Creative Schools
by KC Caulfield
1. Chapter 1 Claim Statement #1: School reform doesn't come from state mandates or federal testing, but from truly knowing your students and educators.
1.1. When you build relationships with the kids, they feel guilty about letting you down.
1.2. "When kids start seeing that we valued what they valued, they started giving back to us what we valued" (pg. 4)
1.3. You can't get groups of students to follow a mandate, but you can get them to do you a "favor."
1.4. Two student examples from Laurie on pg. 4-5
2. Chapter 1 Claim Statement #2: Getting a college diploma does NOT guarantee employment.
2.1. 600 million people on Earth between ages 15-24 are unemployed
2.2. College degrees used to be valuable because not everyone had one. Nowadays, many people have them which makes their value decrease
2.3. Ever-widening gap between what the economy needs and what schools are teaching. Many college graduates lack the skills needed for employment
2.4. Many people go to college because it's what is expected of them., However, they have no sense of purpose or idea of what they want to do with their degree.
3. Chapter 2 Claim Statement #1: Education is treated like an industrial process.
3.1. Education judges students by a single standard of ability. If you don't meet it, your viewed as less than or less able.
3.2. Secondary schools are organized around the division of labor. The day is segmented into regular chunks of time.
3.3. Education is related to market demand. IF it rises or falls, manufactures adjust production to meet it.
3.4. The industrial process is linear, much like mass education. There is a series of stages from elementary school to higher education.
4. Chapter 2 Claim Statement #2: Education is not an industrial process, it's an organic one.
4.1. Education is about living people, not inanimate things.
4.2. If we view students purely as data points, we miss understand how education should be.
4.3. Because education views certain subjects and types of abilities as more valuable, many people don't discover what they're really capable of at school.
4.4. Unlike machines, people can resist or cooperate, tune in or tune out to what is happening to them.
5. Chapter 3 Claim Statement #1: The fundamental work of schools is to facilitate learning NOT increase test scores.
5.1. North Star school example. Students are able/encouraged to explore areas of academic interest rather then mandated learning materials.
5.2. Kids can't all be taught the same way. When students are taught in a way that fits their learning needs/interests them most - they can make huge academic gains.
5.3. Small but growing movement of parents home schooling their children so they don't have to face the anxiety of standardized tests.
5.4. Finnish schools (who consistently achieve high PISA rankings) have NO standardized testing (apart from a single examination at the end of high school).
6. Chapter 3 Claim Statement #2: The heart of education is the relationship between the teacher and the student.
6.1. The fundamental purpose of education is to help students learn - that's the role of the teacher.
6.2. The education system is cluttered with distractions and opinions from political agendas, building codes, parental ambitions, etc. But it comes down to who is in the room with the student? The teacher.
6.3. Finnish schools (which are praised for their success) value their teachers and hold them to a high status. Teachers are encouraged to collaborate and share resources rather then compete with students' test scores.
6.4. A vibrant school can nourish an entire community by becoming a sources of hope and creative energy,
7. Chapter 4 Claim Statement #1: Academic studies are essential, but not sufficient in providing the skills and information students need.
7.1. Human intelligence is much, much, MUCH more then academic ability.
7.2. Out school system does not address the variety of talents students have.
7.3. Because schools do not cater to the variety of talents students have, many students often think that they are the problem. That they are not intelligent or have difficulties with learning.
7.4. All of our lives and futures depend on people mastering a vast range of abilities and skills.
8. Chapter 4 Claim Statement #2: Teaching everyone the same way is inefficient.
8.1. Not only do people learn best in different ways, they also learn at different rates.
8.2. Whole-group teaching makes it difficult for teachers to recognize and accommodate differences in students.
8.3. Children have an innate ability to learn. They are natural learners! They potentially struggle in school because they're bored by the whole process.
8.4. Quote on pg. 81, "When you spend time in school as part of a crowd, being judged in the same way, how is anyone suppose to know who you are or what you can really do?
9. Chapter 5 Claim Statement #1: Being creative is not about having off-the wall ideas and letting your imagination run free.
9.1. Creativity involves refining, testing, and focusing on what you're doing.
9.2. Creativity is about judging critically whether the work in progress is taking the right shape and it worthwhile.
9.3. Creativity is about discipline and control! It requires high levels of practical skill.
9.4. Creativity is not a linear process. You don't have to have all the skills before you get started.
10. Chapter 5 Claim Statement #2: Teaching and learning is a relationshop
10.1. Students need teachers who believe in them.
10.2. If teachers convey to students that they expect them to do well, it's much more likely that they will.
10.3. The best teachers don't just teach - they are mentors, friends, and guides who raise the confidence of their students.
10.4. Juarex Correa (pg. 110) believed that the only way he could truly help his students was to empower them to learn for themselves.
11. Chapter 6 Claim Statement #1: There is no such thing as an academic subject.
11.1. Academic work is a way of looking at things and it can be applied to anything.
11.2. Issues can be explored collaboratively from different perspectives which uses concepts and skills from several disciplines.
11.3. A balanced curriculum should give equal status to and resources to all subjects including arts and humanities.
11.4. Finding the right balance of all disciplines will cater to the personal strengths and interests of students as individuals.
12. Chapter 6 Claim Statement #2: Most schools focus on the teaching and expect learners to follow. However, learners should be at the center of everything we do!
12.1. Effective learners will be happy and successful in life because they are self-dependent and can adapt to demanding situations.
12.2. IF you force kids to learn things they are not interest in, after a while you tend to extinguish that natural ability to learn.
12.3. When the school environment is one of adventure and discovery rather than rigid and strict learning, extraordinary learning takes place.
12.4. Colleges will accept students from Matthew Moss with lower test grades because they know they are better learners! (Among other things, Matthew Moss has a high focus on project based learning)
13. Chapter 7 Claim Statement #1: Instead of standardized testing being a means for educational improvement, standardized testing has become an obsession in itself.
13.1. The pressure everywhere is to teach to the test and give little to no attention to material that is not on the test.
13.2. For many districts and states, the temptation is to define the curriculum to just focus on test taking instruction.
13.3. Teachers lose around one month of instruction due to test prep.
13.4. Schools often focus on the kids who are the "cusp" of passing and neglect the low achievers and high achievers.
14. Chapter 8 Claim Statement #1: Being a great principal means giving your teachers permission to try out ideas and see if they work.
14.1. If people fear failure, humiliation, or disproval, they will hold back.
14.2. If people are encouraged to try out their ideas or new things, they usually will.
14.3. Culture is about permission, It has to do with what's acceptable and what's not.
14.4. Change is often the result of many complex forces interacting with each other.
15. Chapter 8 Claim Statement #2: There is no single style of leadership because there is no type of personality that makes a leader.
15.1. Some leaders are collaborative, others are commanding - they can both be great leaders.
15.2. What unites leaders is there ability to inspire those they lead.
15.3. People who are praised for their leadership skills (in any field) are ones who genuinely care for those they lead and have compassion in both what they say and what they do.
15.4. Different situations call for different styles of leadership.
16. Chapter 9 Claim Statement #1: One reason many students struggle is because they are not treated as the individuals they are.
16.1. Children are always sending signals about who they are becoming - it's our job to listen.
16.2. Parents need to help their children by treating them as individuals and not expecting them to go down the same path they did or their older children did.
16.3. Don't limit your child's future by assuming the type of education you had will inevitably be right for them.
16.4. You cannot predestine your child's own life, help them develop in their different ways and personal talents.
17. Chapter 9 Claim Statement #2: Family involvement is vital, but it is only possible if schools make such involvement accessible.
17.1. Create culturally relevant materials that parents can use to learn how they can become more actively involved in their child's school.
17.2. Train school staff to show how to effectively connect with parents.
17.3. Advocate for policy change at the district level to encourage investment.
17.4. Ensure every single parent that steps into the school feels welcomed - even if they don't speak English.
18. Chapter 10 Claim Statement #1: Politicians push for educational reform that benefits their agenda versus education itself.
18.1. Right-wing politicians can favor the breakup and commercialization of public education because it aligns with their general value of capitalism versus actually caring about education itself.
18.2. Many policymakers don't care about education. They use educational as a platform for professional advancement.
18.3. Some politicians wants to open public schools to market forces operated by for-profit corporations.
18.4. Politicians have been guilty of using education for command and control. AKA using education for social control, mass compliance, and conformity.
19. Chapter 10 Claim Statement #2: Change can occur - even on a small scale or short term basis.
19.1. The basis of education is enthusiasm for learning. If teachers understand how students learn and engage them using a diverse curriculum, they're doing a pretty great job!
19.2. High performing schools provide continuous professional development to develop high quality teachers.
19.3. People can achieve miracles when they are motivated and have a sense of purpose!
19.4. Remember - children WANT to learn. They don't wake up in the morning and wonder how they can improve their state's reading standards. But they DO wake up in the morning and want to read, write, and learn new things!
20. Chapter 7 Claim Statement #2: Even though we live in a Google-able era, standardize tests do not reflect the skills needed such as problem solving and critical thinking.
20.1. The world economy no longer pays for what you know, but what you can do with what you know.
20.2. Open ended tasks are less reliable. You have the issue of inter-rater reliability.
20.3. Tests that are open-ended are more expensive and more contestable.
20.4. Easier to assess a multiple choice test then review open-ended statement responses.
