This reflection on the CPRE Briefs evolves from the position of a veteran teacher in Springfield, Illinois School District 186.  Dr. Robert Hill, Superintendent of Schools, instituted the ”Vision 2000” plan a few years past.  Encouragement for teachers to make any comments or concerns as to the future of District 186 was the very first consideration.  It is now evident that this policy is developing further, and the local board of education is supporting many of the Vision 2000 plans and proposals.  Such initiatives, as the CPRE briefs state, must be unilateral in nature, not piecemeal or in isolated classrooms.  Our district has started, at least, to expand the horizon of education opportunities in our city.  An example of these developments is that schools have the option to become site-based facilities.  Several schools, including Fairview Elementary, have done this.
After the conduct of special training programs, appointments to design teams made up of faculty, staff, parents, and community members came about.  Fairview Elementary is just beginning the second year of the “site based management” plan.  So far, the Literacy Design Team implemented specific training for teachers and shared ideas on guided reading.  The Writing Design Team encouraged classrooms to expand by keeping daily journals and instituting writing workshops.  The Spanish Design Team researched the pros and cons of implementing Spanish into our curriculum.  There are more of the initiatives discussed later in this week’s reflections.
 There are five streams of reform discussed with their implications for teaching.

Summary:

    1. Subject matter teaching:  Elementary teachers should absorb changes in        content and method for the entire curriculum.  Elementary teachers need to switch from the “lecture” style of teaching to having the student’s use critical thinking.
    2. Problems of equity and increasing diversity of the student population:  A very real effort in reaching the young students’ ethnicity exists within the district.  The number of Early Start programs has increased.  The Illinois State Goals, Standards, and Benchmarks state that students must know the “body of knowledge” before they can go on.  Therefore, assess benchmarks before going on to new content areas.  In the area of Language Arts, students are encouraged to use their background knowledge.  New training studies indicate that students must make connections between their reading and writing skills, and himself or herself before the reading or writing becomes meaningful.
    3. Nature, extent, and the use of student assessment:  Assessment is beginning to change.  Written tests are one way to assess.  However, this summer during Project Lincol’n, the goal is to create several new assessment rubrics to check student scholastic performance.
    4. Social organization of schooling:  Springfield, Illinois District 186 is restructuring its school regions this year (2000-2001) as part of Vision 2000.  Site-based schools may develop themes and encourage students to attend from all over the district.  A few of the choices include:  year round schools, a gifted school, a science/math centered school, a literacy based school, and two charter schools.
    5. Professionalization of teaching:  The change of the renewal of teaching certification is just the beginning.  It is imperative and tantamount to extend rewards and additional opportunities to those teachers that accept increased obligations.  Currently, heaping involvement in the implementation of numerous changes requires many extra hours of cooperative planning and development.  Many times these requirements are unsubsidized.  Eventually, the professionalization of teaching will prohibit the “dead weight” teachers that are “getting by” until retirement.

Policy Dilemma

     Again, Springfield encourages diverse school environments.  Some of these are year round schools, charter schools as the Ball Charter Foundation School and the Edison Project, gifted, technology based, and literacy-based schooling.  Developing diversity of school programs has inner conflicts.
    All teachers must totally support such an effort.  Those who do not support the effort must not stay at that school.  Two years ago Fairview Elementary adopted a Literacy Based Program.  Initially, it applied to grades K-2.  This endeavor included several workshops, speakers, pilot programs, staff resource, etc.  The upper grades were not included in the planning and development.  Now, the design team is attempting to include the higher-grade levels.  The enthusiasm about this theme is not prevailing in the upper-level grade teachers, though.  They severely resent having the cart before the horse.

Alternatives to Traditional Models

     One big problem of trying an alternative model is involving each interested person.  This stems from the problem of time vs. resources.  Planning for an alternative model takes time and resources way beyond the normal workday.  Collaborative time and collaborative work environments are essential.  Management in this manner will lead to the appropriate innovations.  Teacher Instructional Leaders in the Language Arts area share alternative ideas from school to school within District 186.  In the past two years, these leaders have encouraged and trained teachers to use these new methods.  This coming year, the TIL’s will work in teams instead of individually.
 The school-university collaborations sound good in theory; establishing partnerships and conducting research in the classroom.  The university team must work closely with individual schools to accomplish meaningful research, though.  There are schools in Bloomington that affiliate closely with Illinois State University, as well as schools in Champaign/Urbana with a similar relationship with the University of Illinois.
     In 2000-2001, Springfield will have two charter schools.  Both schools are subordinate to District 186, but have additional resources from the business foundations that adopted them.
     How effective will a small sample of alternative models be?  Assessment of theories is essential.  The problem arises when the theories are false.  What happens to the “Lab Rats?”  If the theories remain supported, then the larger educational community must be prepared to accept the scale and scope of alternative models.  Currently, many schools find themselves in this transitional phase.

Professional Development Principles and Practices

     There is agreement with the CPRE briefs stating that the professional development principles and practices should include outside influences and community members.  To make a change in the teaching field, many need to be a part of the decision making process.  If not, rejection is inevitable.  Teachers must change from the “lecture” style of teaching and encourage individual pursuit of knowledge by students.  Support of this teaching style is tantamount.

     Teaching is always changing.  There is no certain style found to be 100% effective for every student.  At this time, there are new models and guidelines to institute.  The process of change will take years for implementation.  As each individual teacher is shown collaborative teaching methods, standards and benchmarks are developed, and support from the community and district are achieved, then the students will reap the benefits of this reform.

     The introduction stated that the three R’s are no longer enough for schools to teach.  Students need to learn how to learn.  This is not necessarily a new philosophy to teaching.  This is a technique employed in all previous classes conducted by this author; encouragement of students to strive for knowledge and skills.  To accomplish this, we must clarify the goals of education and identify the skills and knowledge students need.

     Reading this publication certainly invokes a strong desire to teach as a part of their utopian school.  Pace’s and Gardner’s visions of this idealized institution were very enjoyable.  The main points that; learning takes place through social interactions and dialogue, students and teachers work together to solve problems and create products; does connect the bridge between education research, theory, and practice.  Their well-conceived descriptions covered many of the most troublesome considerations.

 Ms. Carrero effectively demonstrated the difference between two theories of learning.  Her examples of how the differences between the Florida “traditional” school and her experiences in CPE (Central Park East) were illuminating.  After reading this, research from the resources about CPE and CPESS verified this dissertation as a true perspective.  It appears to be an excellent model for other schools.

Introduction- Reinventing Schools, What do schools need to improve?
 Schools are finding innovative solutions to the challenges of learning.  One solution to consider may include project based learning and flexible scheduling.  Such changes attack the fundamentals of current educational philosophies and require institution over time.

 The example given does seem possible.  The ideal of no bells to interrupt learning is logical, very much so.  In the elementary schools, adjusting scheduling to the subject matter has always been possible.  At Fairview Elementary, no bells signal the end of a particular subject.  If a lesson becomes involved, requiring more time; so be it.  It is great to hear a student ask, “Is it time to go home already?”
There is strong agreement with the statement that teachers need collaborative and reflection time.  The charter school plan has developed a common grade level planning time each day for teachers.  This is very enviable.  It overtaxes one to have to plan before school, lunchtime, or after school on a continuous basis.  Of course, this additional time transpires without compensation.  A supportive system as well as the principles for school governance where everyone has a part is essential.

     This article contained an example of school governance, which just might work.  This type of interaction between administration, teachers, students, and the community resource should have one of the highest priorities.  In this example of school governance, the Ft. Worth school solved the problem of having too many visitors at one time.

     The experience of my participation in numerous school and district committees for many years is extensive.  Abject dedication is the best description for the efforts expended trying new ideas and exercising leadership at Fairview Elementary.  Several other colleagues, whose abilities are highly respected, would seldom attempt new approaches.  However, full cognitive awareness of all of the changes taking place simultaneously in the educational community escaped me.  Michael Fullon’s statement concludes, “The greatest problem faced by school districts and schools is not resistance to innovation, but the fragmentation, overload, and incoherence resulting from the uncritical acceptance of too many different innovations.”
     This New Vision for Staff Development highlights the shifts that need to take place to actually bring about the changes needed in education.  They are: staff development needs to be results-driven; system thinking for total improvement; and constructivism so learners create their own knowledge structures rather than merely receive them from others.
     After digesting this information, it became apparent that Springfield School District is attempting to make this total shift in education in a high-risk situation.  A few of the implementations taking place in the third grade classroom follows.
Project Lincol’n indeed shows how an integration of curriculum with technology is advantageous to learning.  Showing how project-oriented learning is attainable is a high priority.  There are demonstrations of alternative forms of assessment with discussions about their values.
    Additionally, the district requires all teachers to complete training in the ISBE goals, standards, and benchmarks.  During the presentation of these items, modeling and activities transpire that engage the teachers.  No detailed directions are given; we actively participate and develop lessons.
    Steven Covey’s training on The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People is available for teachers.  Needless-to-say, it is high on the list of things to do.
Fairview Elementary aspires to become a site-based leadership school.  This allows design teams of staff, parents, and the community to become our decision makers.  My current participation includes two design teams.  The school has a hands-on science series (FOSS) currently in use for 5 years now.  This year our district has adopted a problem solving, manipulative math series called Mimosa.  Fairview also has a whole-language reading approach.  Involvement with the Literacy Design Team, which is meeting this summer to discuss the books, Mosaic of Thought (Keene and Zimmerman), and Strategies That Work (Harvey and Goudvis), demonstrate effective strategies to teach reading.  All of the new teacher-training programs seem to employ the participation and problem-solving methods rather than the lecture style.
     This week’s readings instilled an awareness of the picture of educational reform in its entirety and how engrossing the process actually is.