- Student empowerment, engagement, personalized student experiences.

Imagine this type of education system in Kansas, and it's becoming a reality.

All of this coming up on IGI, stay with us.

(soft chime sound) - [Narrator] KNEA, empowering educators so that educators can empower Kansas students.

- [Narrator] This program is brought to you with support from the Lewis H. Humphreys charitable trust and from the friends of KTWU.

(upbeat music) - Hello and welcome to IGI.

We're glad to have you with us as we discuss a new educational initiative happening right here in Kansas.

Imagine an education system that creates student empowerment, engagement, and excitement to learn.

This is the experience students are receiving with the Kansans Can School Redesign Project.

Some districts in Kansas have already adopted this new education experience with many more districts jumping on board in the near future.

Joining us today to discuss the Kansans Can School Redesign Project are Dr. Tammy Mitchell, Elementary School Redesign Specialist, Jay Scott, Secondary School Redesign Specialist, Dr. Debbie Mercer, Dean of Education for Kansas State University, and Dr. Brad Neuenswander, Deputy Commissioner for the Kansas State Department of Education.

- Thank you all for joining me today on IGI.

I want to start with you, Dr. Neuenswander.

What is the Kansas Can School Redesign Project?

- About five years ago, we heard over and over from school districts that... if we really want to lead the world in the success of each student, we can't continue to go about learning in an educational system that was designed decades ago.

So otherwise we'll just continue to get the same outcomes.

So we reached out early on, we hired Jay and Tammy to lead an effort called the School Redesign to look for districts across the state that wanted to volunteer to look at true systemic change in our educational systems.

Focusing on individual students first, focusing on a broader set of outcomes that Kansans said we value.

While it's important that students do well academically there's a lot of other areas of success that we want to focus on.

And it's, the system that we currently have was designed decades ago, really to funnel a population of our students onto a higher ed.

And it's just not a system that's been successful for the majority of our students.

So we started this project, have school districts that work closely with Jay and Tammy on how to really look at their data, figure out who it is that they really are, set clear goals that can help move their success, individual student success forward.

To strategies on how to implement that.

Strategies on how to pivot and change when things aren't working as well as they should.

And just really engaged communities and parents to a degree that we never have in the past.

Like I said, it started five years ago and we're up to close to over 70 school districts and close to 200 buildings across the state that are really looking at how to improve student outcomes.

- [LeTiffany Obozele] Wow, that's really impressive.

It's so important to be looking at systems and looking at Kansas values and looking at ways to improve our students.

And so Dr. Mercer, that leads me to ask you, what else motivated this project?

- Well, Kansas State University as a land grant University has at the core of its missions serving the needs of our state.

So our partnership with the Kansas State Department of Education is one example of this in action.

So as we prepare teachers for classrooms of the future, it's, it's critical that they're prepared for the realities in which they will, will enter.

So our future teachers need to be aware of the Kansan Can Redesign project, as we think about education in, in new ways.

So we had a one room school house.

My grandmother taught in such a building.

And we currently have time and content.

But we're focused on the future with Kansans Can Redesign and what do our students need to be successful adults?

So we take our responsibility to prepare teachers to positively impact the lives of Kansas children very seriously.

And our college of education has a real strength in digital storytelling.

So it's an honor to pair that strength as we work alongside the state Department of Education to showcase the change that is occurring in our children, in our schools and in our communities.

In fact our entire educational system.

So this series allows our future teachers to be on this impactful journey, right alongside of the districts doing the work.

- Wow, this is such a forward-thinking redesign project to be a part of.

Dr. Mitchell I want to start with you.

Who was involved in the creation of this project?

- Well, thank you.

You know, we were really excited to try to showcase different communities across our state.

We currently have over 180 schools in about 72 districts that are redesigning right now.

And of course we couldn't showcase every single one of them, even though they're all doing phenomenal work.

So we chose six different districts in different parts of the state where K State sent their camera crew and interviewed these different systems.

They interviewed parents, they interviewed teachers, they interviewed students, they interviewed community members and board members to see what makes their community special.

Because one of the the things we are really proud of with School Redesign is it's not our state department coming into communities and telling them what they need to do.

Instead, it is us helping them figure out what are their local values?

What are their local resources?

What kind of community school do they want to build?

And then we just help them do that.

And so we worked with, like I said, six different districts.

And they're all unique because every community in Kansas is special and unique and they deserve to have the school of their dreams.

And we're just there walking alongside them trying to build that.

I think Jay can probably talk more about those individual districts.

- [LeTiffany Obozele] Yeah.

Jay, what do you have to add?

I know you are looking at this from a secondary perspective and Dr. Mitchell is looking at it from an elementary perspective.

So what do you have to add?

- Well, Tiffany, thanks for that question.

And to, to back up Tammy's response about the project itself.

The documentary series is a wonderful representation of all the work that has gone on across the state then over the last four years of School Redesign.

So when you're talking about how the project itself was created, I would say that Dr. Watson, our commissioner and Dr. Neuenswander were the real drivers of the Kansans Can School Redesign project.

And when I say drivers, I mean that literally.

They spent so much time in the car going across the state and meeting with communities, Kansans all across the state.

And it's a wonderful testament to be able to say to people, the reason why we're doing this work, this School Redesign Project is because Kansans said over and over, they wanted to see something different in their schools.

That the model currently did not serve each and every student.

So let's change it.

So I would say that the creators of this project were Kansans all across the state.

Those that showed up and showed out and talked through the different challenges that exist in our schools these days, and really, really added to our thinking as to what needs to happen moving forward.

I'd say our State Board of Education were major drivers in the School Redesign Project.

And they've been, they've shown wonderful leadership, visionary leadership, held people accountable, and they're really sticking to this.

They're really supportive of the Kansas Redesign Project.

And then lastly, I'd say that, and Tammy mentioned them, our first set of schools were our mercury and our Gemini one schools that totaled around 27 districts.

And those schools really created the program.

We built the program based off their, their shared experience through that first year in in 2017 and 2018.

So I just wanted to call out that those are the people I feel are really responsible for creating this project.

- Well that's awesome to hear.

It sounds like you guys have all been so collaborative, which is indicated by all the people that we have available to talk to people about this project today.

And so, Dr. Mitchell, I have another question for you.

What are the intended goals of the Kansans Can School Redesign Project?

- Well, that is a great question.

You know, four or five years ago, our State Board of Education used data from across Kansas to create a new vision.

And that vision is Kansas leads the world in the success of each student.

And the thing about that vision is that we're not there yet.

But what our State Board did was they identified the key aspects and attributes of a successful high school graduate in Kansas.

And the successful high school graduate in Kansas has certainly the academic preparation.

We're in the business of school.

So we're in the business of helping students learn those academics.

But we also know that students need a cognitive preparation.

They need to know how to take their academics and solve real-world problems.

We know they need to have technical skills.

We know they have to have employability skills.

Because if we graduate really, really smart kiddos who can't show up to work on time, they don't know how to collaborate with their colleagues, they're lacking in communication skills, then we have not quite done our job.

And we also know that we need people to be civically engaged.

And so that definition of the successful high school graduate is what we're shooting for.

We're working to develop systems whereby each and every student graduates high school with those skills.

Some areas that schools are focusing on are social emotional learning.

And that's just a big way of saying, are we teaching kids how to persevere?

Do students know how to manage conflicts?

Do they have problem solving skills?

Are they resolute?

Are they trustworthy?

Do they have integrity?

Those are the kinds of social emotional skills that we know schools need to help students develop.

We're also looking at kindergarten readiness.

We know that the largest gap we have in education is the first day of kindergarten.

Because some five-year-olds come to us and they are already reading and they are excited to be about all about school.

And then we have some little ones that have never been with other students, and they don't know what school is all about.

And they sometimes don't even recognize their own name.

So we know that there's a big gap there.

So how can we strengthen it so that every kiddo comes to kindergarten ready to learn kindergarten content.

We know that each student needs to have an individual plan of study, middle school and high schoolers.

That means, do they have a plan of learning things that they're really curious about, things that they're really excited about?

We don't want students to think that they're going to know what they're going to be when they grow up, when they're a seventh grader.

But do they have a plan for studying all of those areas that really tap into their interests?

High school graduation rates.

We've gotta, we've gotta raise that statewide.

We've got to get kids to graduate high school, but more importantly, we want them to have post-secondary success.

That means it's not good enough for us to graduate kids and walk them across the stage and hand them a high school diploma.

We want to know that they have the skills and attributes to be successful.

So where are they two years out?

Are they still in college?

Are they working on an industry recognized certificate?

Do they have some additional skill past that high school diploma that helps them to get a really good job in our state?

Because our state has a lot of really good jobs and yet we still have unemployed people.

And that should not be.

And so really when we're talking about redesigning schools, we're talking about reaching each and every student so that we can build a stronger Kansas.

- That sounds really comprehensive and really exciting.

So all of you have talked about maybe having some of these starter schools and how many schools are involved.

And so Jay, I want to start with you.

Can all Kansas School Districts take advantage of this project?

- Absolutely.

This is a voluntary project.

And so we started small.

We did limit the applications for the first cohort or mercury cohort, just because of the capacity of Tammy and I being able to work with those districts on a basically bi-weekly basis in their schools.

But after that, it's been completely wide open.

As many schools and or districts that want to apply, can apply.

It's a voluntary process.

Again, you do have to meet some requirements to be accepted into the Redesign program.

For instance, if a school wants to join formerly into the Redesign Project, they must have an 80% approval from their staff in that school that they want to join into Redesign.

And so that brings up a lot of questions amongst staff members.

What is Redesign?

Why should we do this?

So they, they work through those things.

You have to have an approval from your local board of education.

And you also have to have a letter of approval from your local teacher professional organization.

So those are, those are all set in place because this work is difficult.

When you are asking a school to transform itself, when you're expecting you're setting a new vision, you're identifying where you are currently, you're building up that level of dissatisfaction with where you are, so you have that motivation to learn and move and to change and move forward, that's very difficult work.

People, people don't necessarily, I don't ever want to say people don't like change because I think people do like change, but they don't like the messy middle of the transition as you change.

People don't like to go through that.

So, and that's, that's definitely something that schools, I think you would ask every one of our schools in Redesign now they would say, yes, it is difficult, but it's the right work.

We feel like we're, we're meeting kids where they are.

We're helping kids individually move forward.

And so that's, that's the gratifying piece of it.

But you can't just say, Hey, we want to do it.

There are, there are some things to meet to, to jump in.

And so that's why in this documentary series that K State put together, I'm so excited to see these, these documentaries of these six districts, six schools, in Redesign.

Because it's really gratifying to see them, the courageous moves they made, them being innovative minded and getting some well-deserved recognition.

So... to date.

LeTiffany, we are at 71 schools, excuse me, 71 school districts and 190 schools that have applied and been accepted or are actively redesigning their systems to date.

And that spans across six different cohorts over the last four years.

But yes, it is a voluntary process and we're always, we're always pushing the ideal of should you Redesign or not to our school districts, but it is a voluntary process.

- That is so cool to hear.

So, Dr. Mitchell, I have a question for you.

What are your guiding principles with this Redesign Project and what is Redesign offering people and students that they couldn't get before with their previous curriculum?

- Yeah, that is a great question.

You know, when Dr. Neumanswander and Dr. Watson, our commissioner collected data from across the state about what Kansans said they wanted in their schools.

We took that data and we developed what we call the four redesigned principles.

And so while each and every school that redesigns has their own unique plan based off of their own local values, there is one thing that's a common, and that is that they're developing their plan around four principles.

And so those principles are personalized learning, real-world application of that learning, students' success skills, and then family business and community partnerships.

And those aren't four separate things, but they really fit together.

So when you're personalizing learning, you're definitely wanting to engage family, business and community.

You're wanting students to take what they learn and put it into practice in a real-world way.

And so those four redesigned principles are common amongst all of the Redesign schools.

And what's really interesting about that is personalized learning is how we, you know, it used to be, and it still is in some schools, where you go to third grade and you learn third grade stuff.

And if you're a third grader that already knows all of the third grade stuff, and you could've done fourth grade work or fifth grade work, or, you know, certainly something that's more complex, you don't always get a chance to do that because you're in third grade.

And so you're doing third grade stuff.

And likewise, if you're in third grade, but you're not quite ready for the third grade work, and you need a little extra help because maybe you missed some school in second grade, or you missed some key points in first grade, sometimes our system doesn't allow for that either.

And so when we talk about personalizing learning, it means we're taking where students are based on data, and then we're teaching them from there.

So that students that are ready to accelerate can go deeper and they can do more, and they can learn more along what their passions and interests are.

And if they're not quite ready for that third grade work, there is a mechanism in place for them to still learn the skills and build those skills up so that they can be really successful.

So that's really, really important.

And it's a different way of thinking about learning because before we used to try to fit kids into a system.

And now we're saying, no, we need to build that system around the students.

And it's a really different way of thinking.

It's a really different way of problem solving and approaching school culture and learning.

And that's probably the biggest key that's different from Redesign schools.

We also really want students to take what they're learning in the classroom and use it somewhere else.

And so we want students to be engaged in project based learning or problem-based learning even our tiniest students at the pre-K level can do project based learning.

In fact that they should be.

They should be getting messy and they should be working out their own problems, and they should be inventing and creating.

But that should carry through all the way through to their senior year of high school.

And so those are the four Redesign principles, and we certainly want to embed those student success skills, that social emotional learning through everything.

And that's just a different way of looking at it In the old system, students and teachers are focused on reading and math.

I'm not saying that reading and math are not important because they are, but it's not the only thing.

There's so much more that needs to go into that educational experience for students.

And schools have permission to do that.

They have a state department of education that's saying, please do what's best for your students.

We want to help.

- Thank you so much for that.

And since you, Dr. Mitchell talked about that personalized learning and that project based learning, Jay, would you like to give us a secondary perspective of what that personalized learning and project based learning looks like?

- Yeah.

I appreciate Dr. Mitchell's comments about kids learning at their own pace, because at the secondary level and Dr. Mercer alluded to this too.

We're still structured by how old a student is.

You're placed in a grade by how old you are, that has nothing to do in many cases with your skill level or your knowledge level.

And so when you're talking about personalized learning at a middle school or a high school, it's really about pace and place.

So we have some Redesign schools that are actually allowing students, once they have mastered the standards in a certain course, let's say algebra one, then they are given the, and let's say that happens in February.

That can happen.

They, they can earn the credit at that time and be moved on to another course to challenge that student and meet them where they're are, where they are.

So we've got to move to that system where we, it's a more of a self-paced.

Because we have students that need more time than a year.

I mean, when I took Algebra I, it was a year.

And you just were in there for a school year.

Now, we're seeing more and more schools challenge that idea and say, no, the student, when they, and in real time, when they have mastered the content in this course, they can move on.

So that creates that that's like a domino effect, though, when you start moving to that, then you have to look at the flexibility in the schedule.

You have to really start unpacking some of those things that are tradition heavy in our secondary schools.

So that's one example of personalized learning.

You know, there are, we're trying to demystify this whole idea that learning only takes place within the school walls from eight to three o'clock, right.

And we all know that that's not true.

Kids are learning all the time.

We had some schools, I think Clay County had a wonderful summer program this year, that kids were actually going to school in summertime, but it wasn't anything like you would think, right.

They were just going and having fun and learning.

And that's something we need to embrace and continue to look at.

So at the secondary level, you have kids going for fully paid internships during the day, right.

They're out at a work-based learning experience.

They are moving about the building and learning in different learning spaces within the building, or they're in a simulated work-based learning project like a coffee shop within the school.

So there's all kinds of different ways to allow students to learn at their own pace and consider that different place.

So that's what I'll say about project-based learning at the secondary level.

- Okay.

Well I know we've just touched the tip of the iceberg today on this Kansans Can School Redesign Project.

You guys have really talked about a lot of innovative collaboration and a lot of work that's going on with you guys today.

And I want to thank you all so much for getting people interested and talking about this exciting thing that's going on in our state right now.

And the future sounds really bright for the educators and the students.

And so that's all the time we have for this episode of IGI.

If you have any comments or suggestions for future topics, send us an email at issues@ktwu.org.

If you would like to view this program again, or any previous episodes of IGI, visit us online at watch.ktwu.org.

Thank you for watching.

(upbeat music) - [Narrator] KNEA empowering educators, so that educators can empower Kansas students.

- [Narrator] This program is brought to you with support from the Lewis H. Humphreys charitable trust, and from the friends of KTWU.