This is the ability to think well.*

Can we create world-class thinkers in the schools of the United States, at a time when nations who are our economic competitors are pouring their resources into achieving the same objective?

The Florida Commissioner of Education’s Business Forum (28th Sept 08) pointed out how much catching up we have to do in thinking skills: e.g in areas like problem solving skills (Slide 31) where we rank 24th in the world.

(Ref:   http://www.fldoe.org/whatworks/ (with podcast of speech and slides) or alternative of slides:

http://www2.edtrust.org/EdTrust/Product+Catalog/PowerPoint.htm)

I explain my view of a skilled thinker below.*

The answer is a clear yes.  The data is in, and we can develop our students to have all the skills that we need to compete vigorously, internationally, in the Age of Knowledge. This is irrespective of socio-economic status, ethnic grouping etc.**

CPS is working with educators to create internationally-competitive thinkers, without placing a strain on our education budget. (There are innovative ways to do this, without significant costs, at a time of economic stress.)

The Counties that are interested in our peer-coachable programs are:

•    Concerned about test results, graduation results, college completion, and about how best to prepare our kids for well-paid, secure work in the new economy.
•    Disappointed that past training programs have not made enough real difference to how teachers actually teach for better thinking skills in the classroom.
•    Worried about budget cuts, and the need to deliver quality training, through affordable programs that deliver real results.

* What is a skilled thinker? The people who will always have a secure place in the world economy will be able to:

1) process information, assess the origins of data, analyze and evaluate concepts and think flexibly and logically.
2) be collaborative thinkers – able to use cooperative learning, and contribute to group thinking processes, including rigorous, critical thinking, strategic thinking, project management, or working in team-based creativity and innovation.

How does the CPS “less than $1 per teacher” solution work?

Each program includes:

1.    A learning session, facilitated by members of a school’s faculty, for their fellow-teachers, in their own schools, in any 60 minute staff meeting or development session.
2.    A consolidation and practice phase, guided by clearly-directed, concrete and structured competency-based outcomes, and supported by peer-coaching.
3.    A final assessment phase, based on the competencies. This may be self-assessment or peer-assisted assessment, measured against clear criteria.
4.    The meticulously-structured process is differentiated, covering three different levels of teaching experience.

➢    Team benefits: communication, motivation and team-building: the coaching uses the technique of appreciative inquiry, to ensure that mutual coaching is a strong, happy, team-building process. (This can also build communication before a curriculum mapping process.)
➢    Logistics benefits: travel or scheduling problems basically disappear. County professional development staff may also have more time to visit schools, support and coach.
➢    Budget benefits: minimal cost ($1 per teacher). CPS helps obtain funding, usually from business (the end user of education). The county owns “endless use” rights to the program, and can train new teachers as needed, and there is never a problem sourcing the material again.

The work of a teacher is to change, grow and re-form the neurological connections in the brains of his/her students. If our profession had a slogan of what we do, the way a rental car company does, it would be: “Avis rents cars, teacher change brains.”

** Where is the evidence that we can do this irrespective of ethnicity and socio-economic status? I’m not just talking about things like the KIPP schools. The Florida Commissioner of Education’s Business Forum featured schools like:

(Ref: http://www2.edtrust.org/EdTrust/Product+Catalog/PowerPoint.htm)

•    Centennial Place Elementary School, Atlanta, Georgia (Slide 47)
•    Lapwai Elementary, Lapwai, ID (Slide 50)
•    Norview High School Norfolk, Virginia (Slide 52)

The story told at the Commissioner’s forum of Ware Elementary School in Fort Riley, Kansas, that serves children from low-income Army families, was especially interesting, as many parents are in Iraq, and are not even present to support their children.

The other slide presentation from the Education Commissioner’s Business Forum is here: http://www2.edtrust.org/edtrust/Product+Catalog/recent+presentations

Note: CPS is committed to the economic success of our communities and the USA, and takes no position on any educational organization or the politics of education. We simply want all our people to have the skills to have rewarding, secure, legitimate work. We want them to build prosperity and security for themselves, their families and communities, and to pursue happiness, in a complex and changing world.