Raymond McNulty, Senior Vice President, International Center for Leadership in Education

May 14, 2008Burlington, Vermont

• Identify the essential characteristics of successful schools

• Best Practices/Research to assist schools

• Organize into useful tools

Themes

1. General Thoughts

2. Change

3. 21st Century Skills

4. Focus and Closing Advice

2020

General Thoughts

The primary aim of education is not to enable students to do well in school, but to help them do well in the lives they lead outside of school.

• Basic Knowledge/Skills

• English Language (spoken)

• Reading Comprehension • (in English)• Writing in English • (grammar, spelling, etc.)• Mathematics

• Science

• Government/Economics

• Humanities/Arts

• Foreign Languages

• History/Geography

“Are They Really Ready To Work?”

Applied Skills

•Critical Thinking/Problem Solving

•Oral Communication

•Written Communication

•Teamwork/Collaboration

•Diversity

•Information Technology Application

•Leadership

•Creativity/Innovation

•Lifelong Learning/Self Direction

•Professionalism/Work Ethic

•Ethics/Social Responsibility

We’ve created false proxies for learning…

• Finishing a course or textbook has come to mean achievement

• Listening to lecture has come to mean understanding

• Getting a high score on a standardized test has come to mean proficiency

Learning should have its roots in..

• Meaning, not just memory

• Engagement, not simply transmission

• Inquiry, not only compliance

• Exploration, not just acquisition

• Personalization, not simply uniformity

• Collaboration, not only competition

• Trust, not fear

A few years ago, we got a wake up call when the 1999 PISA

results were published.

US 15 Year-Olds Rank Near Middle Of The Pack Among 32 Participating Countries: 1999

U.S. RANKREADING 15TH

MATH 19TH

SCIENCE 14TH

The new ones?

PISA 2003: US 15 Year-Olds Rank Near The End Of The Pack Among

29 OECD Countries

U.S. RANK READING 20TH

MATH 24TH

SCIENCE 19TH

Source: NCES, 2005, International Outcomes of Learning in Mathematics, Literacy and Problem Solving: 2003 PISA Results.NCES 2005-003

Problems are not limited to our high-poverty and high-minority

schools . . .

“We’re No. 1! We lead the world in prison incarcerations. If only we were No. 1 in education.”

Tom Carroll, “Education Beats Incarceration” in Education Week, March 26, 2008 (p. 32) referring to a recent Pew Center study showing that one in every 100 Americans is behind bars; the figure for African-American men between 20 and 34 is one in nine.

Many involved in “school re-invention work” would argue that change is the most talked about and least acted upon concept in

education today.

What got us to where we are in education today,

will not get us to where we need to be!

Educators need to become the agents of change.

Leadership is about action, not position.

Change

THE IMPLEMENTATION DIP….

THE POSSIBILITY CURVE..

Fullan--1990

BANKING

• Sears

• IBM

• Digital…. “In Search of Excellence”

• Xerox

Education exists in the larger context of society.

When society changes – so too must education if it is to

remain viable!

• E-mail• Web pages• Google• iPODs• Laptops• Digital cameras• Doppler radar• Cell Phones• Debit cards

• Blogs

• Wikis

• Tagging

• Text messaging

• MySpace

• Podcasts

• PDAs

• Genetic code

STUDENT ASPIRATIONS / PARTICIPATION GAP

SELF WORTH

ACTIVE ENGAGEMENT

PURPOSE

BelongingHeroesSense of Accomplishment

Fun & ExcitementCuriosity & CreativitySpirit of Adventure

Leadership & ResponsibilityConfidence to Take Action

Relationships

Relevance

Rigor

Three Question Exercise

1. What will the world be like 20 years from now?

2. What skills will your child need to be successful in that world?

3. What would learning look like if it was designed around your answers?

We can complain about the troubling inadequacies of the

present ----

or we can face them.

We can talk and dream about the glorious schools of the future ---

OR WE CAN CREATE THEM!

International Center for Leadership in Education, Inc.

1587 Route 146

Rexford, NY 12148

Phone (518) 399-2776 x 221

Fax (518) 399-7607

E-mail –

info@leadered.com

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