Success By Design Raymond J. McNulty President International Center for Leadership in Education Casper, WY January 4, 2011.

Success By Design

Raymond J. McNultyPresident

International Center for Leadership in EducationCasper, WY

January 4, 2011

• Not an expert

• I’m a learner and I change my opinion based on what I learn.

Why I do this work…

“The future is not some place we are going to, but one we (you) are creating. The paths are not found, but made, and the activity of making them, changes both the maker and the destination.”

-John Schaar

Schools are Improving

School Improvement

Schools are Improving

School Improvement

Changing World

Making a better “20th Century School” is not the answer.

The Horse

The Automobile

Henry Ford quote…

• “If I had asked the public what they wanted, they would have said a faster horse.”

Current System

Something Different

The Boston Globe

Ray, reading the paper on your “Kindle” or online just

isn’t the same!

Almost everyone wants schools to be better,

but almost no one wants them to be different.

Teacher – Student Comparisons

T – I make learning exciting for my students.

86%

S – My teachers make learning fun.

41%

Many of our efforts to transform education look like the same old system!

So what’s stopping us?How do we get ahead?

THEMES• Why Is It So Hard To Change?

• The Challenges We Face

• Conceptual Age

• Closing Thoughts

THEME• Why is it so hard to change?

We have a flawed perspective of always listening to our best customers… They tell us how good the system is working for them!

Why is it so hard to change?

• The more successful a system is, the more difficult it is to recognize when it must change. By example, market leaders are the last ones to transform.

• The American Education System, “The market leader during the industrial era!”

Market Leader Thinking• Dominant logic: “That’s the way we do

things here.”

What happened to GM..??

THEME• The Challenges We Face

The primary aim of education is not to enable students to do well in school, but to help them do well in the lives they lead outside of school.

We’ve created false proxies for learning…• Finishing a course or textbook has come

to mean achievement

• Listening to lecture has come to mean understanding

• Getting a high score on a standardized test has come to mean proficiency

Learning should have its roots in..• Meaning, not just memory

• Engagement, not simply transmission

• Inquiry, not only compliance

• Exploration, not just acquisition

• Personalization, not simply uniformity

• Collaboration, not only competition

• Trust, not fear

• Basic Knowledge/Skills

• English Language (spoken)

• Reading Comprehension • (in English)• Writing in English • (grammar, spelling, etc.)• Mathematics

• Science

• Government/Economics

• Humanities/Arts

• Foreign Languages

• History/Geography

Applied Skills

•Critical Thinking/Problem Solving

•Oral Communication

•Written Communication

•Teamwork/Collaboration

•Diversity

•Information Technology Application

•Leadership

•Creativity/Innovation

•Lifelong Learning/Self Direction

•Professionalism/Work Ethic

•Ethics/Social Responsibility

29

Rigor/Relevance Framework®

NESS Study Subgroup Rankings

ELA Skill: Write clear and concise directions or procedures.

Group Rank

Overall 9

Business/Industry 2

Other Non-educators 10

English Language Arts Teachers

Other Educators 8

NESS Study Subgroup Rankings

ELA Skill: Write clear and concise directions or procedures.

Group Rank

Overall 9

Business/Industry 2

Other Non-educators 10

English Language Arts Teachers 25

Other Educators 8

NESS Study Subgroup Rankings

ELA Skill: Give clear and concise oral directions.

Group Rank

Overall 7

Business/Industry 3

Other Non-educators 9

English Language Arts Teachers

Other Educators 7

NESS Study Subgroup Rankings

ELA Skill: Give clear and concise oral directions.

Group Rank

Overall 7

Business/Industry 3

Other Non-educators 9

English Language Arts Teachers 28

Other Educators 7

NESS Study Subgroup Rankings

Math Skill: Apply the Pythagorean Theorem to right triangles.

Group Rank

Overall 20

Business/Industry 29

Other Non-educators 31

Mathematics Teachers

Other Educators 24

NESS Study Subgroup Rankings

Math Skill: Apply the Pythagorean Theorem to right triangles.

Group Rank

Overall 20

Business/Industry 29

Other Non-educators 31

Mathematics Teachers 4

Other Educators 24

NESS Study Subgroup Rankings

Math Skill: Understand accuracy and precision of measurement, round off numbers according to the correct number of significant figures, and determine percent error.

Group Rank

Overall 12

Business/Industry 3

Other Non-educators 10

Mathematics Teachers

Other Educators 8

NESS Study Subgroup Rankings

Math Skill: Understand accuracy and precision of measurement, round off numbers according to the correct number of significant figures, and determine percent error.

Group Rank

Overall 12

Business/Industry 3

Other Non-educators 10

Mathematics Teachers 30

Other Educators 8

We sometimes forget some of the more important issues in our work.

MOTIVATION

Motivation is a key ingredient for success in learning.

If we needed more artistsin this country our plan would be:

REQUIRE ALL HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS TO TAKE MORE ART!

We need more scientists and mathematicians so our plan:

REQUIRE ALL HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS

TO TAKE MORE MATH AND SCIENCE!

Kerry Mullis

What Works Best?• REQUIRE

• MANDATE

• FORCE

• EMPOWER

• CREATE PASSION

• MOTIVATE

We live in a world obsessed with science, predictability and control.

Some people believe if we can’t measure something, it must not count!

We must consider the possibility that if we can’t purely measure something, it might be the very most important thing!

Talking with kids…

It’s not us against them!

THEME

• Conceptual Age

Today’s learners are no longer the people our educational

system was designed to teach.

What does the “net generation” expect from us based on their

lifetime experiences with technology?

This Generation…

Teenagers surveyed…

• Use MySpace and Face Book

• use texting instead of e-mail (parents) • nearly 60% would rather use e-mail than a

telephone

• are likely to have 6 applications running at once on their PC

This Generation…

–The fastest growing segment of computer-users today in the U.S. is 5 to 7 year olds

NEXT PRACTICE THINKING

A Story….• Not a bad idea, but to

earn a grade more than a C+, the idea has to be viable! (Yale Professor)

• Fredrick Smith

• The idea FedEx

-Shurnyu Suzuki

“In the beginner’s mind there are many

possibilities; in the expert’s mind there are few.”

Expertise (the way we do things around here) can sometimes be a road block to problem solving and the development of “Next Practices”.

System Innovation

Sustaining Innovation

Next Practice

Disruptive Innovation

Marshmallow Challenge

NEXT PRACTICE THINKING

• The Iterative Process

• Versions

• Create a disciplined, managed space for development of new ways to accomplish difficult tasks

THEME• Closing Thoughts

We can rationalize the failures of the past -----

or we can learn from them.

We can complain about the troubling inadequacies of the present ----

or we can face them.

We can talk and dream about the glorious schools of the future ---

OR TOGETHER WE CAN CREATE THEM!

Success By DesignRaymond J. McNulty

President International Center for Leadership in Education

San Francisco, CADec. 8-10, 2010