There are so many questions to ponder with regard to creating quality educational opportunities and experiences for all children. These are some of the questions I'm wondering about right now.
1. Do schools embrace deep learning? How can we grow that culture in our schools?
What are teachers doing to promote deep learning? How do teachers define deep learning? How is deep learning evidenced in the school learning community? What would a deep learning conversation look like with school personnel? (Deep Learning Points)
2. Do school communities embrace and practice the notion that school is a learning community of students, families, educators, leaders and community members?
What practices demonstrate that your school is an inclusive learning community--a community that values the contribution, questions, and ideas of all community members?
3. Do schools employ communication in ways that promote and forward the learning community/school system?
What communication systems and protocols lead and promote this effort? What regularity is expected and promoted with regard to communication? How does your school communicate and employ the latest research with regard to effective communication?
4. Do schools serve children well?
How do we define "serving children well?" What elements are included in that effort? How do we make sure that those efforts are embedded in the work of school communities? How do we assess, grow, and enrich those efforts?
5. Do leaders serve educators so that educators can serve children well?
What efforts do leaders employ to maximize the best of what educators can do and bring to students and the learning community? What do educators need in order to do a good job, and how can they relay those needs to leadership? Do leaders value and embrace a "servant leadership" mindset, or are there other leadership mindsets that are more effective and important when it comes to leading school systems, educators, students, and the entire learning community?
6. Are schools embracing 21st century tools, process, and strategy to teach children well?
How do we define 21st century tools, process, and strategy--what is the learning community's short list, and how do we assess if those efforts are successfully in place in our learning communities? Once we decide what we value with regard to 21st century tools, process, and strategy, how do we ensure that those elements are activated in our teaching/learning environments.
7. Are schools equal opportunity systems?
Do all the students in our schools have equal access to learning? Do we work to make sure that all students' physiological needs are met including nutrition, physical fitness, and healthy social/emotional support? How do we work to make sure every child has access to quality learning tools, academic support, and learning environments to forward their learning actions, dispositions, and results? Do we regularly update, communicate, and assess support strategies, efforts, and result?
8. Do schools maximize the potential of nearby institutions such as museums, farms, historical societies, government offices, businesses, and more?
Reaching out to the greater community can provide schools with substantive support, experiential learning, mentors, and inspiration. How do schools regularly reach beyond the four walls of the classroom?
9. What systems of research and development do schools employ to maximize relevancy, meaning, and effectiveness?
What do your research and development efforts look like? Are those efforts inclusive including the voices of teachers, families, and students on the front line of education? How is the research and development employed and assessed?
11. How do you post, update, and share the professional calendar/schedule with lead time?
A good professional calendar/schedule sets the stage for success in school systems. The process with which the calendar is set is integral to good planning and coordination of a system's valued events, experiences, and opportunities.
12. Who chooses the materials, strategies, methods, and employment of learning design?
Who is making the decisions about curriculum and learning design? How are they sharing their research, learning, and plans? Are your "choosers" keeping up with the latest research and efforts in the field, and are they aware of what is happening on a day to day basis in your system's classrooms? In what ways are the voices of all members of the learning community efficiently and effectively integrated in this effort?
