New York Times writer Sharon Otterman has posted a fascinating story on the efforts of The New Academy, a new public school in Crown Heights, Brooklyn.
The academy challenges the traditional teaching model by grouping four teachers in large, open classrooms of about 60 students. Academy leaders focus student independence over teacher-led lessons. And scientific inquiry practices are encouraged, instead of relying on rote memorization. Self-expression also is favored over strict structure and discipline.
The school is modeled after an elite private boarding school attended by some of the nation’s most affluent families.
But the demographics at New Academy are quite different. The New Academy’s students are from high-poverty backgrounds. And many have already spent a year or more attending public schools where they did not master basic concepts like letter and number identification.
To add to the challenge, about 20 percent of the academy’s students have been found to have emotional, physical or learning disabilities.
The school has had some difficulties, and some of the school’s most troubled students have been shifted to more traditional classrooms.
But leaders say they believe that many aspects of the school can and do work.
One of the most innovative elements is the hiring of a master teacher – paid about $120,000 – per class. The remaining teachers, for the most part, have been far less experienced early childhood teachers.
The theory, then, is that the master teacher can model strong teaching skills to the less experienced teachers. Because the classroom is open, the teachers all see each other at work and can offer suggestions and other supports.
In some cases, leaders say it is working. But next year leaders say they will probably hire some more experienced teachers, because the less experienced teachers seem to be struggling.
What do you think? Can a school like this be successful? What about the school appeals to you? What doesn’t? Is this a school where you would work? Send your own child or grandchild? What can we learn?
Good post today and you pose some pretty good questions. In general I am always for attempting new solutions to problems. It seems that when something isn't working we should probably try something else? This is problem solving 101.
ReplyDeleteIt also is nice to see teachers getting paid what they are worth. It would be nice to see teachers on the same payscale as junior executives or even CHP would be step in the right direction... starting at around 68000 and topping out around 150-180,000 with 80 percent pentions...
The one thing the corporations always say about their executive pay scale is that they HAVE to pay in order to attract talent. Why wouldn't we want the same for our schools. If teaching started to become a highly competitive career path I think we would start to see some pretty neat innovation.
One of the biggest problems I see is that teaching seems to be a fall back profession for people who didn't have the ambition, drive, or skills to go take their knowledge and earn a wage.
I think we need to turn this pyramid on its point.
¡El pueblo unido, jamás será vencido!
@ Chester - Thanks for commenting. Our hope is that teaching isn't a "fallback" profession at all, but that it is an esteemed profession that does attract some of the best and brightest... But in order for it to hold that esteem in our society, we might have to look at how we solve some of the big problems within the system. So yes, there's something to be said for "turning this pyramid on its point." Again, thanks for stopping by and commenting.
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