Considering Mental Models is a research proven strategy for learning. They can be used with great effect to study schools. The Images of School chart shows five different guiding metaphors that can describe America's schools.
The tool can be used to reflect, have conversation, and assess which model best reflects the current status of a given school and/or district and which model a school or district aspires to be.
The Images of School chart can be used to illustrate the need for transformation.
The Schlechty Center believes that transformation to a Learning Organization where engagement is the core business is the only way schools can provide the experiences for kids that result in a quality education for all kids where high levels of profound learning are a result.
Considering Mental Models is a research proven strategy for learning. They can be used with great effect to study schools. The Images of School chart shows five different guiding metaphors that can describe America's schools.
The tool can be used to reflect, have conversation, and assess which model best reflects the current status of a given school and/or district and which model a school or district aspires to be.
The Images of School chart can be used to illustrate the need for transformation.
The Schlechty Center believes that transformation to a Learning Organization where engagement is the core business is the only way schools can provide the experiences for kids that result in a quality education for all kids where high levels of profound learning are a result.
School and Classroom Standards
The School and Classroom Standards are offered to help teachers and school level leaders go about the critical core business of providing students with engaging school work. They are frameworks intended to provide a discipline for discussions regarding the characteristics of school systems, schools, and classrooms. The framework involves 12 Classroom Standards. Standards are not issues of more or less. Standards are used to assess quality, and quality either is or it is not. The standard indicates what one will accept as quality. Higher or more rigorous standards for some suggest, at least, that the definition of quality varies from person to person or group to group. Not so. Some performances come closer to meeting the standard than do others, perhaps, but the standard is the standard.
Activity: Study the School and Classroom Standards in the link above. Note how standards 3 thru 12 align with the Ten Design Qualities. These Standards focus on the culture of the school and classroom rather than on the design of a unit of work. Now view the video below. As a team, identify evidence of the standards you see. Use the link below to assess the video through a particular Standard. Post the Standard and the evidence to your project slide deck.