XplanaZine

Can the “lessons learned” from face-to-face academic turnarounds be applied to online programs as well? A classic case of a school district “turnaround” is the Union City Public School in New Jersey , where school district leaders decided to take control of the once-centralized system in order to make the changes needed to attain student achievement levels needed to keep the district from being taken over.

An excellent article provides an overview of the case. Entitled “A Remarkable Transformation,” http://www.edutopia.org/php/article.php?id=Art_1017&key=037 author Diana Curtis details the approach taken in 1989 by the Union City School District . The first step was to allow teachers and students to work together to shape a curriculum and instructional strategies that really worked, to the point that 13 years later, the district is used as a model for turnarounds.

The case is interesting from the point of view of how the lessons learned could be applied to online education. I realize that the Union City example was a very positive one in terms of grassroots organization and a learning community. Nevertheless, there was something about the article that left me cold. The “local control” issue is nothing new — in many states and school districts where education is a function of property taxes, the more prosperous districts do well. The learning community expands to include parents as well as motivated teachers.

Utopian educational experiments always seem to work well on a local level. It’s when the system expands to accommodate wide-ranging needs and less prosperous regions that problems seem to come into play.

With that sort of cynical outlook in mind, here are a few things I found to be necessary as “turn-around” items in the Union City transformation, and (this is key), which would be necessary in an online program that utilizes the “local control” principles.

Vision and Mission.

These are the most vital requirements — I’d rank them #1. There must be a shared vision and an idea of the desired outcome. Once everyone is on board with the vision, then priorities will emerge, which can then be shaped into action steps and implemented. There is no doubt that this also applies to online programs.

Needs Assessments and Gap Analysis.

After the vision was identified, a needs assessment was conducted to clearly define the needs of the community, and where gaps existed. The teachers, administrators, and other stakeholders (perhaps parents) were not afraid to get really close to the problem, and to actively listen to what people were telling them. They also shared ideas, and modified the approaches based on the real-life situation. They maintained an inclusive attitude, and allowed teachers as well as students to have a say in their own curriculum.

Community of Practice.

Teachers had a say in how to educate the children. They could develop curriculum that responded to real students, not the generalized idea extrapolated from thousands of students in the district or the state. This is a good “lesson learned” that can apply to online learning as well. Teachers need to be able to modify their courses, course content and approach to meet the needs of students. Because of the potential isolation and lack of coordination of the online environment, I would propose a rather significant caveat. The core curriculum should be approved by a committee, and while instructors may be able to modify their courses, the syllabi should be submitted and kept on file.

Learner Input.

There was a learner-centered instructional approach. “Students became workers,” according to the article. This applies to online learning in the sense that students can collaborate and share, usually by means of discussion boards; sometimes by means of personal weblogs, and they actively participate in the learning process. Connections between real life, one’s experience, and the world are encouraged, so that learning continues to be dynamic and responsive to needs and interests of students. Formative and summative evaluations can help measure how that is occurring.

References

Curtis, Diana. “A Remarkable Transformation.” Edutopia online. 24 Jan 1003. http://www.edutopia.org/php/article.php?id=Art_1017&key=037