FAYETTEVILLE PUBLIC SCHOOLS : A 21st-century high school defined
Posted on Tuesday, September 30, 2008
The hottest topic in our school district gained a little clarity last Thursday night as the school board voted to commit to building a 21 st-century high school on the current site. The consideration of the Morningside site is over, and now we concentrate fully on how to best utilize the existing site.
In true Fayetteville fashion, it’s been a long and sometimes contentious debate over the last 26 months. Some are disappointed that the future of Fayetteville High School won’t be on a new site, and some are tickled that the current site will also be the future site.
However, there is a common goal among all involved, creating a new 21 st-century high school that improves student learning and prepares our students to successfully compete in a world that doesn’t yet exist. That’s what we all want; we just disagreed on where it might be located.
A 21 st-century high school mirrors the way of the world today: dynamic, creative, diverse, complex and fast-paced. A 21 st-century high school is more concerned with outcomes than with time. Students that can demonstrate proficiency in a subject are allowed to immediately move to another more advanced subject, instead of waiting until the semester or year is completed to move on with the rest of their class. Technology plays a huge role in making this possible.
Elizabeth Burmaster, the Wisconsin state superintendent of public instruction, says it succinctly: “ Students need to be technologically proficient, globally aware, civically engaged, and financially and economically literate to most effectively use their creativity in the 21 st century. ”
What do we mean by a 21 st-century high school, and how will it be different from the current FHS ? Teams of our teachers are studying those very questions this year using “ The Global Achievement Gap ” by Harvard University professor Tony Wagner as a guidebook.
Wagner lists seven survival skills for teens today:
• Critical thinking and problem solving
• Collaboration across networks and leading by influence
• Agility and adaptability
• Initiative and entrepreneurialism
• Effective oral and written communication
• Accessing and analyzing information
• Curiosity and imagination
As we are researching the available literature and data on 21 st-century schools, teams from our school district will visit innovative high schools around the nation in coming weeks to gather ideas. There will be input meetings with teachers, students and parents to make sure all vested parties have a say in the new high school. Yes, this will take a while, but we are absolutely convinced the end result will be well worth it.
Once we have developed a vision and a plan for this new 21 st-century high school, the next task is to motivate a majority of the electorate to support a millage increase to build it.
All of these are daunting challenges: preparing students to get and hold jobs that don’t exist today, creating a monumental paradigm shift in teaching and learning, and convincing voters to pay higher property taxes for a new high school. That’s a pretty stout “ to do” list, huh ?
It will be a lot of hard work, a lot of planning and a lot of persuasion. But it’s worth every bit of effort our community can muster, because it’s the right thing to do.
Alan T. Wilbourn is public information officer for Fayetteville Public Schools.
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