A Culture Focused on Learning

I attended the pre-conference session titled "Leading a Culture Focused on Learning".  It was facilitated by Bill Daggett, the founder and chairman of the International Center for Educational Leadership (ICLE - the host of this conference).  Anthony Colannino, a recently named Senior Fellow at ICLE co-facilitated.

Much was packed into this four hour session.  They walked us through the reasons why we must examine, question and ultimately change the way schooling has been done for 150 years.  They found that schools who are succeeding in innovation are those that are future focused, student centered and growth oriented.  They organized these in three handy contrasts.

1. Future focused vs forward focused.  
1. Envisioning the needs of the future, regardless of what has been done in the past.
2. Forward focused schools extrapolate from the now. They continue to add to existing programs and practices rather than invent new ways of doing things.
2. Student centered vs content centered.
1. Identifying the needs of students.  SEL, interdisciplinary, relevant, personalized, quadrants B & D.
2. Content focused schools operate in what he calls quadrants A & C.  (knowledge based)
3. Growth oriented vs proficiency oriented.  
1. Based on Carol Dweck's work with Growth Mindset
2. Proficiency based models force all students to learn the same things at the same time.

The SEL and interdisciplinary aspects of contemporary learning resonates with me, as does the understanding of the origin of the 19th century schooling model and its shortcomings in addressing today's learning needs.

I did notice how often the terms "rigor" and "rigorous" were used.  Indeed, it is one of the conferences tag lines and in the title of one of Bill's books.  (Relevance and Rigor)  I have always taken exception to that term being used to describe learning, which I believe should be joyous, relevant, engaging, thought provoking, challenging and at times, difficult.  But the dictionary definition of rigor is too strong and is often used in contexts of undesirable and traumatic experiences.  On the other hand, I do understand its connotation in education, even if it is distasteful to me.