Studer Community Institute

Inspiring teachers to transform their classrooms

June 28, 2015
/ Reggie Dogan
/ education

“If we teach today like we taught yesterday, we rob children of tomorrow.” — John Dewey They arrived in droves, in small and large groups from schools across the country to network with others, share innovative practices and learn new ideas. The 23^rd annual Model Schools Conference opened Sunday with founder and CEO Bill Daggett delivering a keynote address to more than a thousand educators at the Hyatt Regency off Peachtree Street in the heart of Atlanta. Across the street, Senor Fellow Eric Sheninger spoke to another thousand at the Marriott Marquis. The keynote addresses kicked off a four-day conference of more than 100 sessions to inspire teachers to transform their classrooms through rigor, relevance and relationships. “Today’s students need to be prepared for their future,” Daggett said. “Living in a rapidly evolving global economy, students need to be able to think at higher levels, employ strong literacy and analytic skills, and solve problems in unpredictable situations.” Focusing on rigorous learning is at the heart of the mission of education for every student, Daggett said. After trying every initiative under the sun from No Child Left Behind and Common Core, too many schools still haven’t found that magic bullet to take their students and education to the next level, he said. Model schools that have shown significant growth in achievement and student performance, Daggett told the packed atrium, change their culture through innovation, date-driven assessment and out-of-the-box initiatives, Daggett said. “High-performing schools taught us that we have to spend a lot of time on what to change,” Daggett said. “We have to push to have a plan to create a culture to say we really need to change.” Redesigning schools is necessary to effectively prepare students for the evolving 21^st century workforce. “Educators must have the courage to lead and the ability to move a district through the dynamic changes of today to help our students develop and refine essential global readiness skills.” At the heart of the Model Schools Conference are research-based strategies for increasing rigorous learning opportunities for all students as well as new, innovative practices. Change needs to be evolutionary, not revolutionary,” Daggett said. “Revolutionaries get killed.” Creating a culture is the No. 1 thing educators have to do to change and improve schools, he said. Emerging trends in technology, career readiness, applications, rigor and data analytics to implement growth models are keys to success. In the new classrooms, teachers are like coaches on the sidelines or orchestrators in a band. They perform instructional rounds, allow students to give opinions on lessons and become directors of innovators, not instructors at a podium, Daggett said. “We need a lifestyle change, that’s what growth schools are doing,” said Daggett. It’s not going to happen until we create the will for it to happen.”

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