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Online learning, or e-learning, has grown by 30 percent annually in the U.S. with 50,000 enrollments in the year 2000, and over 2 million enrollments in 2010, according to the International Association for K-12 Online Learning (iNACOL).2 Three in four teachers who combined online learning with face-to-face teaching reported a positive impact on their face-to-face teaching,” according to iNACOL.3
In my testimony, I outlined plans to implement online and blended learning more broadly in our schools. This new digital learning needs to have an infrastructure if it is going to be successful. That includes providing access to resources and services, courses and instruction. We need to train educators in the use of online tools, and develop appropriate assessments for students. NJASA is working with K12, Inc., Intel, and Microsoft in these areas. Providing the right framework for students will enable them to maximize their potential as digital learners.
Why Digital Learners Need Online and Blended Learning
At last year’s TECHSPO, I was engaged in a fascinating conversation with our keynote speaker Ian Jukes, a technology futurist and founder of the 21st Century Fluency Project. His comments underscored why our schools need to accelerate the use of technology and online resources to keep up with the digital learners who process information differently from those of my generation.
We spoke about the power of gaming in learning. He told me that online gaming participants are asked to make decisions every 1½ to 2 seconds and receive a consequence every 7 seconds.
He said that digital learners prefer processing pictures, color sound and video before text. This is opposite of traditional educators who prefer to present text first. Traditionally, primary information was always provided by text.
Tests have shown that people can remember the content of over 2,500 pictures with 90 percent accuracy several days after exposure, even though they see each picture for only 10 seconds. Recall rates after one year remain at about 63 percent. The same research, however, shows that when information is presented orally, after 72 hours people only remember about 10 percent. Add picture content to the material, however, and the retention skyrockets up to 65 percent. This is because the brain processes images 60,000 times faster than it does text.
Schools have traditionally been a place where we would teach students information “just in case” you need it. As Jukes notes: “Educators are saying you have to learn this “just in case” it happens to be on an exam, “just in case” you might need it to pass the course, “just in case” you may want to become an engineer, or a historian, or a writer.
Digital learners, however, want to gain an understanding of what they need to know, but they want to acquire these skills “just in time” to play a new game, play the piano, "fix a bike, or something else they don’t know how to do.
“Just-in-time” learning is about learners having the skills and habits of mind that allow them to learn and adapt “just in time” for that next window of opportunity that opens up to them. Digital learners today want information “just in time” for their use.” In order to provide students with an education for their future, and not our past, we need to change how we teach from “just in case” to “just in time” via online and blended learning.
The Digital Transformation in New Jersey Schools
Lacey Township High School (LTHS), in Lacey Township, N.J., is currently offering courses online that are not currently available in the district. Designated staff closely monitors student participation and success online. The district’s goal is to build capacity to engage every student in at least one online course prior to graduation.
In the Quakertown Community School District (QCSD) in Pennsylvania, administrators and educators support the vision of “anytime, anywhere learning” and flexible, customized learning paths for students. Online learning is available to all students in grades K-12. The program accommodates fully online students and hybrid students, and enrolled 90 in 2009-10, 140 in 2010-11, and 340 in 2011-12. Courses are taught by QCSD teachers, and have saved the district more than $250,000 per year.
These examples are just highlights of what is happening in our nation’s schools. We must overcome the hurdle of traditional institutional thinking of the past and embrace online and blended learning for our future.
Photo Credit: Danny Forster, host of Discovery Channel’s Build It Bigger, is pictured with
Dr. Richard Bozza, executive director, NJASA (left) and Donna Van Horn, president, NJASA.
It’s not every day that you get educational advice from a TV star. New Jersey’s chief education officers had the opportunity to hear from Danny Forster, host of Discovery Channel’s Build It Bigger, a college professor and a working architect who was chosen to design the 40-story hotel near the Ground Zero memorial in New York City.
Forster spoke at a special session sponsored by NJASA at the New Jersey School Boards Association meeting in Atlantic City, N.J. on October 24, 2012. His remarks inspired chief education officers to find opportunities to bring the real world into the classroom via technology.
NJASA brought Forster in to talk about how Discovery Education, the television network’s educational arm, can work with schools to support common core curriculum standards. The network can stream engaging, rich media. It can offer virtual labs and simulations. It also can customize a digital science textbook. In addition, Discovery Education offers customized professional development experiences for educators. The company maintains a global learning community where educational professionals can communicate through blogs, virtual conferences and in-person events, such as the one Danny Forster keynoted.
He was well received by the audience, whom he held mesmerized in the room for more than two hours. Danny’s presentation was not only interesting; it was useful as a model for making educational content more compelling. Architectural design, said Danny, can be exciting if presented in the right way. It also ties nicely into math, science, the environment, and the local culture. Educators can use a multi-disciplinary approach that has a real world application.
“We take the TV shows and give them a second life by bringing them into the classroom to enhance the curriculum,” Danny explained. “These types of real world applications, where students can become part of the process ‘virtually,’ are very compelling.”
He offered the following tips to engage students in learning:
Tip #1: Engage a student’s power of observation. Show them a photo and ask about it. Why is this skyscraper stacked unevenly? Or why does that building have curves instead of corners? Chances are, there is a mathematical, scientific or environmental reason, such as when Chicago’s highest buildings are constructed to resist wind patterns.
Tip #2: Tell the story. Every place has a story. Take the Mumbai Airport in India, for example. Here, an average of 40 family members and friends will see one person off to their flight. This required a larger-than-usual waiting area. Telling the story helps the listener to understand the decisions made.
Tip #3: Incorporate cultural elements. Consider the Viceroy Hotel in Abu Dhabi. The architects chose to wrap the hotel in the same way the local residents wore their white kanduras. Not only did the wrap keep the hotel cool, it echoed the look of the local culture. Incorporating cultural elements in your lessons, whether on architecture or other topics, will help students from those cultures to connect to the topic.
Tip #4: Incorporate the environment. There’s a renaissance in today’s architecture, to be mindful of our resources. That includes becoming aware of our surroundings. Encourage students to apply their studies on math, science, language arts, etc. to benefit the environment. That will automatically ensure a meaningful real world application.
Tip #5: Inspire students to career choices. Ask students what they would like to be when they grow up. Then, ask them what they like most about that career. The answer may open up new career ideas in related or unrelated fields.
Danny admitted choosing architecture as his field of study because of one inspiring teacher. She told him the story behind the buildings, and he was hooked. You can engage your students in the same way, and inspire a whole new generation of leaders.
A strategic plan is worth the time and energy.
- It allows you to build a vision where you want to go and collect critical data about the organization to make intelligent decisions.
- It helps you to prioritize goals and objectives when you have limited resources.
- It’s a reminder of district goals, as school board members’ terms come to an end.
- And it can help engage the community and build support for future funding.
But how do you go about creating a strategic plan? Here are the steps, recently taken by Readington Township School District. The district worked with PLC Associates, an NJASA affiliate partner who handled the extensive research portion of the plan. NJASA and PLC Associates are offering a 25 percent discount for those who sign up by December.
1. Look at the current organization and what you would like to see in the future. If you could step into a time machine, and come out in 5 to 10 years, what would the district look like? Include specifics on technology, facilities, staff, curriculum, sports and recreation, environmental impact, school garden, community liaisons, etc. Invite input from stakeholders who are “invested” in your district: parents, students, teachers and other staff, and so on. To get this input, Readington held an intake session. The district invited board members, parents and the community to talk about issues critical to the school and where they wanted to be.
2. Identify priorities. Once you have an idea of where you want to go, think about what it will take to get there. Consider assigning each goal to a board or staff member to research and determine the steps needed. The information on the expense and time required to meet this goal will help to determine whether this is a goal your district will pursue. The Readington school district’s intake session revealed several key issues for consideration. There was a desire for a full-day kindergarten. There was an interest in consistent communication with families. There was a commitment to technology as a resource to promote critical thinking, creativity and communications skills. There also was a need to prepare students from transitions from grade to grade. These were some of the priorities identified.
3. Research and data collection. In order to make decisions about changes to your district, you will need to do some research. If you assigned goals to your board or staff members (in #2), you already will have estimated costs. If not, now is the time to collect that information. In addition, you will want to connect with key stakeholders to determine their priorities for the district. One way is via a survey, administered by paper or via email. Or choose an online service, which will survey your contacts and tally results for a fee. If you have the time and people available, you might hold a focus group. This is a small group, representative of your key stakeholders, that meets to discuss key issues. Finally, you may wish to do a research review of what other districts of comparable size and budget are doing in the areas you are examining.
Readington chose to survey its stakeholders. The district sent surveys to staff members, fifth through eighth grade students, parents, community members, and the mayor’s office. The specific issues identified in the Intake Session became questions on the survey to get a wider response. The district held a three-day strategic planning retreat. The superintendent and school board invited key students, parents, staff and community members. They discussed the results of the survey.
4. Set and prioritize goals. You now have a wealth of information and a potentially limitless direction that you can take for your district. You’ll need to sift through that information in order to set and prioritize goals. Divide your issues into those that are “easily doable/inexpensive” and “time-consuming/expensive.” Then, rank each pile in terms of long-term value to the district. Those that rank highly in each pile are your priorities. Match those with your budget to determine which are practical to implement in the near term. Then, put together a timeline of objectives that will bring you to the goal.
Readington discussed its priorities at its three-day retreat. By the third day, the district emerged with a clear vision of the future state of the district. They set five strategic goals, each with specific objectives and a recommended timeline.
5. Share the vision. Schedule a formal presentation in the form of a town hall meeting to share key elements of your strategic plan. Invite all of your stakeholders to give their feedback. This is an important step because it engages them in the process. It will be especially helpful if you request additional funding for these goals in future school elections.
The Readington school district presented the final draft of the strategic plan to the Board of Education, staff members, parents, and the community. This gave everyone the chance to ask clarifying questions, and add details and suggestions.
Now Readington has a fabulous road map for success that will sustain them for the next several years. You, too, can create a strategic plan that will drive your district’s success. For more information on how to get started, contact the NJASA through our website, www.njasa.net or view the NJ Education Brief on this topic.
Much has been made in recent years of the need to improve outcomes for students throughout our nation. Politicians and business leaders decry the preparation of students forwhat awaits them after high school. In New Jersey, many people proclaim our students’ high achievement as compared to other states of the nation. Others just as quickly point out that New Jersey has one of the nation’s largest performance gaps between its highest and lowest achievers. In response, New Jersey has joined withforty-four other states endorsing an initiative of the National GovernorsAssociation Center for Best Practices and the Council of Chief State School Officers by adopting the more demanding Common Core State Standards in language arts literacy and mathematics.
New Jersey is also one of numerous states which have received a waiver of the requirements of the No Child Left Behind law. New Jersey’s new performance target is toreduce the achievement gap by 50% over a six year period. This is an important goal, particularly inthe largest urban areas of the state where a high percentage of students fail to meet state standards. We must face the hard reality, however, that it isn’t just the work of local educators which impacts low achievement. Many of the factors are societal. Imagine the impact on student achievement if the state established and achieved the same benchmark of a 50% reduction over six years for the rates of incarceration, unemployment,drug addiction, unwanted pregnancy, low birth weight, child abuse and student use of alcohol and drugs. We have to face the brutal reality and the impact of poverty in this state. The most recent KIDS COUNT survey indicated that nearly one-third of New Jersey’s children, 619,000, were in low-income families and 27 percent were in a family in which no parent had full-time work. But still, educators are challenged and made fully responsible for bolstering student achievement despite these significant factors beyond their control. Educators accept the challenges and we shall do all that we can with the resources which we have at our disposal to reach the established goals.
The demands placed on New Jersey educators have indeed increased with goals for improved student achievement predicated on the assumption that education and schools must be reformed. Before us now is the shift in the evaluation of teachers and school leaders requiring the use of student achievement data. A primary measure in future evaluations will be the use of student results on standardized assessments in language art and mathematics. Uncertain still are the development and use of standardized assessments in the evaluation of teachers of subjects other than language arts and mathematics. Creating even more anxiety for school leaders is the challenge ofsecuring the finances and technology needed for the planned change from current paper and pencil assessments to digital assessments promised by the Partnership for the Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers. All this is occurring at a time when school districts have not received the resources promised to them by the School Funding Reform Act.
I speak daily with Chief Education Officers who are concerned about having the personnel to get all this done, particularly when the school district budget caps on administrative expenses don’t provide the opportunity to secure the staff needed to meet these new challenges. School leaders often find themselves combating an inaccurate perception that New Jersey’s administrative costs are higher thanother states. Most people aren’t aware that the percentage of school spending in New Jersey on administration ranks as the eighth lowest in the nation (National Center for Education Statistics). The existing caps on administrative expenses are unnecessary as there exists another overarching spending control – the two percent cap on local taxes. School district leaders and policy makers need flexibility in budgeting to achieve the outcomes that are being prescribed by the federal and state authorities.
In a state where the number of students, teachers and support staff has grown considerably over the past two decades, we see that the number of administrators and supervisors has declined during the same period. With a two percent tax levy in place it’s time for less government regulation on the budgetary discretion given to local policy makers.
School leaders need to engage their local legislators in a conversation about the challenges they face and the resources required to get the job done. Invite your legislators to participate in a district or school event and establish a time to speak with them along with members of your school board or with parents of students about the great work that you do and what you need to get the expanded job done well. We need their leadership to get laws which impede our work changed. There is no better time as the report of the Education TransformationTask Force has focused attention on removing the unnecessary in order for us to get to the important work of improving outcomes for students!
Nobody likes red tape. So when New Jersey Governor Chris Christie asked an education task force to review the statutes and regulations for New Jersey schools, it was applauded by many—including New Jersey’s Chief Education Officers. The report, released on September 5th, included over 450 recommendations addressing everything from the paper schools must use to professional development and teacher licensing. (Click here to see our video on this topic.)
Kudos to the Task Force for spending the necessary time on the front end to get as much detail as possible on the current regulatory and statutory requirements! They reviewed more than 3,000 pages of statutes and codes. They held public hearings, heard presentations from more than a dozen expert witnesses, met with stakeholder groups, and educators.
The result? The New Jersey Governor’s Education Transformation Task Force concluded it was time to change some school rules. Most of the 239-page report addressed administrative issues such as excessive paperwork and over prescriptive procedures. The Task Force was aiming to reduce duplication, increase efficiency and provide flexibility for educators—educational reforms that the NJASA supports.
But there were some recommendations that didn’t have to do with red tape at all. As Chief Education Officers, we recommend a closer look.
· Take the Opportunity Scholarship Act for example. This Act allows parents to use vouchers to pull their children from public schools and send them to private or parochial schools. Instead of paying a student’s tuition, we say, put that money into the public schools, into technology, professional development, and educational programming. Until we start funding public schools according to the formula set out in the School Funding Reform Act of 2008, we really cannot evaluate their success.
· Another area of disagreement is the professional development for superintendents. Currently, superintendents develop a professional growth plan with their colleagues through NJASA. The task force would move that responsibility to the local Board of Education, which is not usually made up of educators. We don’t think it makes sense to move professional development to the responsibility of lay people.
· The report also has recommendations on how to make it easier for those who want to set up a charter school. At NJASA, we support charter schools. However, we believe that the voters should determine whether a charter is needed in their community. After all, it is their tax money that will be paying for it.
There is also a lot that is good in the Task Force report:
· It streamlines and focuses the professional development needs of teachers based on the needs of students on the school and district levels.
· It empowers and makes the Chief Education Officer responsible for hiring all district personnel while providing the local boards the opportunity to concentrate on policy and accountability.
· It identifies, modifies and, in many cases, eliminates unnecessary and cumbersome paperwork, which allows schools to focus on their main objective of student growth and learning.
The task force report includes a timeline to address each change. Work begins in October and is expected to conclude by August 2013.
We applaud the state of New Jersey for making the effort to reduce red tape and increase efficiency. Ultimately, these changes will benefit New Jersey’s students—and that’s the most important result.