Effecting Change at School and District Levels

We have all shared many frustrations and successes about science education in our classroom and our districts. Some of us have come across more roadblocks than others whether that roadblock be diversity, socioeconomic status, or district/school programming. I have been involved in a group that is hoping to change the philosophy of teaching science at our schools and possibly our district. We have talked about how we may just be a small drip, but over time, and with many, many drips, we can do great things.

I know I have shared this in groups before, so I feel somewhat like a broken record. I have been involved in a Place-Based Education Leadership group that has been meeting at Teton Science School in Jackson Hole, Wyoming for the last several years. Initially, we learned how we can integrate teaching a Place-Based Education (PBE) model in our classrooms or grade levels. We then, after we understood the approach and philosophy behind teaching a PBE model, we were able to begin tackling the roadblocks that lay before us. The first block we foresaw was the administration at our immediate buildings. We all agreed to share with our administration what we were trying to do, and to be allowed a trial period to provide data. Data, now that’s the key word to get an administrator on board. We were able to provide positive trend data to our administrators over the course of the first year, so then we moved on to the other teachers in the building. I focused first on the intermediate teachers in my building as I understood the curriculum they were teaching, and what could be expected of intermediate elementary learners. After doing some cohort work, the intermediate teachers went to a professional development together at Teton Science School so that the teachers could be the learners in a PBE model. NOW, these teachers are hooked.

At this point, that’s where I am. The intermediate group is going to work with the primary group now. After we get our school all on board, and our school is showing growth on standardized assessments in all content areas, then we can approach the district level. Our district has site-based management, so it is a challenge to effect change on a broader scale, but in the end, it will be worth it.

Our Sputnik?

I unfortunately don’t spend a lot of time learning about, or discussing politics. I actually live in a blissfully naïve world most of the time. I watch the news, so I am aware, but seldom discuss, or really develop an opinion on politics.

That being said, I have always disliked the War on Terror. I understand the need to make our country safe, I do, but are we going about it correctly? Throwing money at it?

OUR country needs help. We spend billions on the war, just as Friedman discusses in the article What’s Our Sputnik? but nearly every school district in our country is cutting budgets. It’s not just schools, but most of the threads that make up our united country. Selfishly thinking, we need to begin working to take care of our families and specifically, the students in our country. Don’t get my wrong, I fully support our troops and what they do, but I don’t necessarily agree with what they are asked to be doing.

I am hoping that the recession and the alternative fuel crisis are going to be our Sputnik. Our country is realizing that we need to be more competitive and less reliant on other countries for our petroleum-based needs. I think that we are slowly realizing our Sputnik-like event, but it will take time to transition. Unfortunately, I don’t think that it will be as fast and furious as the nation’s focus was with the actual Sputnik event.