Spring 2013 Lessons from ➾Five High Schools Time for Deeper Learning NATIONAL CENTER ON TIME & LEARNING The National Center on Time & Learning (NCTL) is dedicated to expanding learning time to improve student achievement and enable a well-rounded education. Through research, public policy, and technical assistance, NCTL supports national, state, and local initiatives that add significantly more school time to help children meet the demands of the 21st century. LEAD AUTHOR Kathleen Traphagen, Consultant Time for Deeper CONTRIBUTING WRITER Learning Thomas Zorich, Program Associate, NCTL LESSONS FROM AcKNOWLEDGEMENTS ➻FIVE HIGH ScHOOLS The National Center on Time & Learning gratefully acknowledges The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation for supporting the publication of Time for Deeper Learning. Contents The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation has been making grants since 1967 to solve social and environmental problems at home and around the world. The Hewlett Foundation seeks to increase economic 2 INTRODUCTION: WHY DEEPER LEARNING? opportunity and civic engagement by educating students to succeed in a changing world through deeper learning. 4 Study Methodology We also appreciate the contributions of members of the NCTL team, including: 6 CASE STUDIES Jennifer Davis, Co-Founder & President Claire Kaplan, Vice President for Knowledge Management 6 Avalon School & Strategy 12 Codman Academy Charter Public School David Farbman, Senior Researcher Diane Sherlock, Editorial Director 20 High Tech High Media Arts (HTHMA) 26 International Community High School Finally, we are very grateful to the administrators, (ICHS) teachers, partners, and students in the five profiled 32 New Tech High at Arsenal Tech schools for generously sharing their valuable time with us, welcoming us into their schools, and demonstrating their commitment to ensuring that all students receive the COMMON THEMES: TIME-DESIGN STRATEGIES education necessary for success in this complex world. 38 TO FOSTER DEEPER LEARNING DESIGN 40 Table of Key Findings Ronn Campisi Design 40 Priority 1: Building a positive learning environment PHOTO CREDITS We gratefully acknowledge the following schools for 43 Priority 2: Using an interdisciplinary, contributing photos to this publication: Avalon School, project-based approach Codman Academy Charter Public School, High Tech High 46 Priority 3: Engaging in “authentic” Media Arts (HTHMA), International Community High formative and summative assessment of School (ICHS), and New Tech High at Arsenal Tech. learning and skill development Avalon School – pp. 3, 7, 11, 38 49 Priority 4: Connecting students to the Codman Academy – Cover, pp. 13, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19 “real world” HTHMA – Facing page, pp. 21, 24, 42, 48, 53, 54 ICHS – pp. 4, 5, 27, 29, 30 51 Priority 5: Encouraging teachers to New Tech High at Arsenal Tech – pp. 33, 34, 36 work collaboratively and as deep learners Electronic copies of both the full report and executive themselves summary are available at: www.timeandlearning.org. 54 Using Technology and Digital Media to Support Deeper Learning CONCLUSION: CHALLENGES AND PROMISING 56 TRENDS IN POLICY AND PRACTICE The high aspirations we hold for our young people means we need schools to prepare them well to face the complex challenges of today’s world. intrODUctiON: Why Deeper Learning? Educating students to succeed in a changing world We all want our children to succeed. Although we can hardly imagine how the complex global economy will be shaped and reshaped by the forces of change in the coming years, we know that young people’s future success is likely to be determined by their ability to compete—not just for their first job, but through- out their lives. Yet our hopes and plans for the rising genera- tion are broader than economic success: We want tomorrow’s adults to be inspired leaders who will solve society’s pressing issues, civic contributors who will build their communities, and secure family members who will nurture the generations that follow. Our aspirations are high. What skills and knowledge will our young people need to meet them? How can schools best prepare today’s students to do well in our complex world? Over the course of 2009, the California-based William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, which has been making education- related grants since 1967, completed months of research and analysis focused on these key questions. The foundation’s re- search included more than 100 interviews with leading think- ers in the fields of education, business, and public policy. The Hewlett team found, as Education Program Director Barbara Chow noted in an October 2010 Education Week article, “schools to make your heart sing and others to break it…classrooms where the teachers and students did not say a single word for an entire class period and others where the din of questions and energy of learning were palpable.”1 2 National Center on Time & Learning time for deePer learning BBBB While deeper learn- ing skills are essential to student success, programs that focus on strengthening these skills are often lack- ing in public education. This intensive process led the Hewlett Founda- These deeper learning skills are similar to sets tion to forge a new direction for its education grant- of skills—known as 21st-century skills, soft skills, making—a focus on “deeper learning.” As defined complex skills, or higher-order skills—that have been by the foundation, deeper learning includes five key identified by various education reform stakeholders elements working in concert: as essential, though too often lacking, in public educa- a mastering core academic content: Students tion. Consequently, a broad movement to support edu- develop a baseline set of disciplinary knowledge. cational programs and strategies that foster these skill This knowledge includes facts and theories in a sets has been gaining momentum in the past several variety of domains—and the language and skills years. Reflecting and furthering this momentum, in needed to acquire and understand this content. July 2012, the National Research Council (NRC) re- a thinking critically and solving complex leased Education for Life and Work: Developing Transfer- problems: Students know how and when to able Knowledge and Skills in the 21st Century. The report, apply core knowledge by employing statistical authored by an interdisciplinary committee, validated reasoning and scientific inquiry to formulate ac- the importance of deeper learning and called for the curate hypotheses, offer coherent explanations, federal government, states, and education philan- and make well-reasoned arguments, along with thropists to support additional research, policies, and other skills. These critical thinking skills also programs to expand deeper learning. Specifically, the incorporate the use of creativity in analyzing and report noted the need to ensure that the forthcoming solving problems. assessments of the Common Core language arts and a Working collaboratively: Students coop- mathematics state standards (CCSS) and the eventual erate to identify or create solutions to societal, Next Generation Science Standards measure students’ vocational, and personal challenges. This coop- deeper learning skills and knowledge. eration includes the capacity to organize people, Since the launch of its deeper learning strategy, knowledge, and resources toward a goal and to the Hewlett Foundation has supported research on understand and accept multiple points of view. promising pedagogical approaches to deeper learning a communicating effectively: Students un- skills, curricula development and dissemination, new derstand and transfer knowledge, meaning, and assessments, professional development for teachers, intention. This understanding involves the abil- supportive technology, and other key innovations ity to express important concepts, present data to help explore and expand schools’ capacities to and conclusions in writing and to an audience, teach deeper learning skills. The foundation also and listen attentively. has identified and provided support to several net- a learning hoW to learn: Students will works of high-performing charter schools and tradi- know how to monitor and direct their own work tional public schools that engage students in deeper and learning.2 learning experiences. time for deePer learning National Center on Time & Learning 3 Why Deeper Learning? To achieve the significant aim of sharing the skills at five high schools, located in diverse settings best practices of high-performing, deeper learn- ranging from the Bronx, New York, to San Diego, ing schools and extending these practices to the California. Time for Deeper Learning: Lessons from education mainstream, we must understand and Five High Schools does not focus solely on expanded- document how these schools create the specific time schools. Rather, the study’s purpose is to exam- conditions and broader climates that make deeper ine how schools that prioritize deeper learning are learning possible. One of the most important and ob- using whatever time they have available—whether vious of these conditions is the need to allocate suffi- through an expanded day or during a traditional cient time to activities and lessons that foster deeper school schedule—to reach their educational goals. learning. Time is one of the fundamental resources that educators have at their disposal. How schools STUDY METHODOLOGY allocate time can determine how successful they will The five schools that NCTL examines in Time for be in achieving