High School Redesign
What is high school redesign?
Today’s world requires that all students enjoy a challenging high school experience. However, high schools were not designed to accomplish this task.
The high school model that 21st century students had been experiencing was designed in the early 20th century for the purpose of “sorting and selecting” students - those who would go to college and those who would not and those who would make it to graduation and those who would not. This model will not work in this new century in which all students must be actively engaged in high school, developing the skills and acquiring the knowledge to be successful in a global economy.
Dr. Tony Wagner and Dr. Rober Kegan, codirectors of the Change Leadership Group at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, state in their book Change Leadership, “An eighteen year-old who is not college-ready today has effectively been sentenced to a lifetime of marginal employment and second-class citizenships.” Like many national researchers, Dr. Willard Daggett, President of the International Center for Leadership in Education, notes that skills for entering the workforce are similar to those for entering college.
So what does this mean for our high schools? Simply put, we can no longer sort and select students and limit the quantity or the quality of the educational experience. WCPSS high schools must be redesigned to create environments where all students are known well – academically, socially, and emotionally. This requires restructuring the use of time and facilities. Even more importantly, rethinking the way in which students experience the high school curriculum is fundamental to the high school redesign process.
Specifically, schools have developed processes and programs to ease the transition to high school; they have created structures that connect each student to an adult on the campus who knows that student well and strives to connect the student to the numerous opportunities available at each school. Finally, schools are examining how they can increase relevant learning experiences that link academics to the 21st century.
To learn more about high school redesign, click on the links below: