THE WHY AND HOW OF INNOVATIVE WORK IN PURPOSE AND STRUCTURE OF THIS GUIDE
ADVANCING INNOVATION IN PUBLIC EDUCATION: CONSISTENT & AUTHENTIC COMMUNICATION & ENGAGEMENT
ST. VRAIN VALLEY SCHOOLS
The goal of this publication is not to provide step-by-step instructions to build an Innovation Center like the one that exists in St. Vrain. In education, as in other fields, great ideas and bold successes require iteration for specific communities. Therefore, our intent is to share the why and how behind what we have uncovered as our culture and strategy at pivotal points in our journey, in hopes that other districts might assimilate those learnings into their own unique environments, resulting in a different but equally innovative approach to opportunities for their students and their community. This guide is not meant to be a compilation of resources on the pressing and massive topic of organizational change. It is meant to reflect the DNA of one district and to contribute parts of our story to the broader discipline of public education. In order to identify the nine dispositions in this guide, we undertook a reflective process, not only to contribute to the ecosystem of public education as mentioned above, but also to clarify for ourselves the nuances of our own growth. Through interviews, program analysis, and many in-depth conversations, we realized that the innovative projects we lead are often generated through a set of dispositions that describe how we approach the possibilities. We intend to continue using this guide internally, as well as through distribution, in order to guide and re-evaluate our progress and our decisions as a system. As we continue to refine our understanding of our own story and destination, we hope to continue to share and learn from other districts and schools in order to move forward as the strong economic and societal force we know public education to be. Importantly, this work was originally drafted before the COVID-19 pandemic. As we revisit it in 2022, we find that not only does it still hold true, but also that these dispositions helped us weather the storm in many ways. We celebrate the differences in each community’s contexts, histories, assets, and leadership styles, and understand that different districts need to reflect and determine what makes the most sense for them. However, we hope that the way we have learned to think and work is something that others can replicate in order to build sustaining programs that establish a new relationship between their school system, business community, and higher education partners. In this tool we have aimed to explain these dispositions and help connect them to some of our stories in hopes that they will help inspire and inform teams who seek to enter into their own collaborative design process. This is a reflection of what we have learned up to this point, and we hope it helps both our community and others advance the important work of public education.
2
For years, St. Vrain Valley Schools has been ideating, implementing, and iterating programs in an agile, responsive environment in order to provide our students access to relevant opportunities and a strong competitive advantage for whatever their futures hold. In 2016, a community-supported bond initiative provided funding to build a 50,000 square foot, state-of-the-art Innovation Center facility for students to take advanced coursework, earn industry-level certifications and college credits, and join student teams to work on projects that provide real work for real pay. However, the Innovation Center was not created in isolation; it was built on a bedrock of innovation districtwide. This document is meant to highlight the why and how of innovative work in St. Vrain. Read on to learn more about the dispositions we believe contribute to our current reality, the resources we allocated at each stage, and the lessons we have learned along the way.
CONTENTS PURPOSE OF THE GUIDE 2 CONTENTS 3 ABOUT ST. VRAIN 4 BACKGROUND 5 CULTIVATING A STRONG FOUNDATION 6 ABOUT THE INNOVATION CENTER 10 OVERVIEW OF THE NINE DISPOSITIONS 11 DISPOSITION 1: Innovation from a Strong Foundation 12 DISPOSITION 2: Dynamic Stability 13 DISPOSITION 3: A Designer’s Mindset 14 DISPOSITION 4: Synergy Through Partnerships 15 DISPOSITION 5: Strategic Communication 16 DISPOSITION 6: Asset-Based Approach 17 DISPOSITION 7: Diffusion of Innovation 18 DISPOSITION 8: Authenticity and Relevance 19 DISPOSITION 9: Systems Thinking 20 OUR TIMELINE 22-23 STORIES 24-27 STRATEGIC PRIORITIES 28 BEFORE GETTING STARTED 29 CONTACTS 30 “In times of change learners inherit the earth; while the learned find themselves beautifully equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists.”-Eric Hoffer
The creation of this guide and the impetus for its creation were made possible through the support of The Daniels Fund, which strives to make life better for the people of Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming through its grants program, scholarship program, and ethics initiative. Their support of the innovative work in public education empowered our team to reflect, synthesize, and publish this guide.
St. Vrain Valley Schools is the educational home of more than 33,000 of Colorado’s students. The seventh largest school district in the state, St. Vrain Valley operates 60 schools and programs across 411 square miles. Over the past decade, St. Vrain has transformed public education in our community to emphasize and address the needs of the 21st century. In partnership with our teachers, families, students, nonprofit organizations, elected officials, business/corporate partners, and other members of our community, we have prioritized student learning and instructional programs that are deeply engaging students in critical thinking to develop solutions to global problems, foster entrepreneurial thinking, build a strong academic foundation, and deepen cultural understanding and empathy for others.
DANIELSFUND.ORG ABOUT ST. VRAIN
4
SVVSD.ORG
SPECIAL THANKS TO THE DANIELS FUND AND OUR MANY PARTNERS
USEFUL ICONS
Opportunities for reflection.Examples of innovative ideas or further resources for exploration.
This quote permeates the culture of every school in our district – we have an undeniably important job, and we take it very seriously. We recognize the importance of understanding the tension between foundation and innovation, between policy and dynamic change, and between autonomy and interdependence. Public education as a whole is both complex and complicated, because it centers around human beings who are also complex and complicated. The ability of our educational institutions to advance and respond to a society that is changing more rapidly than we ever could individually rests largely on our ability to collaborate with one another, to remain agile in the face of inertia, and to see beyond the horizon.
St. Vrain’s mission statement is “to educate each student in a safe learning environment so that they may develop to their highest potential and become contributing citizens.” In order to live that mission, we must offer programming as diverse as our student population, accelerate excellence intentionally and in every area, and build on the strengths of our students and each other to support the system through its work. Every part of that mission is a moving target. Potential drives us all in different directions and the idea of a ‘contributing citizen’ will no doubt remain ever-changing. Because the world constantly changes, we must constantly change. However, we must do so strategically in our risk-taking and with a reverence for classical methodologies that serve our goals. We support each other through continuous conversations about innovation, foundation, access, purpose, intentionality, and excellence in everything we do. None of these can be addressed with a singular solution. While we will proceed in this guide to address these priorities through the dispositions distilled through interviews, conversations, and stories, we recognize that there are no easy answers to any of this work. Education, innovation, partnerships, relationships – all of these are complicated and non-linear, and we must face that reality collectively through honest and open conversations designed to achieve clarity of purpose.
Watch the video at http://stvra.in/drivingexcellence
As a reader of these pages, please absorb what is written with a critical eye, and share stories with the broader community whenever you can. As the old adage states, a rising tide lifts all boats, and if we can agree to promote professional generosity and ingenuity, we can build something truly impactful that will benefit our students, society, and our world. The stakes are, indeed, extremely high.
“We believe public education — second only to parenting — has the most significant impact on the future of our society.”-Dr.DonHaddad, Superintendent, St. Vrain Valley Schools
5
After many years serving St. Vrain Valley Schools as the Principal of Niwot High School, Executive Director of Secondary Schools, Assistant Superintendent, and Deputy Superintendent, Dr. Don Haddad was named Superintendent of St. Vrain in 2008. As the impacts of the Great Recession came into focus, district leadership –buoyed by a group of engaged parents – decided to explore whether or not it was worth the effort to once again convince voters to approve an MLO. With the rejections in 2004 and 2005, the Board of Education wanted some assurance that the community was prepared to carefully consider a mill levy override with an open mind.
Building Community Trust and Support in St. Vrain
In 2004, the district, in collaboration with teachers and staff, was compelled to make significant sacrifices. Administrative support was radically reduced, and portions of the teachers’ annual salary schedule were frozen for three consecutive years. The district’s leadership and Board of Education realized the needed to increase revenues to avoid future shortfalls, and to begin to replace the necessary services and supports that they were forced to cut. Even though the St. Vrain community had never passed a mill levy override (MLO), the Board put an MLO on the ballot, and it failed. Due to the dire condition of the district’s finances, the Board decided to put the proposal on the ballot again in 2005. This time, it was rejected by 54% of voters. Clearly, there was a disconnect between the district’s needs and the community’s willingness to help meet them.
TO ADVANCE A SYSTEM – THE ST. VRAIN STORY BY BUILDING COMMUNITY SUPPORT AND FINANCIAL STRENGTH CULTIVATING A STRONG FOUNDATION
6
Community engagement in St. Vrain Valley Schools is a complex undertaking, as a large, geographically diverse district that spans 411 square miles across 13 different communities. Effective community engagement in St. Vrain requires responding to a variety of interests and needs. Dr. Haddad knew that going back to the community with the same message as the 2004 and 2005 campaigns would likely not be effective. Rather than explaining that the district needed the money or focusing on improving materials and class sizes, he wanted to help the community understand that the MLO was an investment, not just in their schools, but in the community as a whole. “It was no longer about asking what our community could do for us. It was about communicating what we could do for our community,” explained Dr. Haddad. “With our stakeholders, we are focused on a message of strengthening our schools so that they can serve as a foundation to a strong economy, so we can increase public safety, that our property values would increase, businesses and corporations would be attracted to the area, along with skilled workers from all over the country, and so that we can strengthen our service industry.”
In 2002, St. Vrain Valley Schools was in serious trouble. A combination of lower than expected revenue, unexpected expenses, and accounting errors culminated in a budget shortfall that put the system $13.8 million in the red. The district approached the state for assistance and began the difficult process of correcting the budget.
Public education is the cornerstone of our democracy and has the power to drive the quality of our communities and the direction of our nation. St. Vrain Valley Schools believes public education is the pillar for America’s standing in the global environment and economy – that our public schools provide the foundation for a strong economy, elevate public safety and national security, increase residential and commercial property values, create jobs, support the strength of businesses and corporations, and impact the quality of the service industry.
Even while celebrating the success of the MLO campaign, Dr. Haddad and his team realized that if St. Vrain’s community, staff, and leadership was going to realize their long-term goals for the district, this victory couldn’t be the end – it would be just the beginning. The engaged parents who worked on the MLO campaign wanted to continue supporting and advocating for St. Vrain Valley Schools, but they weren’t sure where to start. One realization was that many parents felt constrained in engaging with the district simply because they didn’t understand how it worked. Additionally, many parents had rallied behind the campaign because of what it meant for the schools in their immediate community, rather than the benefit to the entire Withdistrict.this
“Our district’s overall success is a result of all stakeholders, including our students, teachers and staff, parents, the business community, and elected officials, coming together to make a strong statement that educating our children is our top priority. And we could not be more grateful to the community for their support.” - Don Haddad, Ed.D.
Key parent leaders decided to back the campaign. Ultimately, this message, combined with the hard work of the parent support group, resonated with the St. Vrain community. The MLO passed with 57% approval, and the district was able to begin its journey toward long-term financial stability.
However, as Dr. Haddad reviewed the state of St. Vrain’s schools, he saw tremendous variation in performance and quality. “You could go to any of our schools and you would find huge variances in programming, wide swings in technology, and disparities in the quality of the facilities,” he recalled. What this meant to Dr. Haddad was that students in St. Vrain Valley Schools did not have equal access to high-quality educational opportunities. The new Board of Education President shared that concern and he and Dr. Haddad agreed that it should be a top priority.
In the process of working with a group of engaged parents to pass the 2008 bond and milllevy override, Dr. Haddad saw that St. Vrain could do much more to engage the broader community in their efforts. Specifically, he recognized a need to engage businesses and higher education institutions. The district hadn’t historically partnered with them as deeply as Dr. Haddad felt they could.
Investing in Success in St. Vrain
When Don Haddad assumed the superintendency of St. Vrain Valley Schools in 2008, he took stock of the district he’d been asked to lead. St. Vrain was continuing to pull itself out of the 2002 financial crisisthat resulted from a $13.8 million deficit. Through budget cuts, state assistance, and implementation of sound financial management practices, the district was beginning to show signs of recovery. Most strikingly, voters in the community approved the district’s first mill levy override as well as a bond in the fall of 2008. St. Vrain’s financial path was much smoother and a clarity of vision and purpose was beginning to emerge.
momentum, St. Vrain Valley Schools formed Leadership St. Vrain (LSV), a program designed to provide parents and other community members the opportunity to deepen their knowledge of district operations and exchange ideas during monthly meetings throughout the school year. Still in existence more than a decade later, each LSV cohort goes through in-depth learning and collaboration with district leaders on topics covering budget and funding, governance and legislation, classroom leadership and assessment, digital learning and technology, student services, special education, safety, operations, innovation, and more. “Our district’s overall success is a result of all stakeholders, including our students, teachers and staff, parents, the business community, and elected officials, coming together to make a strong statement that educating our children is our top priority. And we could not be more grateful to the community for their support,” said Dr. Haddad. “That’s at the heart of why we’re so successful.”
7
In 2010, St. Vrain Valley Schools submitted a proposal for the first round of the Investing in Innovation (i3) grant from the U.S. Department of Education. The grants were available to local education agencies and emphasized partnerships with the private sector as well as developing and expanding innovative practices.
8
By 2009, St. Vrain Valley Schools had a new influx of resources due to the $189 million bond and a mill levy override that would generate an additional $16.5 million in revenue. St. Vrain had gaps in funding to fill and resources were needed to bolster existing programs. These needs were important, but Dr. Haddad also wanted to use these new resources to seed improvements that would have lasting effects. The St. Vrain Valley Schools region, located near Boulder, Denver, and Fort Collins, was rife with technology companies and university research centers. Expanding STEM programming in the district could both prepare St. Vrain students for careers in industries that were expanding locally, and create a bridge to the local business and higher education community that could provide greater learning opportunities for students.
Two years later, St. Vrain applied for a federal Race-to-the-Top grant, proposing to expand and sustain the programs they’d begun with their i3 grant. Again, they were successful and were awarded $16.6 million to establish a STEM-focused feeder system aligned with the STEM Academy at Skyline. They also created an Innovation Center with cutting-edge technology for students to take advanced STEM courses, engage in projects, and earn industry certifications, all with assistance from outside experts from local companies and higher education. As Dr. Haddad saw it, the i3 and Race-to-the-Top grants, along with St. Vrain’s increasing partnerships with corporations and higher education, had helped them initiate strong programs and establish infrastructure for success. He knew, though, that the district could not count on grants or philanthropy to sustain their improvements. That would require additional ongoing support. As Dr. Haddad considered the work still to be done, as well as the investments to sustain, he realized that another mill levy override would give St. Vrain the financial stability and resources they needed to keep their improvements going. “You don’t start on a grant and then say, ‘Well, then what?’…The significance of the mill levy overrides are that funding never ends. So, the sustainability is there,” he noted.
Building on the community’s strong buy-in and the success established with previous mill levies and grants, the district sought and received a second mill levy override in 2012, further solidifying its financial position and providing additional resources for ongoing innovation. With the passage of another mill levy override in 2012, every secondary student was provided an iPad Mini, and every elementary classroom was provided a set of twelve iPads, in addition to laptops, Chromebooks, document cameras, and schoolwide computer labs. The MLO also furthered the development of focus programs at all high schools, and new career and technical education programming. By 2012, St. Vrain had turned itself around from the financial crisis of 2002. With better financial oversight in place and more stable revenues from the 2008 MLO and bond, Haddad felt more confident in the district’s
Haddad saw a natural fit with his priorities in building STEM programs and establishing partnerships with local corporations. The grant would also enable St. Vrain to expand math and STEM programs focused on Title I elementary and middle schools, thus moving toward equity in the district. St. Vrain’s proposal was the highest-rated of 1,700 nationwide and the district received $3.6 million. The proposal also involved partnerships with IBM and RidgeviewTel to provide in-kind and direct donations required by the grant.
St. Vrain Valley Schools started by updating technology infrastructures in their schools to enable modernized curricula and instructional programs. They also began establishing a STEM Academy at Skyline High School, in partnership with the University of Colorado Boulder’s School of Engineering. Not only did these efforts give students greater learning opportunities, they also opened the door to more engagement from the community. “People were paying attention to what we were doing, and different companies were interested in providing support,” Dr. Haddad recalled.
The Superintendent’s name is referenced frequently in describing this work, but he credits the commitment and work of St. Vrain’s teachers, staff, students, parents, business community members, and elected officials for St. Vrain’s success.
St. Vrain’s work has continued to advance strategically in alignment with the rapidly changing global environment. Recognizing how important it is that every student in the district graduates with a strong competitive advantage, St. Vrain remains laser focused, assertive in advancing their education system, and relentless in the pursuit of academic excellence by design.
9 position. Most importantly, though, the district had established a set of strategic priorities to guide their work toward ensuring that “no matter where you went to school in St. Vrain, you received a great education,” as Dr. Haddad said. St. Vrain’s strategic focus on STEM and prioritization of equitable opportunities for students helped them build a strong partnership with IBM and launching the Innovation Academy summer program for elementary students to design solutions to global problems, alongside IBM facilitators. In 2016, St. Vrain expanded their partnership with IBM further by developing and launching Pathways in Technology Early College High School (P-TECH), a program that provides students with the opportunity to earn both their high school diploma and associate degree at not cost to the student, alongside mentoring and career opportunities at IBM.
In 2016, the St. Vrain community also passed another bond initiative that included funding to build a 50,000 square foot Innovation Center to expand programming and access for all students. Opening in 2018, the Innovation Center has been a hub of learning in STEM, advanced technologies, robotics, and entrepreneurship, serving students in all areas of the district. By the time the new Innovation Center opened, the district was working closely with over 90 corporate and nonprofit partners. Additionally, in the eyars since the Innovation Center has opened, St. Vrain has secured over $28M in government and philanthropic grants, based on the district’s strong vision and past performance. The district has also opened two additional P-TECH programs, and built on its equity focus by hiring additional counselors for their high schools and elementary schools, as well as teachers to mentor at-risk students.
Talking about the deep partnership between the district and the company, Ray Johnson, IBM’s Corporate Citizenship and Corporate Affairs Manager says St. Vrain has been an aggressively innovative district. “That made it easy for us to see what they wanted to accomplish and let them know what we wanted to be part of,” said Johnson, adding that like most companies, IBM is happy to offer intellectual expertise more than just a check, because that is where true value lies.
In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic presented challenges more complex than anything the district had previously faced. However, the community’s investments – including the existing 1:1 program and significant teacher professional development in technology-enabled learning – allowed St. Vrain to establish remote learning environments quickly. Universal, districtwide curricula allowed central instructional staff to build two weeks of remote lessons for the entire school district over spring break, encouraging teachers to spend the first weeks of April re-connecting with students and ensuring a smooth transition to statemandated remote learning. While still an extremely challenging time for students, teachers, and the community, St. Vrain’s response to the pandemic was recently highlighted in a national report from Next Generation Learning Challenges about districts with high levels of readiness, and how that preparation enabled better student outcomes during the pandemic.
Student learning at the Innovation Center transcends the traditional classroom and provides experiential opportunities that are developing today’s students into tomorrow’s leaders, innovators, and changemakers. In addition to rigorous extended learning and mentorship opportunities, students gain valuable experiences through employment that focuses on designing and engineering technology solutions for industry and community partners.
ABOUT THE INNOVATION CENTEROUR VISION
The Innovation Center is the next level in public education, providing opportunities to experiment with extraordinary ideas and technologies to solve real-world problems. We are a catalyst, incubator, and bridge between education, industry, and our community.
Focus Areas • Aeronautics • Bioscience • Virtual & Digital Design • Cybersecurity • Artificial Intelligence • Entrepreneurship • Studio Production • Information Technology • Robotics • STEM Education • Pathways to Teaching For more information about the Innovation Center: INNOVATION.SVVSD.ORG
St. Vrain believes that where you learn matters, and the Innovation Center was designed in partnership with students, educators, community members, board members, and professional partners over the course of many months. IDEO, the world-renowned design firm, hosted a two-day workshop with stakeholders across all of those areas in order for the team to not only design an incredible space, but also to sharpen programming so that both might exhibit the values and beliefs St. Vrain holds about student possibility and community collaboration. The architects, Anderson Mason Dale, out of Denver, added more detail and thought to that vision, and developed the professional space now enjoyed as a community. The ability of the space to change and adapt to the needs of the users mirrors the agility and adaptability St. Vrain strives for as a system. At the IC, students and educators as a catalyst for innovation, and embrace strategic risk-taking. The system continues to be early adopters of new ideas, while supporting educators and learning environments throughout the district with implementation of innovations as they move toward mainstream use.
In providing real work for real pay, offering professional /technical certifications for advanced careers, and supporting the excellent coursework at each of St. Vrain’s focus high schools, the Innovation Center (IC) offers a distinct and unique competitive advantage for the students. The iconic building provides an agile space for the intentional collision of ideas and projects and, therefore, an ideal space for innovation.
The Innovation Center of St. Vrain Valley Schools
DISPOSITION DIFFUSION7
CONSISTENT & AUTHENTIC COMMUNICATION & ENGAGEMENT
We acknowledge the power of the collective and encourage leadership at every level, while balancing autonomy with interdependence and structure.
The more we actualize strong solutions to relevant problems the more we advance our human capacity and potential.
AUTHENTICITY & RELEVANCE
We see our environment through a lens of strength and opportunity, and believe that every person is capable of and responsible for achieving and contributing at high levels.
DISPOSITION 9
We believe that authentic communication and community engagement must be consistent and in alignment with the needs and values of all stakeholders.
APPROACH THROUGH PARTNERSHIPS
DISPOSITION
DISPOSITION 1 DISPOSITION 3DISPOSITION 2
DISPOSITION 8
SYNERGY
INNOVATION BOLSTERING A FOUNDATION DESIGNER’S MINDSETSTABILITY
DYNAMIC
DISPOSITION 4 DISPOSITION 5
Scaling and sustaining innovative practices while inspiring and driving high quality requires a approach.systemic SYSTEMS THINKING
A
ASSET-BASED6
11 AN OVERVIEW OF THE NINE DISPOSITIONS
STRONG
OF INNOVATION
Innovation is about continuous improvement, recombination of ideas, and a culture of learning. Innovation flourishes from a strong, solid, and shared foundation. The design process brings value as an organizing structure for problem solving and practical innovation from classrooms to conference rooms. We believe that in order to achieve excellence for all students, we must be open to new ideas, diverse perspectives, and external expertise. We believe we must implement (and abandon) programs and processes iteratively to discover what works quickly, while building momentum towards positive change.
• What does success look like for our division/organization? How are we communicating that vision to our stakeholders?
Innovation is about continuous improvement, recombination of ideas, and a culture of learning. Innovation flourishes from a strong, solid, and shared foundation. Resting on a strong foundation of research-based instructional approaches with guaranteed and viable curricula at every level, we both expect and support academic excellence by design in every aspect of our system. We have a clear conviction that our decisions and progress be rooted deeply in access for all. Innovations in process, product, or practice in St. Vrain do not compromise the stellar instructional and business practices we have worked so hard to build over the years. Some narratives might describe innovation as a lightning strike or light-bulb moment, but we know it to be a skill which we need to hone through practice. Critically, innovation rests firmly on our foundational mission, vision, values, and beliefs: that every student in our system deserves to have a strong competitive advantage through systemic instructional excellence, and that the public school system is a powerful contributing partner for economic success in our community. During hiring, we seek candidates who fit our culture, and who believe in both their own and in the system’s vast potential for excellence. Those who will work hard to make that potential a reality.
BolsteringInnovationaStrongFoundation
OUR CURRENT INQUIRIES:
• How available are our innovative programs to all students/all educators? Are some populations better informed or better served than others?
12 DISPOSITION 1
• Productive struggle is important for learning and transfer. Do not rescue students (or educators or administrators or partners) from their learning.
REFLECTION QUESTIONS FOR THE READER:
• How are we measuring and defining our impact in both foundational and innovative ways?
• During hiring, are we discovering candidates’ inspirations and motivations, and evaluating their dedication to excellence for the whole system?
RELATED IDEAS AND RESOURCES:
• How might we share impactful practices with colleagues regularly and across the organization in order to promote the collision and integration of ideas?
• Examine information pathways in your system to identify functional and high-stakes information and who has access to both.
• Craft interview questions that get at the heart of your mission/vision/core values in order to hire effectively. (Example: Robyn Jackson, School Leadership Reimagined)
• How are we communicating to our staff their responsibility and capacity to improve the whole of our system?
13
• In reviewing trademarks of agile organizations, which sound like us? Which scare us?
REFLECTION QUESTIONS FOR THE READER:
• Useful tools for iteration include: design thinking, Mathematica’s Rapid Cycle Evaluation approach, and action research in the classroom.
• Which elements of our system require a traditional approach versus an agile approach?
DynamicStability
DISPOSITION 2
• How can we look past the horizon in order to stay ahead?
We believe we must implement (and abandon) programs and processes iteratively in order to discover what works as quickly as possible. In order to stay relevant as a system, we must embrace strategic and responsible risk-taking, and maintain a clarity of vision while staying open to new avenues of operation. Similar to the iterative mindsets we encourage through the design process, we take very seriously the responsibility to weigh the benefits and costs of instructional or organizational risks, and act accordingly. The risks that succeed inform the innovation of the system, and because we strategically invest up front, the efforts without the desired impact are strategically abandoned. However we move forward, we are sure to reflect and then share the learning across the system in order to minimize wasted effort and maximize long-term gain. In this manner, we resemble agile organizations which emphasize shared vision, a network of empowered teams, and rapid decision and learning cycles.
OUR CURRENT INQUIRIES:
In Thomas Friedman’s book Thank You For Being Late, he quotes Astro Teller of Google X as follows: “What we are experiencing today, with shorter and shorter innovation cycles, and less time to learn to adapt, is the difference between a constant state of destabilization versus occasional destabilization. The time of static stability has passed us by. That does not mean we can’t have a new kind of stability, but the new kind of stability has to be dynamic stability. There are some ways of being, like riding a bicycle, where you cannot stand still, but once you are moving it is actually easier. It is not our natural state. But humanity has to learn to exist in this state.” Teller goes on to share that “we are all going to have to learn that bicycle trick.” This, to us, is a useful metaphor for the kind of agility and adaptation we will need to acquire and practice as a system in order to stay relevant and provide our students with the competitive advantage they deserve.
RELATED IDEAS AND RESOURCES:
• Carnegie Foundation’s Improvement Science Methods, including information on running small-scale Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) cycles, are very informative for testing and determining next steps.
• How might we understand the impact of design on our students’ progress in a variety of ways?
OUR CURRENT INQUIRIES:
The design process brings value as an organizing structure for problem solving and practical innovation from classrooms to conference rooms. Design thinking provides a framework for participants to use a structured creative thinking process to solve and consider complex (aka ‘wicked’) problems. The design-thinking process we employ (adopted from Stanford’s d.school) has opened possibilities for stakeholders from students and educators to parents and mentors. When built on excellent academic foundations, design can be a catalyst for bringing purpose and authenticity to student and educator work. Community members at multiple levels have used design to tackle problems such as:
• As a system, do we endure our problems or do we endeavor to solve them, either through design or another specific process?
• How might we design a mode of transportation to help people with [a specific] disability get around more easily? (2nd grade unit on balance and motion)
RELATED IDEAS AND RESOURCES:
• How might we make our library the heart of our school community? (schoolwide design challenge)
• What innovative or problem-solving mindsets do we encourage in our people, either directly or indirectly? How do we know?
• For scaffolding and support around teachers as designers, check out The Teachers Guild from IDEO
14
• For more resources on using design thinking in education, please visit a list of resources we’ve compiled at http://stvra.in/designresources.
• How might we support, engage, and empower teachers so that we retain high-quality instructional staff? (teacher design team)
• How might we avoid flood damage to man-made structures without damaging the planet? (3rd grade unit on solid earth)
DISPOSITION 3 A Designer’sMindset
• How might we live our belief that all students can achieve at high levels in order to show them daily that we believe in their unique abilities, so that they internalize that belief in themselves? (elementary staff professional development session)
• How might we balance the adaptation of current designs with the construction of new ones in order to most effectively approach issues needing attention?
REFLECTION QUESTIONS FOR THE READER:
DISPOSITION 4
REFLECTION QUESTIONS FOR THE READER:
St. Vrain works differently with business and external partners. We rely on them to assist in solving strategic problems, as well as to provide input on different aspects of the content and direction of our programming.
15
SynergyPartnershipsThrough
We believe that in order to achieve excellence for all students, we must be open to new ideas, diverse perspectives, and external expertise. Because public education is the foundation of our progress as a global society, we must endeavor to listen to and understand the input and expertise from our partners in community and industry. We are interdependent with our community in a way that synergizes efforts and expertise in order to move us all forward. In this age of acceleration, strategic partnerships are integral to our continued success, and therefore to the success of our students. Our curiosity drives us to greater levels of partnership as we better understand the perspectives and needs of our community, and how public education can address those needs. When approaching business or industry partners, our goal is always to first identify mutual values and move forward from there. In addition to advisory boards and informal partnerships, we primarily seek expertise and insight from our partners.
OUR CURRENT INQUIRIES:
• What aspects of our community or future are we curious about, and who among us is pursuing that curiosity?
• How might we continue to be mindful of goals, vision, and alignment with our partners? As with all things, this requires a great deal of balance and attention.
• How are we utilizing the expertise of those outside of our organization? Are we vulnerable enough to ask for input?
16 DISPOSITION 5 Consistent & CommunicationAuthentic&Engagement
We believe that an informed and engaged community is critical to a highly effective public institution.
• A local program called Leadership St. Vrain is designed to provide parents and other community members the opportunity to deepen their knowledge of our district’s mission, operations, and strategic priorities. Each year, a new cohort of parents and community leaders join the district once a month to learn and discuss approaches and challenges in different organizational contexts. Members who are new to our high-functioning school board have typically been through this nine-month program.
REFLECTION QUESTIONS FOR THE READER: • Who are all of your stakeholders and what do you know about them? • How do you stay focused on your message and mission? • Does the way you communicate and engage with your stakeholders have an impact on student achievement? If so, how? OUR CURRENT INQUIRIES: • How can we continue to stay focused on our mission and communications strategies in the current polarized political environment? • How do we know we are reaching all of our stakeholders? • Does our communication consistently tell a positive story about our organization?
Other ways that we have built high levels of trust is through direct interaction with many different stakeholder groups. In the past decade, district leadership has attended and engaged in thousands of community meetings, as well as served on the boards of nonprofits, economic development councils, chambers of commerce, civic organizations, and more, in order to understand what our community expects from our public schools. and demonstrating our vision – including being accountable to our entire community – has and will continue to be front and center in our overall strategy. This relationship of trust with our community has been instrumental in our financial stability, as they have continued to invest in our schools and understand the value that investment brings back to their children and the entire community.
CONSISTENT & AUTHENTIC COMMUNICATION & ENGAGEMENT
RELATED IDEAS AND RESOURCES:
Leadership and community engagement is about visibility. Over a decade ago, our goal was to shift the conversation from asking what the community could do for us to one focused on what we could do to serve our community. To build trust across our community, our district is committed to advancing authentic communication and engagement that is both consistent and in alignment with the needs and values of all stakeholders. In St. Vrain, we have remained laser-focused on our district’s mission in all of our communication efforts and strategically avoid the potential for outside organizations or special interests to co-opt the message, or leverage the district’s communication channels to promote things that are not in full alignment with the district’s brand, voice, or primary mission.
Communicating
17
We see our environment through a lens of strength, excellence, and opportunity, and believe that every person in our system is capable of and responsible for achieving and contributing at high levels.
The American poet, Allen Ginsberg, is attributed with stating, “Whoever controls the media, the images, controls the culture.” We understand that if we are not telling our story about the excellence happening in our buildings every day, someone else will tell a different story – one that we can neither substantiate nor control.
Across our system, we believe in creating excellence by design. We make intentional efforts to emphasize the beauty and integrity of our system and its incredible participants while viewing areas of growth as opportunities for improvement. This momentum helps us build both our own esteem and that of the community. For examples of the incredible work happening throughout our district, please search the hashtag #StVrainStorm on social media or visit svvsd.org.
• Apple’s Everyone Can Create curriculum offers a host of opportunities for media creation, storytelling, and sharing, even for the most novice user.
A big part of our responsibility to our community is transparency, not only for accountability and equity, but also for celebration, and for sharing with them the beauty and inspiration that our students, teachers, and staff create daily. An asset-based mindset does not mean turning a blind eye to the challenges. On the contrary, it enhances our ability to face challenges head on, while elevating and celebrating the value of our contributions.
• Our hashtag, #StVrainStorm, has united our community in sharing stories from public education. Share your hashtag with us and let’s share each other’s stories of achievement.
DISPOSITION 6
REFLECTION QUESTIONS FOR THE READER:
Asset-BasedApproach
• What does our community think of when they hear the term ‘public education’?
• How might we combat ‘self-inflicted’ negativity through positive engagement with our elected officials, teachers, and leadership in order to strengthen the number of bold advocates for public education in our communities? OUR CURRENT INQUIRIES:
• Do our staff believe they are part of a winning team?
• What biases must we own and discuss in order to lift imaginary ceilings off of the potential of ourselves and others? How might we have these discussions?
RELATED IDEAS AND RESOURCES:
• Visit our district’s St. Vrainnovation Magazine at magazine.svvsd.org.
• How can we continue to make it easier for teachers to find the time to tell the stories of their classroom without making them feel they have to be experts in public relations?
• How might we systematize “strategic abandonment” in order to leave room for continuous improvement?
Diffusion Innovationof
• How do we listen to, recognize, and support our innovators and early adopters? Are we open to, or fearful of, their breakthrough ideas? Is there a system in place (either hidden or obvious) that encourages them to share their thinking?
We acknowledge the power of the collective and encourage leadership at every level, while balancing autonomy with interdependence and structure. This disposition, similar to others, requires balance and intention. With a strong and transparent mission and vision in place, we invest in the agency of the people in our system and are thus able to empower people at every level to be leaders in their own environments. When asking our teachers to provide students with opportunities for creativity, agency, and ownership of their work, we must also provide our teachers with those same opportunities. Communication is a dynamic interaction instead of a one-way flow of information, and we trust that the engagement of informed individuals will take our system and its stakeholders to new heights. Early adopters on the Rogers’ Adoption Curve for diffusion of innovation become instrumental in creating systemwide adaptation and necessary evolution. If we know something is good for students and stakeholders, we will find a way to make it happen, regardless of presence or absence of resource. We believe deeply in collective efficacy and make every effort to dedicate personnel and resources to those innovating in their own space.
•
• Are we providing the right balance of structure and freedom to boost the success of our educators in the classroom? CURRENT INQUIRIES: How do we share our learnings across the system in order to promote widespread adoption of proven innovations?
18 DISPOSITION 7
•
REFLECTION QUESTIONS FOR THE READER: How transparent are we with our broader community about achieving our goals and about the changes necessary to achieve those goals?
OUR
Authenticity&Relevance
• The Mindset Scholars Network, most known for their resources around growth mindset, also have a great deal of resource around the importance of purpose and relevance.
19
REFLECTION QUESTIONS FOR THE READER:
The more we actualize strong solutions to relevant problems the more we advance our human capacity and potential.
• What local problems might our students try to solve? How might we approach our community to ask for challenges that students could help to solve as part of their school experience?
Once again, our belief statements cross the imaginary boundaries between classrooms and conference rooms. Assuming that a strong instructional foundation is in place, all students, regardless of their age, stand to gain more by transferring knowledge to relevant, authentic problems, and with audiences beyond their peers and classroom teacher, given the foundation of solid understanding as reflected in the first disposition. Similarly, the educators in our schools expand their potential to serve every time they have the opportunity to tackle issues relevant to their work. In providing the necessary time, processes, and audiences for these challenges, we are able to approach both systemic and isolated issues through design, curiosity, and a growing level of expertise.
OUR CURRENT INQUIRIES:
• How do we make our community more aware of the deep expertise and vast potential of our students?
Related Ideas and Resources:
In order to provide opportunities at the Innovation Center for students to do real work for real pay, we contract with community partners, or with internal divisions that provide the challenge or project, as well as the funding to pay our student designers. Our high school students fix computers, build websites, develop apps, engineer remotely operated vehicles, create community education publications, write courses and lessons, craft specialized unmanned aerial vehicles, and much more. In working and learning at the Innovation Center, students have the option of putting their hands and minds to use, for pay, after school.
• Are there questions in our own environment that we can open up for community and stakeholder input?
DISPOSITION 8
• What does ‘authentic’ mean in our context/community? What community resources can we be more curious about in order to create relevant opportunities for our students or educators?
THE READER: • How
Scaling and sustaining innovative practices while inspiring and driving high quality requires a systemic approach. Our new Innovation Center has garnered a great deal of attention, but we are all aware of the impossibility of its existence without the collective drive for excellence at every level of our system. Systemic alignment and a holistic approach are necessary for systemwide success. A large part of this disposition includes the willingness to examine long-standing practices for continued use or strategic abandonment. It also requires the courage to discontinue support for processes or products that no longer represent our best understanding for how we move forward. We must protect our assets (both human and financial) by being willing to say ‘no’ to unsustainable grants, sacred cows, and personal interests. Systems thinking provides the opportunity for districts to take advantage of the economies of scale in many areas of the organization, including technology, curriculum, professional development, facilities, and much more. This type of thinking is critical to maintaining financial security and sustainability in a dynamic and changing environment. The base of our Strategic Priorities Pyramid (see page 28) helps us to more readily determine potential for sustainability of new ideas by providing a filter and sequence for reflection. Does the process or product support the mission and vision of our district and our board? Is this something we are able and willing to dedicate budget toward? Does it have the support of district and/or building leadership? How will we support and involve our excellent teachers and staff in its implementation? This common frame affords a systems-level reflection of how implementation may affect us moving forward.
• How
ThinkingSystems
How
REFLECTION QUESTIONS FOR do we foster leaders at every level throughout the system? do they have access to promote and foster an understanding of the whole system at every level? are you leveraging the economies of scale across your system? Where are there areas for INQUIRIES: might we balance the adoption of some practices with the abandonment of others so our teachers, staff, and personnel might maximize their dedication to the most important initiatives?
improvement? OUR CURRENT
DISPOSITION 9
each other? • Do we
How? • How
20
St. Vrain hires a Director of Competitive Grants and Strategic Partnerships, as well as a Director of Community and Business Development, in order to continue cultivating and maintaining essential partnerships with industry and community.
St. Vrain wins the Consortium for School Networking Team Award.
St. Vrain’s first cohort of P-TECH students begins taking classes to earn an AAS degree in Computer Information Systems alongside their high school diploma, in partnership with Front Range Community College and IBM. The district wins the support of the community, with the help of the newly forming parent organization, Grassroots St. Vrain, as evident through the passage of a bond and milllevy override which bolsters district finances and allows for continued growth.
2006 2007 2008 2009 20122010 20112013 20182016
A team of Learning Leaders, including STEM Coordinators, Content Coordinators, Learning and Technology Coaches, and Instructional Technology Coordinators serve the district as building and district-level support staff, coaches, and coordinators, organized by high school feeder systems.
2015 Longmont High School opens a Medical and BioScience Academy for students interested in careers or post-secondary education in the health sciences.
The district’s use of learning technology continues to grow through St. Vrain’s Learning Technology Plan (ltp.svvsd.org), made possible in part by the voter-supported 2012 mill levy override.
Elementary students begin attending a 7-week summer augmented school year to build literacy skills, while middle school students attend summer programming for math intervention.
St. Vrain offers the first Innovation Academy summer program in partnership with IBM. St. Vrain applies for Race-to-the-Top district funding, and is awarded $16.6 million to implement STEM integration and personalized learning approaches in the Skyline feeder and Title 1 schools.
With support of the Investing in Innovation grant funding, Skyline pursues a 1:1 initiative, purchasing laptops for its STEM Academy and VPA students and teachers.
St. Vrain is recognized as one of four districts in Colorado to receive College Board’s AP District Honor Roll, for expanding access to AP courses to underrepresented students while increasing passing rates and number of exams taken.
A partnership with the Longmont Economic Council and the Education Foundation for the St. Vrain Valley provides Skyline with a part-time grant writer who helps to pursue funding for STEM and other initiatives.
Skyline’s22 STEM Academy and Visual Performing Arts Academy (VPA) begins programming for students, while the school benefits from a $14.2 million remodel.
St. Vrain wins a $3.6 million Investing in Innovation (i3) grant, focusing on support for at-risk students, strengthening intervention for math and literacy instruction through datadriven decision making and fully implementing the STEM Academy at Skyline. With local matching support from IBM and RidgeviewTel Communications, schools received technology, software, and internet to support the work.
Leadership St. Vrain launches its first cohort of community participants who will learn the organizational structures and systems of the district in order to support public education in our community. High School focus programs continue to expand, with the opening of the Biomedical Science Academy at Frederick High School, the Academy of Engineering and Aerospace at Erie High School, and the Energy Academy at Mead High School.
The Innovation Center begins providing professional STEM experiences to students through industry partnerships and paid work for students.
The community again supports St. Vrain’s expansion through a bond, making possible the construction of the new Innovation Center, two new schools, and enhancement of existing schools. St. Vrain wins the Carbon Valley Chamber award for ‘Large Business of the Year’.
TIMELINE OF INNOVATION AND ACCELERATION CONSISTENT & AUTHENTIC COMMUNICATION & ENGAGEMENT
Frederick High School begins planning a P-TECH program with a focus in Biochemistry, in collaboration with AIMS Community College, Tolmar, and Agilent Technologies, slated to open in Fall 2019.
St. Vrain wins Longmont Chamber of Commerce award for ‘Large Business of the Year’.
2017
Computer science instruction continues to expand at all levels, both during the school day and through after-school opportunities. Robotics programs increase in participation and reach across the district as well.
Silver Creek High School offers the Leadership Academy to students who want to develop leadership competencies, with service learning components at every level.
The newly-built 50,000 square foot Innovation Center opens for courses and experiences for all students in St. Vrain.
St. Vrain opens a third P-TECH program in cybersecurity at Silver Creek High School. St. Vrain is recognized as an exemplary district in “The Prepared Project: Why these schools and districts could take on COVID effectively—and what you can learn from them.”
St. Vrain nears $30M in competitive gifts and grants over past four years, in alignment with its vision andpriorities.strategic St. Vrain prepares for short-term school closures by preparing weeks of remote learning lesson plans for all grade levels. In May 2022, more than 98% of St. Vrain Valley Schools’ students are actively engaged in remote learning. 2020 2021 2022 St. Vrain Valley Schools’ students win two robotics world championship events. 2019 St. Vrain launches a community-facing Mobile Innovation Lab emphasizing virtual and augmented reality, as well as STEM and early learning experiences that will accelerate learning and extend public education beyond the classroom. St. Vrain wins the Boulder Chamber of Commerce award for ‘Innovative Business of the Year’. St. Vrain wins the International Society for Technology in Education District of Distinction Award. St. Vrain wins the Chair Award from the Longmont Economic Development Partnership. St. Vrain achieves highest ever four-year graduation rate (90.3%) and lowest ever drop out rate (0.8%).
St. Vrain prepares to open a fourth P-TECH program in 2023 in business at Longmont High School. The district prepares to launch a capital fundraising campaign for Innovation 4.0 and an expansion of the Innovation Center.
St. Vrain organizes a day to celebrate public education by taking over the State Capitol building and hosting a rally with the governor to celebrate our public schools. St. Vrain becomes a fully 1:1 district at all grade levels (previously it was only secondary) and ensures that all students have access to a device and the internet.
St. Vrain wins Governor’s RISE grant for $2.8M to implement and replicate its summer early literacy program across St. Vrain and in five Colorado partner districts.
St. Vrain students win the International World Affairs Challenge for their project raising and endangered fish species to release back into the local ecosystem. The world teamUp-A-CreekchampionRoboticsteststheirrobot.
Skyline High School’s STEM AcademySTORIES OF PRACTICE
Having learned about user empathy from design thinking, we realized there were going to have to be some clear parameters for design of the STEM pathway that were different than what was currently in place. We built courses to stack on one another with design thinking as a common organizer so that there was a clear and obvious connection from one project or course to the next. We began a campaign of individual outreach to families to help them become informed about the importance of planning around key times in the semester. And we sought to find business partners interested in contracting with the district to have students do real work for real pay, so they could begin helping students see that they were capable of contributing with both their minds and hands. Eventually, this last principle – seeking opportunities for paid work for students – would become one of the cornerstones for the design of the Innovation Center.
24
In 2006, Skyline High faced some challenges related to performance and perception. A new high school was opening nearby, and Skyline was going to need to distinguish itself as having its own high value in order to retain student enrollment in a district of choice. In partnership with district leadership, the new school principal, Patty Quinones, began to look for positively perceived brands for the school with an eye toward partners that would see particular value in having the opportunity to work with a diverse student population. Through diligent research and targeted inquiry, school and district leaders recognized that STEM was in particularly high demand in both our local and global community. At the same time, at there was significant effort began within high-tech sectors to recruit and develop people of all backgrounds. Identifying that our students would be viewed as particular assets in those fields was aligned with building on the leadership philosophy already in place in St. Vrain — to view our students and ourselves as contributing partners and assets to the community.
Once we decided to build a STEM pathway at Skyline, we began to look for potential partners with expertise that could help us do it well and get off to a high-quality start. We connected with The University of Colorado Boulder to seek advice about curriculum development and were advised to learn about Stanford’s d.school and their approach to design thinking as a potential universal organizer for curriculum in the STEM pathway. Meanwhile, our school leaders began building new and deeper business partnerships, not just asking industry for financial support or equipment, but for critical input to the content of the curriculum and equipment purchases. We also began to observe patterns in student engagement and foster conversations with parents and students about what they valued about education. We learned that some students needed additional opportunities to strengthen academic rigor, identify more career pathways, and enhance future success.
STORIES OF PRACTICE
25
As STEM mindsets, pedagogy, and projects began permeating our instruction, both during the day and in after-school spaces, we were intentional about creating opportunities for students to apply and transfer that learning in novel situations. Throughout the system, we realized the importance of embedding opportunities for design, collaboration, and authentic challenges in early childhood in order to build student skill over time. One of our earliest efforts to bring STEM and industry experiences into elementary was Innovation Academy, which we lead in partnership with IBM each summer. We were looking for a way to demonstrate that students of all ages are capable of engaging in design thinking and inquiry, and felt the most persuasive examples would be with elementary students in an industry-embedded context. The types of rigorous thinking we have been able to cultivate through the synergy of IBM’s Smarter Planet Initiative, St. Vrain educators’ skill in curriculum design, and the process of design thinking has solidified our belief that our students are incredibly capable and endlessly creative.
Synergy through Robust Partnerships
IBM is a clever and dedicated collaborator who partnered with St. Vrain to design this myth-busting program and set an example for educators and students across our system. At Innovation Academy, students apply design thinking in collaboration with IBM’s professional employees to design solutions for a smarter planet. The specific challenges change each year, but for the past 13 years, our young students have demonstrated over and over their ability to think creatively and intentionally about some of our largest societal challenges such as food waste, smarter cities, and clean energy. A few of our favorite prototypes include a drone that would alert emergency services to locations of the stranded during disasters, a refrigerator that would scan the bar codes of the food inside to provide recipes and avoid food waste, an exoskeleton for paraplegics, an energy-capturing device that would harness the power of tsunamis and earthquakes, a student bicycle that would generate energy as students rode throughout a school, and a smart net that would identify the types of fish captured and release those that may be unintentionally trapped. IBM partners with us every year to create this unique engineering summer academy. Additionally, the company provides mentors for students in our Pathways in Technology Early College High School (P-TECH) program at Skyline, shares online learning tools with our employees and our students around topics such as artificial intelligence and design thinking, and provides mentors for Innovation Center students on projects such as engineering, robotics, machine learning, and language processing. As we endeavor to increase innovative opportunities and projects for our students, it is extremely important that we provide the mentorship and guidance necessary for success, whether it includes project management, soldering, coding, or applied robotics. We rely heavily on mentors for expertise in these areas and more, and try to learn from, with, and alongside our students whenever possible.•Are there key mindsets that you hope to shift with teachers by doing this work? If so, what are they, and what kinds of strategies might you use?
• Where do you see connections between this story and the dispositions?
• Where do you see connection between this story and the Strategic Priorities Pyramid?
26
One of the big lessons was that paid work in STEM has a range of positive benefits for students and their families. We found that many of our young people were already employed, and that if we were going to try to engage them in learning that took them away from hours in which they were currently working and earning, we were going to have to find opportunities for paid work. The opportunity for real pay meant we could engage a larger number of students in applied STEM learning. We also found that when students had paid STEM work experiences they viewed postsecondary options in a more favorable light. Even with scholarships and aid, the opportunity cost of delaying full-time work and earnings to pursue college often did not resonate as well. However, students benefit from a new understanding that postsecondary education is a viable way to gain skills that could result in increased earnings. The paid work made the idea of skill-building leading to increased earning clear and tangible.
For more about the Innovation Center, please visit our website at innovation.svvsd.org
As a result, the Innovation Center was designed to expand the number and types of paid work experiences available across our district, as well as provide coursework and certifications that would provide our students a distinct, competitive advantage. Programming was designed to align with industry demand and culminate in professional credentials, certifications, and college credits wherever possible. Those certificates and credits communicate to a student that they have a set of skills that industry values, which helps them make the connection between learning, skill-building, earning, and success. They also ensure that if a student does not immediately continue into postsecondary programs, they have an excellent opportunity to acquire jobs within and beyond our network of employer partners.
This idea of paid work embedded in industry is also what inspired us to launch our first P-TECH program, FalconTech. In P-TECH, we have the ability to keep students in our system a little longer (up to 14th grade), pay for their first round of college coursework through a targeted Associate degree pathway, and ensure extended paid work experience in industry.
STORIES OF PRACTICE
The design of the Innovation Center was a natural extension of the STEM pathway at Skyline High School. In collaborating with students and families through the design process, a number of ideas surfaced that couldn’t be fully addressed with the STEM certificate. As a district, when we learn there is promise in a prototype, we seek ways to make that opportunity available across our system. The Innovation Center is a way for us to scale our response to key learnings from Skyline as well as augment the focus areas of our other excellent high schools.
Blurring the Lines:
Innovative High School & Postsecondary Options
At the time of this publication, the Innovation Center offers more than 30 advanced courses and nine industry-level professional certifications, and pays over 100 student designers for their work after school.
• What would have to change for teachers to work with those dispositions?
As teachers shift into the designer role, they become reinvigorated in their craft as well as more reflective on the impact of their instruction. They take ownership in the instructional design and feel empowered and supported in continuous iteration and improvement. Teachers also build a strong sense of their own STEM identity through this process in a way that we did not observe when we tried to provide “off the shelf” STEM curriculum. Asking educators to develop their own Integrated STEM Plans based on the district’s unit plans has enabled us to foster STEM content expertise and improved instructional practice for teachers at every level.
• What key competencies do your teachers already have to begin or to deepen their role as designers of learning?
STORIES OF PRACTICE
27
At the same time, we know that for learning to be relevant for students, portions must be designed in context by their teachers. Over time we have identified places in which teachers should be given both the agency and support to design learning experiences that are rigorous, engaging, and relevant to their students. We employ design thinking with adults as an intellectual discipline, a process that ensures teachers work together in student centered ways to develop quality curriculum and programming. We believe design thinking is a way for students and teachers to learn how to be creative, responsible, and strategic in inquiry and design. When deciding where to begin, we ask that people build on district-identified curriculum adoptions in math and literacy, and design STEM-focused learning that will bolster systemic quality literacy and math. When we work with teachers, we attempt to guide them toward projects and plans that begin as smaller pilot endeavors. We attempt to use the discipline of design thinking to reinforce with everyone to begin with small-scale, cost-efficient prototypes to carefully observe and assess the outcomes of implementing such prototypes, and then to keep designing, expanding, and formalizing in response to the outcomes of each round of implementation with students.
Along the same vein, the supported design opportunities provided via our Teachers Guild chapter allowed for extended collaboration on meaningful topics. Educators throughout our system formed year-long design teams based on areas of interest and opportunity, and attended three in-person events, as well as team-based monthly workshops in order to invite feedback and diverse perspectives into their prototypes.
• How much experience do your teachers have with curriculum design, and how much of that experience has been student- or user-centered?
Teachers as Designers
Within St. Vrain there is a strong commitment to consistent use of effective curriculum tools and instructional practices. This consistency is aimed at ensuring that all students develop the compulsory numeracy and literacy skills needed to access complex content and to be successful in any career. As a system, we perpetually study the effectiveness of such curriculum tools and seek to continuously improve the quality of this learning in a holistic and systemic way.
• Are there dispositions that you think are essential to teachers being able to do this work with colleagues, in a student-centered way, and with quality?
The foundation for program planning and prioritization across St. Vrain Valley Schools is our Pyramid of Strategic Priorities that was developed by the Board of Education in partnership with district leadership. The Pyramid serves as the guiding document for ensuring a strong and healthy education system. At the base of the pyramid is a high-functioning school board and strong district finances – two items that are essential to cultivating leadership, partnerships, and opportunities that serve as the catalyst for innovative programming and the advancement of our educational systems. As you advance through the pyramid, each section builds on the previous to form a comprehensive and systemic approach to advancing student achievement and global success.
ST. VRAIN’S PYRAMID OF STRATEGIC PRIORITIES
28
OTHER CONSIDERATIONS
29 BEFORE GETTING STARTED... CONSIDER ORGANIZATIONAL CAPACITY
» Who
» The KASAB model - Identify desired knowledge, attitudes, skills, aspirations, and behaviors, as well as metrics for measuring them.
» Start with empathy. Every stakeholder in your community sees things from a different point of view. Remember to keep those perspectives in mind throughout the process. Find thought partners with diverse viewpoints, and use those to consider your own, local context.
» Put in the time for research and development. Plenty of other districts, community organizations, businesses, and disciplines have been working for years on managing complex change. Learn at every turn.
Who
» What
» Knoster
» ADKAR
» Develop a Theory of Action as a conceptual framework for your change initiatives.
» Develop a logic model with inputs, activities, outputs, and short vs. long-term goals for the initiative(s).
» in your system is, or has the capacity to be, the leader of this work? in your broader community could be a champion for change? resources are currently allocated toward innovation and change in your system? USE OF A CHANGE MODEL TO GUIDE YOUR WORK Ambrose Model for Complex Change Adoption Model Change Model Model Model TOOLS FOR EVALUATING IMPACT
»
CONSIDER
» Kotter’s
» Start small. Change initiatives do not happen overnight, and seldom succeed broadly when launched initially at a large scale. Give ideas time to morph and change while monitoring their impact on your goals.
» Communicate relentlessly. Share your small and large victories along the way and get all stakeholders involved in the communication efforts. In order to make the most of your efforts, consider the use of some of the tools and resources below. Efforts to engage in change management can be amplified and sustained more readily with intentional forethought and ongoing assessment of impact.
» Concerns-Based
KERRI MCDERMID CHIEF COMMUNICATIONS AND GLOBAL IMPACT OFFICER mcdermid_kerri@svvsd.org
CONTACTS FOR FURTHER DISCUSSION
DON HADDAD, ED.D. SUPERINTENDENT haddad_don@svvsd.org
JACKIE KAPUSHION, ED.D. DEPUTY SUPERINTENDENT kapushion_jackie@svvsd.org
ASSISTANT SUPERINTENDENT OF PRIORITY PROGRAMS lauer_diane@svvsd.org
JOE MCBREEN ASSISTANT SUPERINTENDENT OF INNOVATION mcbreen_joseph@svvsd.org
30
A large part of what will advance, strengthen, and elevate public education is the prioritization of collaboration amongst our organizations. We welcome the opportunity to discuss our journey and to learn more about yours.
DIANE LAUER, ED.D.
HILARY SONTAG EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF ADVANCEMENT AND PARTNERSHIPSSTRATEGIC sontag_hilary@svvsd.org
WWW.SVVSD.ORG | @SVVSD | #STVRAINSTORM
