Transforming Education Through Innovations in Schools

Penny Milton, Canadian Education Association

SiG@Waterloo, June 2nd 2010

Knowledge

Divide Divide

Divide

Digital New Knowledge

knowledge inequities magnified

technology inequities magnified

ingenuity inequities magnified

The developmental pathway

Learning ---> Innovation The Rich Get Richer

From: Marlene Scardamalia, What are the conditions for learning that need to be in place for children to reach their full potential? Presentation to CEA, May 18, 2005

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“Social innovation is a complex process of introducing new products, processes or programs that profoundly change the basic routines, resource and authority flows, or beliefs of the social system in which the innovation occurs. Such successful social innovations have durability and broad impact.”

Frances Westley & Nino Antadze. 2009. Making a Difference: Strategies for Scaling Social Innovation for Greater Impact. Social Innovation Generation@Waterloo. http://www.sig.uwaterloo.ca/highlight/making-a-difference-strategies-for-scaling-innovation-for-greater-impact

CEA’s strategy: •  Work through education relationships not bureaucracy

•  Create a new conversation

•  Claim our convictions

•  Generate ideas that resonate with educators, students and parents

•  Measure the ‘unmeasurable’

•  Build a network and mobilize

•  Discover what’s next

Relationships….

A new conversation….

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Multi-dimensional concept of engagement

Social Institutional Intellectual

A sense of belonging and participation in school life. (e.g. school clubs, teams, relationships)

Participation in the formal requirements of schooling. (e.g. attendance, credit accumulation, homework completion)

A serious emotional and cognitive investment in learning, using higher-order thinking skills (such as analysis and evaluation) to increase understanding, solve complex problems, or construct new knowledge.

New measures:

•  Intellectual Engagement Serious Cognitive and Emotional Investment in Learning

•  Instructional Challenge Relationship between the challenge presented to the student

and the student’s skills to accomplish the work

Note: Social and Institutional Engagement measures were not fully developed in Year 1, and so indicators are reported.

Instructional Challenge

‘anxiety’

‘apathy’

‘flow’

‘boredom’

Instruc(onal  challenge  for  language  arts  in  secondary  schools  (8427  students)  

Instruc(onal  challenge  for  mathema(cs  in  middle  schools  (8203  students)  

Do Schools Make a Difference?

What have we learned? •  The most energized schools are those that are

involving the students in data analyses and school planning

•  The ideas are ‘sticky’

•  On the ground engagement with districts is critical for sense-making

•  Some districts/schools now include targets and findings in their accountability reports

•  Teams are learning from each other

Where next?

With existing and new partners

Community of engagement – currently participating schools that are working on embedding the key ideas in daily practice

Community of interest – previously uninvolved districts and schools beginning to explore the ideas

Community of practice – direct engagement with a very few schools committed to ‘disciplined innovation’ to create new models for adolescent learning

but the networks are porous…

Interest

Practice

Engagement

And the impact on CEA?

•  A new mandate

•  Five programs of work:

Engaging Learning

Engaging Teaching

Engaging School and Community

Engaging Members

Engaging Canada

Complex organizations need adaptive strategies

and

the school is a complex organization.

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Only if necessary for the conversation

Science Reading Mathematics Finland Korea Chinese Taipei

Alberta Finland Finland

Hong Kong-China Hong Kong-China Hong Kong-China

British Columbia Alberta Korea

Ontario Ontario Quebec

CANADA (3rd) British Columbia Netherlands

Chinese Taipei CANADA (4th) Alberta

Estonia Quebec Switzerland

Japan New Zealand CANADA (6th) Quebec Ireland Ontario

New Zealand Manitoba Macao-China

Australia Newfoundland & Labrador Liechtenstein

Measuring up: Canadian Results of the OECD PISA Study 2006. http://www.pisa.gc.ca/publications_e.shtml

The Current Frame

Socio-economic status

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