Freshly Printed - allow 7 days lead
Couldn't load pickup availability
Extraordinary Learning for All
How Communities Design Schools Where Everyone Thrives
“In my experience as an educator and leader, I’ve seen bold visions for educational change fall short when the community is not part of the solution. That is what makes this book so important: it shares lessons about how communities come together to make lasting, meaningful change so every student has the ability to succeed.” “The future of public education depends upon communities coming together to learn, envision, and develop approaches that truly put learners at the center. As a leader with decades of experience in public schools, I have witnessed firsthand the powerful impact of Transcend’s work. Transcend is my “go-to” organization for innovative thought-leadership, and I am thrilled that their approach is now captured in this book. It’s essential reading for leaders at every level of the system who care about ensuring that ALL young people thrive in the 21st century.” “As a system leader driving innovation and transformation across multiple districts, I saw the profound power of community-based design. This book offers you inspiring stories of real districts doing this work combined with practical tools and insights that you and your community can implement immediately. This is required reading for any system looking to move beyond the industrial model towards one that truly unlocks the potential of each and every learner.” “At a moment in American history when the clarion call to help “all children” has morphed into a rhetorical placeholder for polite conversations between legislators, researchers, and philanthropists, this book breaks through fashionable clichés and decades-old misconceptions about what it takes to a create a meaningful learning environment for urban and rural communities. By utilizing a school design framework, the authors provide a smart mix of science- and professional-based practices we must consider to truly place a premium on supporting principals, teachers, students, and families.” “If our transformation journey in Lindsay Unified has taught us one thing, it would be that engaging the community in a design process with learners at the center matters deeply. Transcend has played a pivotal role for years as a key partner in our journey, and I’m thrilled that this book will enable far more communities to benefit from Transcend’s insights and actionable tools. If you are a leader looking to put your learners first, this book is for you.” “Systems produce the outcomes they're designed to produce. That's a truism when it comes to our schools, but fortunately Jeff, Aylon, and Jenee offer us a roadmap to reinvention so that all students can thrive through a robust and practical design process with inspiring real-life examples of educators doing the work. It's time to design our way to success for all!” “Too often, our field looks for silver bullets that do not exist. This book doesn’t fall into that trap. Rather, it shares practical methods and powerful examples of communities coming together to imagine and build a promising future for public education. The book expresses wisdom that Transcend has accumulated by working with hundreds of school systems across the country. I hope it spreads far and wide, so innovators know they are not alone!”
—Kaya Henderson, Chancellor of the District of Columbia Public Schools
—Susana Córdova, Colorado Education Commissioner
—Christine Fowler Mack, Former Superintendent of Akron Public Schools
—Gerard Robinson, Former Secretary of Education in Virginia and Florida Education Commissioner
—Tom Rooney, Superintendent, Lindsay Unified School District
—Michael Horn, Author of From Reopen to Reinvent: (Re)creating School for Every Child
—LaVerne Srinivasan, Vice President, National Program, and Program Director, Education, Carnegie Corporation
Aylon Samouha (Author), Jeff Wetzler (Author), Jenee Henry Wood (Author), Geoffrey Canada (Foreword by)
9781394230549, Wiley
Paperback / softback, published 1 November 2024
304 pages
22.4 x 14.7 x 1.8 cm, 0.408 kg
Proven methods, hard-won lessons, and practical tools to create a better future of education Extraordinary Learning for All: How Communities Design Schools Where Everyone Thrives delivers a hopeful, humane, realistic, and compelling portrait for how we must reinvent schooling for a new century, drawing on the voices and experiences of real school communities who are on that journey and illuminating the specific actions that school and system leaders can take to spark these journeys in their communities. The frameworks, concepts, and stories in this book, emanating from direct, in-the-trenches partnerships with innovators on the ground, show, in genuine detail, what makes this work hard—but also what makes it possible. Written by the co-founders and Chief Learning Officer of Transcend, a leading nonprofit in school innovation, this book provides solutions to the major problems we face in education, including approaches that:
For educational leaders in communities of all shapes and sizes, Extraordinary Learning for All: How Communities Design Schools Where Everyone Thrives is your blueprint to break free from the traditional model of schooling and build a better future for all.
About the Authors xv Acknowledgments xvii Authors’ Note xxi Foreword xxiii Introduction 1 Two Schools, Two Districts, Two Possible Futures 1 Our Case for Change 2 School and Its Industrial-Era Design 4 How to Read This Book 7 Who Is This Book For? 8 About Us 9 Part I Extraordinary Learning for All Chapter 1 Extraordinary Experiences and Outcomes 13 Extraordinary Outcomes for All 14 Extraordinary Experiences for All 16 Chapter 2 Community-Based Design 33 The Basics of Community-Based Design 35 Part II Stories from Four Community Design Journeys Chapter 3 DC Public Schools’ Van Ness Elementary | Washington, DC 55 Community and Leadership Context 59 The Blueprint: Overview of the Whole Child Model Learning Environment Design 60 The Blueprint: Goals and Guiding Concepts 62 The Blueprint: Student Experience 69 The Blueprint: School and System Elements 75 Chapter 4 Northern Cass | Hunter, North Dakota 81 Community and Leadership Context 84 Early Innovations Toward Competency-Based Learning: Pursuing Greater Learner Customization 85 How the Design Cycle Guided and Supported Northern Cass’s Design Journey 92 Chapter 5 Brooklyn STEAM Center | Brooklyn, New York 103 Community and Leadership Context 106 The Blueprint: Overview of Brooklyn STEAM’s Learning Environment Design 108 The Blueprint: Goals and Guiding Concepts 109 The Blueprint: Student Experience 115 Chapter 6 Intrinsic Public Schools | Chicago, Illinois 127 Community and Leadership Context 129 The Academic Model: How Community-Based Design Strengthened Learning 132 Part III How to Embark on a Community-based Design Journey Chapter 7 Launching Your Design Journey 143 “Gear Up”: Lay the Foundation for Your Community Design Journey 145 “Map It”: Craft a High-Level Vision for the Entire School or System 150 Chapter 8 Deepening Your Design Journey 167 “Zoom In”: Craft a Detailed Vision for a Specific Aspect of the Student Experience 168 “Test-Drive”: Test and Refine the Student Experience 177 “Look Ahead”: Prepare to Continue the Journey 185 Chapter 9 Advancing and Sustaining Your Design Journey 189 Shift from “Test-Drive to Full Speed”: Advance a Component of the Student Experience from Testing to Multiple Cycles of Implementation 191 “Zoom In Again”: Design Additional Components of the Student Experience 199 “Map It Again”: Continue to Refine the High-Level Vision for the Entire School or System 202 “Perform Routine Maintenance”: Maintain the Process and Leadership Over the Long Haul 207 Part IV How to Turbocharge Your Community Design Journey Chapter 10 Your Leadership Matters 213 A Special Kind of Leadership for a Special Kind of Challenge 215 What Do Learner-Centered Leaders Do? 215 How Do Learner-Centered Leaders Have Impact on Conditions? 220 The Source of This Framework 223 Be a Learner-Centered Leader 225 Chapter 11 The Policy Environment Around You Matters 229 Policy Impact 230 Assessment and Accountability Systems 231 Seat Time and Graduation Requirements 236 Funding for Innovation 238 Navigating Your Policy Environment 241 Conclusion 245 Conclusion: You Are Not Alone 247 Explore New Models that Make the Leaps 247 Find a Design Partner 248 Where Do I Find Design Partners? 250 Build Your Own Capacity 251 Join a Growing Network 252 Extraordinary Learning for All 252 Endnotes 255 Index 271
Subject Areas: Education [JN]
