Richard Halkett part 6

Alan November has interviewed Richard Halkett the 6th time. This time the topic was what schools need to do to be 21st century schools. He makes four main points:

1. creating new educational partners- schools need to look for new partners in the community and in the business world as schools evolve into 21st century schools


2. formalizing informal projects- some of the products and projects already being taken on in schools will need to be highlighted and formalized in terms of the curricula, assessment, etc.


3. reform assessment to reflect 21st century skills


4. drive innovation and dissemination of new practices-classrooms and classroom teachers are extraordinary innovators! What schools are not good at is sharing and dissemination of innovation. Schools need to come up with methods to "kill" bad ideas and to nurture the good ideas.
   

He makes the foreboding statement that schools need to make these changes from within. The implication that the changes will inevitably be made from outside. Reminds me of the quote, "Change before you have to!"

He also calls for the revamping of the preparation of our leaders. He says school leaders are very capable and enthusiastic, but we need a more effective management process so that the capacity and urgency to change is enabled.

He mentions two sites to visit for ideas:

getideas.org

ciscolearning.org

Both sites are full of great information which will help you with your quest to be a 21st century school!