The president of the WVAFT, Judy Hale’s, recent editorial in the Daily Mail discussing how hard her organization works to “build better schools and improve instruction” begs the question-will the WVAFT work just as hard for different schools?
Different in how schools are governed? Look at Boston’s Pilot Schools or Milwaukee’s Teacher Cooperatives. Different in when and where school is. Online cyber schools open 24/7, 365 days a year or high schools that are open 8 to 5 and meet 2 Saturdays a month all year. Different in where school is. Schools that spend 2 days a week in the classroom, the rest of the time students are doing apprenticeships, projects and service learning in the community. Different learning models focused on student motivation. Schools that are theme-based (science, digital media, music), project-based, middle colleges, vocational high schools, K-3 academies.
Different schools mean new schools that are autonomous and accountable-schools where teachers are given the authority to design and operate the learning program. We need an innovation sector in our state’s public education system that will allow new and different schools to be created. The current version of the School Innovation Zone Act does not provide for this. Revising this legislation and creating a strong chartering bill could. Will WVAFT work hard to create these different schools? Will WVAFT support new school designs in the areas of staffing, budget, curriculum and assessment, governance and policies and calendar? Can WVAFT create an innovation sector in its own ranks to work with students, teachers, communities and policymakers to create new and different schools? Ms. Hale writes “(w)e ask to be judged on the basis of what we do, and let the facts speak for themselves.” Here is to WVAFT doing new things and making new facts.
