Program & Instructional Enhancements

Agenda

• Purpose
• Process
• Program Opportunties
• Instructional Opportunities

Purpose

• Develop & implement HHRS-specific programatic & instructional approaches to enhance HHRS appeal to students and families
• Showcase HHRS as an innovative and engaging learning community

Purpose

• Create frameworks and toolsets to successfully implement programs and approaches
• Teach students future-ready and transdisciplinary skills

The Process

• Define the problem
• Gather evidence
• Identify challenges and opportunities

The Process

• Share data and evidence with all stakeholders
• Engage stakeholders in small-group dialogue around the problem and data collected
• Create "How might we..." questions
• Create design teams

Design Teams - The Why

• Move beyond islands, silos, and one-room innovation
• Creative outlets
• Challenge team members
• Continual learning
• Data-driven

Design Teams - The What

• Responsible for creating the solution
• Responsible for creating the sollution
• Create actions plans
• Use data and feedback to iterate

Design Teams - The What

• Responsible for creating the solution
• Create actions plans
• Use data and feedback to iterate

Program Opportunities

• Purpose
• Desired Outcomes
• Aligned to HHRS Strategic Plan, Mission, and Vision
• Provide opportunities and experiences to create unique and interesting students

Program Opportunities

• "Maximize student access to diverse, well-rounded educational experiences.

Interdisciplinary Courses

• “Their cognitive development allows them to see relationships among content areas and understand principles that cross curricular lines. Their psychosocial development gives them the ability to understand people and to look at situations fromvarious viewpoints” (Duerr, 2008, p.177).

Interdisciplinary Courses - The Why

• Increase student choice
• Provide different types of inquiry and reflections-based learning opportunities
• Learning experiences connected to the world outside of school

Interdisciplinary Courses - The What

• Go slow to go fast
• Start in 7th grade
• Move to 8th grade the following year
• Add grade levels each year through grade 10
• Course combinations/creation based on best fit for our school and students

Instructional Opportunities

• "The appeal of design thinking, which evolved out of strategies to improve product design, is that it fosters brainstorming and collaboration skills that are valuable in a changing world where many challenges don’t have textbook answers." (Stanford Graduate School of Education, 2019)

Instructional Opportunities

• "The appeal of design thinking, which evolved out of strategies to improve product design, is that it fosters brainstorming and collaboration skills that are valuable in a changing world where many challenges don’t have textbook answers." (Stanford Graduate School of Education, 2019)

Design Teams - The What

• Share data and evidence with all stakeholders
• Engage stakeholders in small-group dialogue around the problem and data collected
• Create "How might we..." questions
• Create design teams

Design Thinking

• Design thinking is a process
• Circular process based on iterations
• Encourages experimentation
• Analysis of solution feasibility
• Based on reflection
• Approach to learning that focuses on collaboration and problem solving

Instructional Opportunities - The What

• Incorporate elements of design thinking across the curriculum
• Increase student agency

Design Thinking - The Why

• Increase student agency
• Provide choice
• Create connections to the world outside of the classroom
• Learning outside of the classroom
• Experienced-based

Design Thinking - The Why

• Interdisciplinary
• Student-centered
• Collaborative
• Voice and Choice
• Self-management

Design Thinking - Desired Outcomes

• Learning to be self-reliant through planning and organization
• Social learning through collaboration skills
• Differentiation to provide intrinsic motivation

Design Thinking - Desired Outcome

• Increase Student Agency
• Provide students with control over how and what they learn
• Increase engagement
• Increase academic achievement

PLC - Four Questions Flipped

• What Do I Want to Know, Understand, and Be Able to Do?
• How Will I Demonstrate That I Have Learned It?
• How Will I Demonstrate That I Have Learned It?
• What Will I Do When I Have Already Learned It?

Budget

• Low cost
• Bringing experts on-campus for training sessions
• Experts provide training & curricular development & approach support

Budget

• K12 Lab - Stanford d. School facilitation
• Three days, on-site.
• Facilitator fee - $6000
• Airfare - $700
• Hotel - $200 a night. Total = $600
• Coverage - $150 a day. 4 teachers. 3 days. Total = $1800
• Total Investment = $9100

Scheduling Modifications

• Combine two periods into a single period
• Determine which periods are the best fit for combining

Metrics of Success - Students

• Pre and post-implementation surveys
• Students understanding of about how to go about learning something new
• Level of learning enjoyment

Metrics of Success - Students

• Measure students' transdisciplinary skills
• Measure transdisciplinary dispositions

Metrics of Success - Parents

• Pre, post, and ongoing parent surveys
• Parents want to know what their child is meant to learn
• Parents want to know what support their child will receive if he or she struggles
• Parents want assurances that their child will be challenged

Metrics of Success - Parents

• Pre, post, and ongoing parent surveys
• Parents want to know what their child is meant to learn
• Parents want to know what support their child will receive if he or she struggles
• Parents want assurances that their child will be challenged

Implementation Timeline

• September - building learning
• October - training
• October - action planning
• November - parent & community learning
• March - course, approach, curriculum finalization

Implementation Timeline

• After the program goes live, regular and continual evidence and data collection takes place.
• Analysis of evidence and data
• Compare evidence and data against success matrics and program purpose

Sharing Our Successes

• School newsletters
• Atlantic Highlands Herald
• Inviting K-6 students to celebrate our learning
• Inviting community to celebrate our learning
• Information nights