Imagine with me for a moment that you are four years old again, and just about to start school. You are about to embark on this great New Enterprise. The clicker doesnt seem to be working. So youre about to embark on this great New Enterprise of a formal education, and youre taking a moment to reflect on the experience that lies ahead. I hope my teacher sees me just ask my mom does. That is, valued into i am, not whom whom i am becoming. I hope she doesnt see me as a test number or an empty bucket waiting to be filled. If shes like my mom she doesnt see me as a blank sheet, amount of clay waiting for the skillful, trained teachers to create something beautiful. But she also doesnt seem as the czar of myspace, determining the place and pace of my learning. My teacher sees me just like my mom, she sees me as extraordinarily valued and brimming with potentialities. Yes, im ignorant in the ways of the world and entirely weak when it comes to my own Character Development and selfcontrol, but thats not what defines me. What defines me is that i bear the likeness of god, and thats a great mystery that my teacher, just like my mom, will grow to understand and appreciate. I hope when im in my class i can be completely confident that i am known and loved. Maybe my teacher will conclude instead that i am known, yet loved, but either way i hope that defines the atmosphere of my school. And i dont mean just knowing my name, while thats important, of course. I mean knowing me personally with all my strengths and weaknesses, and still loving me the same. When that happens its amazing what happens to me. I just relax. My brain just lights up. Im safe, and i can enter into this experience of learning without reservation, without condition. Thats the real joy factor. Confident that i am known and loved. Then i can take risks, be challenged, and challenge right back. I have a feeling this is not just what im hoping for, but is the hope of every student, no matter their age when they come to school. This is the longing of every heart, to be known and loved. You know, i hope that what is presented to me when i go to school is worthy of my affections. Im not interested in learning for a test or learning just because thats whats needed for a job. I want to be inspired and have my senses stimulated by beauty and by what really matters. Im not interested in a meal of intellectual sawdust. I want what has stood the test of time. What has inspired generations before me to reach higher in to be heroic. Rather than cheap chocolate, i hope my school offers swiss chocolate. If im going to have real lifechanging relationships with learning, i want it to be with the best available. I hope i can go mind to mind with authors, with artists, and scientists. No, im not interested in everything being predigested or mediated by a screen. I hope my sense of wonder and curiosity develops. I am not prodded to learn by cheap rewards that robs my learning of any dignity. Im quite capable of hard work, and i hope my school gives me a chance to experience the fullness and beauty of learning. When i get to school i hope its more than just getting a a betr job or a higher salary. I hope my school is committed to lifting my vision into something greater. Like renewal. Renewal of my own life and relationships. It would be great if i can be in a class with students who dont look like me. How great and how rare that would be. It would be great if i could be in a class with others who are struggling in different ways than my family struggles. For me to be in a relationship with others so different than myself would change my life and give me hope. I hope my school promotes renewal of family, by carrying and meeting the needs of our parents. It would be amazing to be that school, as a vision for our neighborhood. Because Great Schools can be a catalyst to renew and rebuild and restore us, families, neighborhoods, and cities. This is the oaks academy. We were started in 1998 with 53 children. We are now a network of eight based classical schools in urban indianapolis faithbased. Each day this year we welcome 815 prek through eighth graders. By 2024 we will grow to 1225. Our school was started to serve the poor by reserving half of our involvement to children from low income households. And the other 50 to children in high and middle income households. Historically and currently, our school is ethnically balanced. Half of our students are africanamerican and half of our students are white. The yoke shines academically. We are consistently in the top two or three schools in our state, based on the indiana standardized test. That is despite no time being devoted to standardized test prep. Last year with 320 teachers, teacher candidates applied for 18 open spots. This year we have our first legacy students, children of graduates who are now enrolled in prek. The only commitment and requirement to attend the oaks is a caring and committed adult. This school is financed through tuition payment, that is, anyone pay something, voucher funds, public voucher funds and philanthropic giving. Primarily through the state tax credit program. And heres my point. The oaks is possible in more places than indianapolis. Its not lightning in a bottle. We have now replicated three times, and yes, are currently cautiously considering future growth. But the tenets of our success are available to all. Today, right now. What we believe about children, our Character Development effort, our teacher training, our 20 years of flying time tested curriculum and teaching strategies. We are honored to be part of this conversation to consider how we can continue to innovate our k12 program. Thank you. [applause] thank you so much elizabeth, carol, and andrew for your inspiring presentations and sharing with us your Innovative School approaches. I which is like to open it up for responses, reactions to this segment of the program and for further discussion on how we might be able to further rate down barriers that are, i think, artificially created between what we view as the public approach to education and that all of these other models and approaches that are going on around us, and yet i think we often sort of bifurcate them to keep them in silos. Id like to welcome conversation here. So i think a lot about systems, right . Because we all surrounded by so systems, and one of the things that, to my mind, soon as a system is cratered it focuses too certain amount on its own self perpetuation as opposed to the original reason why the system was created in the first place. And to my mind, leaders of systems need to recognize that and embrace external pressures to improve. And if you look at the narrative from leaders of systems around those external pressures, typically Charter Schools but not always Charter Schools, they typically argue against those external pressures because its undermining the system as opposed to arguing for those external pressures because its providing an incentive for the systems to stay nimble, stay flexible, stay strong. So i think a lot of this, systems leaders embraced the portfolio of option because we dont serve systems. We serve the people were trying to surf. Im curious for this round of presenters whats been your excreta that system leaders embracing as part of the solution as opposed to trying to defend against you as intruders upon the system entitlement . Well, i i can respond as fas system leaders wanting to do things the way things have always been done. So if we look at Catholic Education as an example. The way things have been done at a traditional catholic ayes is that tuition is charged. So how can we break out of that paradigm . What opportunities are there to provide a quality education to families who cant afford that . And almost every privatebased faithbased schools do something to support lowincome families but hoch would broaden that pool to take the opportunity for more people . Thats appeared on shift the we need to occur in the Financial Model change that we need to occur for that to be reasonable for school to be able to do. Im sorry, i think the light might not work. Can you try . I want to make sure our online audience came here. Thank you. The other paradigm shift is the idea that parents can be educators even if they dont necessarily have academic qualifications that most people would consider necessary to be Public School are private school teachers. And some of the testing weve done like in the homeschooling community is that give the kids that are tutored in which basic homeschooling is, to score higher on all tests and its not based on educational background appeared for its a peso and the socioeconomic background of the family. Its not based on the race of the family. Its based on the interest of the parents and the child working together. Thats another thing is to realize, as a paradigm shift to realize someone can teach all subjects, or find resources in order to allow all subjects to be taught sometimes to online education, so that all things are being met during those years of high school. I think just to get wonky for a minute in answer to your question, i think a really good office of federal programs and grants in the School District is a great thing. I think ensuring that that person or that office has a mindset that is kind of sector blind can help foster innovation. I know we would not have been able to innovate the way we have as a nonPublic School without public title iia funding. And i think the balance between regulation and openness to innovation that the d. C. Office of federal programs and grants has adopted over the last i would say decade has had a measurable impact on our kids. So i think having a mindset that you just articulated. Ive also heard john in louisiana talk about this notion of how can multiple different sectors collaborate together and see themselves engaged in a common enterprise. I think one tangible way which set has an impact within any state or District Office of federal program grants. A couple of us had a chance to chat yesterday, and i was thinking about our conversation all night long and it was this conversation in question around more money doesnt always linked to better results. What kept me up all night was this thought that not enough money also does not lead to better results, right . I was grappling with this and i thought there must be an answer. It cant just be i guess it is no answer your what i landed on is, and again this is just one persons thoughts id love to you would other people think about my crazy to a human thought. This idea of applying for extra funding for something specific. Because if i have a specific problem i want to solve, thats different than doing what ive always done and so the importance of having a way to say, ive got his grand idea. And what i have, whether im using it well or not well, im using it. So what is that thing that can fuel innovation or growth . And i know that lindsay has done some really Amazing Things with the innovation grant that you all have received. And sometimes its just, its the amount or the symbolism blanket. I do think that injection, that sort of booster shot of like go, like you can do this, i think is really important. And for what its worth, that seemed really coherent at two again. I hope it still sort of makes sense. You know, ill inject something else, inject a spirit of humility in education reform. I know in indianapolis, its kind of a hotbed of reform. There is a lot of hubris around growth and performance which put our district and a defensive posture. And its difficult to be in a collaborative relationship when you are playing defense. In fact, youre looking to strike back. And i think for our schools, nonpublic charter in particular, to embrace some level of humility, especially in approaching the district, weve been very careful, so heres the account of humility. Weve been careful at the oaks not to throw rocks at our beloved School District. After all, we are in three formerly Public School buildings, completely reliant upon our title fines, title ii in particular. We are very grateful to them for administering those funds for us. So what i would commend alcoholics, special to the charter and nonpublic world, is to embrace a greater level of humility as we are interacting with those who are working and living within the system. I would like to follow up on that. Because at what point does the homeschool or the alternative system become a system that then you have another system that is competing. And so its always a question of who is one of venue is one down, as opposed to i love your idea of collaboration, and how can we collaborate. Because this confrontational defensive, angry, if i i when youve got to lose, and if i lose that means you win. I think does not serve our communities, our students, our families and our Education Systems well anywhere. And so that would be my sort of air on the side of caution looking not just at that system, but at your own system as well. In our work, chicago elite where we have chicago Public Schools, charters, all sectors, one entrance relations with the system is were to a central leadership on what this looks like. Its not people running off in a million directions. I think the arrow resonate a lot ahead get a vote on the same page and where the innovation fits. I find we have role as an ngo to almost rosen that sort of cover. Even though we do some graph, whats more fastening is having that freedom or licensed to integrate and tried to do new things with our community and move the forward along with, we were really nervous in the beginning of our cohort are unmixed with 40 schools in the mix of all sectors, put the minimum together but a really genuine collaboration because theres a fundamental philosophy here of students first and where the that tries to i find over and over, putting students at the center just drives conversation. This network plays it forward. Also then you realize youre not crazy, not one innovate, blockbuster whole movement behind it and they think thats future leadership and communities to know they are not stepping off the edge. Theres a large groupand people learning and Research Behind a thats we get the paradigm shifts. I think it, i would like to make is, if we believe that people learn in different ways and in different time frames, then there is this, we would need to honor the variety of different options that people have for educating and learning, whether its public, charter, or private. Also, as we believe in parent empowerment and really believing that parents should have that role to be directly involved, then there also is what all of us are at the table, public, charter, private you today. And the power of collaborating. But also recognizing, for instance, any Community Like a lindsay and others, the parent empowerment means often we dont have the resources or the support or the connectivity or the language to actually access economic advancement. So please take our children and help our children out of the pits the poverty that were suffered for multiple generations, for we have liftd for multiple generations. And so they rely upon the local, a high quality local Public School where they can drop their children off at the curb and entrust them to the adults in the system, or put their children on a bus and know theyre going to be safe and become academically proficient and become personally exceptional people. And so what community is such as a and many other communities, parents just want their Neighborhood School to be a great school. Thats what they want. They want to be able to walk their child down the street and say this is a great school. And so as a look at the work we do together, its important for us to collaborate and to learn from one another and respect and honor Parents Choice and so forth and so on. But also recognizing the need that exists for the Public School. An example, i want to share on a collaboration is, im sitting next to diane tavenner, and lindsay, Charter School, and lindsay and somewhat learning have a strong partnership, a good Collaborative Partnership where we are working together to develop the educator and the leader in workforce. So in a person are customized learning system, that is learner centered we are defining what to look for the adults, person from new york you shared the capacity building. This tool would be available to everybody as we tested and refined and available to anybody nationwide but its essential partnership between a Public School and a Charter School that essentially providing a tool for building adult capacity at the classroom level and at the school level. Its an example of events was sick and be made as we work together. I would also like to address sectors and partnerships. We are a private company, headquartered in carrollton georgia, international, the largest distributor of copper wire in north america. They noticed with the Graduation Rate in carroll county, 11 years ago at 65 , economically disadvantaged economically disadvantaged rate was 55 . What could he do to work with the School System to help that . We are a Public School and they approached the neighboring districts and said what can we do . So they are brainstorming ideas, computers for students, pizza parties. Things to give them incentives. What came from that is when you look at the students who are struggling, there are economic barriers. So the idea was what it they had a facility where the students could come to work and earn some money while theyre in school . If you think about, if you are worried about where youre going to be or where youre going to stay, its hard to focus on your precalculus class. Getting back to need. Thats how the partnership started was a Public School and a private company. Since that time there are two of the Public School systems have joined with us. The program has been replicated in several areas. And again, it shows what can happen when there is that kind of partnership. The question about grant earlier, the School System has received a grant to expand the program. When it first started the students worked four hours a day. The earn up to nine dollars an hour, and we always had life skills, success skills class connected to the workday. But as the School System, they also get a grant, we were able to start a steam school. There was a school within the workplace. Its one of those things one recent said its hard to describe it because like describing the ocean. Until you see it you really cant fathom what its about, but its a neat way for the students to be learning with required in school and connect that to the real world. Why do i need to know the subject . We find where that happens in the real world and that helps them learn. So thats also combining standards with being creative and making that happen. So just wanted to mention that. There is way to collaborate and also make things work. The grants help the School System, makes the school that connects all of us to the workplace. Could i just add, sydney because i think i feel like ive been in this kind of discussion before, which sometimes feel really intellectual and its this balance of confidence pictures im going with this, which is i love the conversation on collaboration but i dont want us to lose sight in terms of the urgency of the problem. So we have a really, really tough challenge and we want to share, collaborate batumi of our students particularly our students who have the least amount of resources are not meeting the highest levels of standards and expectations. This is why, i said if youre going to talk about, to be about, you all are doing this. I think if we dont, one of our values is optimism but it is acknowledging brutal facts will never learn to stand it and keeping the standard high. I think youre all doing that but if we dont talk about those real challenges around like we want accountability that we alt to be empathetic. We want to collaborate and there are real obstacles doing that from every level. Its every alignment of incentives do not allow us to collaborate. Like i need a building breakdown in their districts building that are open and incentives are not really allied for new Charter School to access a public Building People to serve students and families well. You can totally understand the challenge of the district, but those incentives have to really be aligned in order for us to collaborate. I am all about collaboration with that acknowledging some of those brutal facts that dont allow us to collaborate with the fact that too many of our students are not getting the education i think that we are doing ourselves and injustice. The one thing i would say it is i think seen fast dating collaboration where its the problemsolving. Specifically, theres a Charter School that did some forward thinking work. Neighborhood school, learn from them, visited in from the and et cetera do work in ways that, and in june we dont have the expertise but the principle to principle to teach a discussion with a four. I think its a key part to just researched and really understand whats working. Its not just the feel good but being really articulate the concept plays board with the committee, the school board, with buying from the pencil but it looks like and efficacy behind the work. Im always riveted by the question what the federal government can do better than state and local governments, and they do think one of the things of the interesting to look at particularly at this moment when it is a sense of urgency in our country particularly about two different topics, one is educational performance and the other is the growing narcotic addiction crisis. To look at what partnerships the department of education can form with organizations like head. Its amazing report of the innovation that youre pulling off with 13 of the kids being homeless. And im wondering if theres a way that a shared sense of urgency around problems that the into the base schools cant have kids but kids without hausa hous from the way the kids without them dont. Its just that simple. Its hard to concentrate when your parents are addicted. It would be interesting to see how the department of education on a federal level can exercise to incite action by other departments. Thank you. I wish is going to ask him any of those who we have not yet heard from. So as a School Leader but former practitioner, facilitator, as a teacher, it was always frustrating to know what the research has said since the 1970s. Good practices, whats great, implementation. And yet progress is so slow. We are 40 years in the making. Its all research. Report element to never curriculum are models that we have, and yet the progress is slow. I look as the School Leader and i think why . Why is it so slow . Is it the federal level, the state level or is it more at the local level . Really think about when decisions are made within your local community, one thing i have come to recognize is that as much as we love local control of the school board level, or our community, you think about how inefficient that process can be and would hold the practitioners and professionals within the field for making the informed decisions of impacting learners. So, for example, school boards, people tend to join because they have an agenda. They may have an experience that they want to change in shape policy which may counter what the research may say. Now, you flip that for a moment and you go to a private sector. Lets say a hospital. If we were a Community Member that were upset with their local surgeons triple bypass surgery technique, we couldnt walk into the hospital a demand to join the board or sit on the vacant seat. Help craft policy restricted surgeon from doing a particular procedure. But yet in education we do. That happens quite frequently and quite typically. So theres something to be said for our continuity of the board. Or something to be said for treating your professionals as professionals. So the practitioners are working with the kids, just like the surgeons are working with her patients, have trust and faith that theyre making the informed decisions using the best practices. Because if the medical model wouldve moved as fully as education model, will be sitting here today deciding do we or do we not use penicillin . So really think about that approach. And over the last 100 100 yearw much medicine has advanced at how much of education has advanced. So something to reflect on. Could i just challenge this assumption . This seems to be an implicit assumption that its a zerosum game that there are winners and losers. I think its counterintuitive but true that system leaders embrace the interest of the communities they serve. More people actually want to be served by that system. People want to live in cities for a variety of reasons but they dont want to feel like theyre going to have to fight their Cities Systems get an option that makes sense for the kid. So if city system leaders embrace options for families, they actually can see their system pro and i think denver that. Au a long time ago denver embrad a portfolio model and people were terrified that denver city limits would go down and they didnt go down. They would have because people moved into denver because didnt feel like they were going to fight the denver system to get whatever was the right option. People got a confidence in the city system and ended up and rolling in the city system. This idea theres a misalignment of interest, it doesnt have to be that way as long as we keep our interests aligned with serving the people who we serve. Its not my money. The money was raised for the sake of educating youth and we all configure ways to do the it doesnt have to be winners and losers. It could just be you go over here. Remember miracle on 34th street when saddam was it kibbles down the street . Macys was terrified because they thought theyre going to lose the customers. They came back to macys because they believe macys believe in the customer and macys went up. Its a movie but there is some value there. Im a little awestruck by all the innovators that are sitting around this table. Im hearing some incredible things. And one thing that keeps coming back to me is something that beth said is talking at risk. And i think of it all have to get a lot of risks. When the 13 superintendents of School Divisions in virginia that hired me, they said take risk, try thinks. I cant say wow, but these are kids. And you know, i keep going back to a couple of things. So first of all, risk takes innovation. It takes the ability to do something different, and i feel like the educational system has been a very safe place to work for our young people. So ive taught at vcu and worked with students coming to the system, nbc this as a very safe place. Add the dont think that they see it as these people who see it as a place of innovation. I think that they see it as a place of safety. And i think that a lot of the students that are coming to our Public Education system go into our colleges, they dont, the innovators dont go to education as much. So i keep thinking about what can we do as the government, and i think its about helping change the discussion about what it is to be a teacher and about the beauty of innovation in classrooms and in School Divisions across the country, and about maybe doing some Public Service announcements that really put the focus on the innovation that is occurring in this nation. There are an incredible on here and all these places. I think they can also help us i taking the focus off of testing measures and putting it on other types of measures, and helping, tom mention its hard to measure some of those things. But helping us find ways to measure them, and you know, so i applaud all the innovation around this table and i just hope that we can all help to bring some of these innovators that are in our Public Education system act into education as the new leaders of the next century. Well, thank you very much for that michael, thanks everyone for the conversation. We will take a short break now and we will start again at 10 45. Thank you. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] all right. Were going to get started again and keep us on track. So we are moving into the next and final topic of customizing learning and again we are three presenters were excited to hear from. First up will be the seal some learning, diane tavenner, and then executive director and principal of cornville regional Charter School travis works, and finally the ceo of thrive Charter Schools nicole