Embrace the New Year . . . Embrace New Educational Practices

Our team at Kent ISD has been working hard with districts all across west Michigan to help teachers understand the new Common Core Standards and the next generation assessment system (SMARTER Balanced Assessment Consortium – SBAC). We continue to share that the transition is not about new standards rather it is about HOW we must facilitate learning differently with these new standards to change the paradigm of what school looks like in the 21st Century. We need to break away from the mold and bring our educational systems into the 21st Century. The skills that are students need for success in the future requires different skills than our past educational system has offered. We at Kent ISD and our partnering local districts are excited to embrace this change, not for change sake, but for what we know our students need to be career and college ready. We believe that we through these shifts in HOW we facilitate instruction and HOW we engage and empower students through various learning opportunities we can help ALL students be prepared for the 21st century global economy. Together we can make this happen.

Enjoy this short video about how education has changed and I hope this provoke you to think about what you and your district can do to make this transition happen for ALL students. 

Happy New Year!

This has been a very busy year with the initial planning and the work helping districts transition to the new common core state standards.  I am very excited about this time in education.  We are at an historical point where education can make a real change and help all students' succeed in the 21st century global economy. We all used to believe that graduating from high school was what you needed to find a good life job and those with a college degree were going to have no problem finding a job.  Well our economy has proved that wrong.  Watch this video from Daniel Pink about educational changes.

What does all this mean for today's educators?  We need to think about the skills that students need for the next generation not the needs of what our generation needed.  The world has changed and we all need to work hard to get our educational practices into the 21st century. It is the right thing to do and we need to work together to help make this transition happen.  Teamwork + Communication = Success!