO TOP

“I believe we are doing more together, rather than competing with one another. I believe the work in technology, curriculum alignment and distance learning in Genesee County are some examples of this.”

–Region 4

3. Address the entire public education system—the “way we do school”

Schools are currently:

• Looking at data and meeting (or at least trying to) the needs of all children.
• Putting much more emphasis on—and directing many more resources toward—the social/emotional domains of our students’ lives. (repeated in previous area)

There is still work to do:

• Enable schools to have more local control and the funds to support individual district and student needs. We need to move beyond a cookie cutter approach[es].
• Fund schools at an appropriate level so districts are not forced to cut programs, reduce staff and increase class size, which causes more kids to fall through the cracks.
• Provide more access to dual enrollment access and provide the funds to support it.
• Enable administrators to "move along" poor teachers and replace with quality instructors who build relationships and use best practices.
• Offer high quality professional development programs to provide teachers with the opportunity to increase their knowledge and skills, and reform the present tenure law to eliminate the bureaucracy of removing an ineffective staff member.
• Establish reliable research-based data on effective educational programs, and then train both principals and teachers on how to analyze the results in order to make effective data-based decisions.
• Move away from the factory model that students in seats (1098 hours) means learning is taking place. Train and allow staff to teach in different ways, methods, locations, etc.
• Be more proactive in making sure the way we teach will help all children learn and that we take a major responsibility in helping them learn.
• Focus on early education, in particular, literacy for all kids. If people can read and comprehend what they are reading, all other functions can be supported from that base of knowledge and self-confidence.
• Assess the world-wide job market and prepare our students to function as productive adults in that market. While preparing our students with the state core curriculum, we also have to continue to update and address technology needs.

BACK TO TOP

“Governor Granholm wants higher % of post high school educational achievement, and I believe that this is a good thought. However, without the incentive to get there, mandating a more rigorous high school curriculum won't change that.”

– Region 1

4. Communicate and work with partners in new and effective ways

Schools are currently:

• Doing more together rather than competing with one another.

• Get parents involved at home a lot more!
• We need to continue to work with parents in helping children learn and give parents options in helping to direct and choose their child's future.
• Educate parents as to why a tougher curriculum is important—that a 4.0 in a remedial course is not as good as a 3.0 in a rigorous college prep curriculum. Parents allow kids to drop courses that may hurt their GPA, and some allow kids to take it too easy during their senior year.
• Develop partnerships with Colleges and Universities, businesses, parents, and the local community in order to focus all of our resources on the academic success of each individual student.

• Phase in new high school graduation requirements; too much too soon will cause a watering down to prevent higher dropout rates.
• Dump the MEAP test and establish grade level competencies that need to be achieved before moving to the next level.
• Most people agree that we need courses that are more rigorous and relevant. We need to stop teaching from paradigms that involve: a) sorting and selecting kids and b) washing our hands of kids who need additional time and support.
• Totally reconstruct the organization of K-12 schools, as it is now, school quality is completely random.
• Tier diplomas. College prep, minimal requirements, accommodated (special education), tech prep, etc. Right now we give everyone the same diploma for entirely different achievements. Why? We identify college degrees by program content.
• Create a statewide program like the Kalamazoo Promise, whereby every high school graduate has the opportunity for 4 more years of education with at least the tuition paid for. Obviously, this takes public money, but the potential for a highly educated workforce and the potential economic impact to our State would be huge with ripple effects felt everywhere, even in remote areas of the U.P.
• Our Federal Government is making the case for more scientists and engineers in order to compete globally. The problem is that although there are many students capable of entering such a field, too many are looking in another direction. Giving incentives for the top students able to handle the curriculum may be a solution. There must be specific career tracks set out for those identified students at an early point in their high school career. If they follow a pre-set preparatory curriculum in targeted areas (science, technology, or engineering, as an example), and they do it successfully, a portion or all of their college education is paid for if they meet minimum grade point averages along their college path. This is a market based solution that does three things:
  1. It focuses on the career areas most in need;
     
  2. It identifies and focuses only those students able to handle the classes (top 15% of the students potentially as an example); and
     
  3. It rewards those who successfully complete the curriculum.

  This approach needs the collaboration of universities and our state and national government. I think it should be targeted on a very limited basis for the next five years and make judgments along the way as to the success rate at increasing students entering in and graduating into one of the identified need areas. This is a primary goal of the incentive based approach.