In
my last
blog post, we discussed how we could begin to fundamentally change our
flawed public education model. Today, we turn to one of our nation’s most
innovative leaders to help us dig a little deeper.
Raymond
J. McNulty is dean of the School of Education at Southern New Hampshire University, and a senior
fellow at the International Center for
Leadership in Education (ICLE). He is a former
president of ICLE, director of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Commissioner of Education in Vermont, and at various
times also served as a superintendent, principal and teacher.
Ray
has seen it all, and knows the way forward.
Question: From your
consulting and speaking engagements in the K-12 spaces, what do you see as a
major concern right now?
Ray McNulty: Most people would say their greatest
concern is “change” or “fear of change.” But, I don’t see change as the biggest
concern. Most educators know they need to change, and most welcome new ideas.
The greatest concern is not letting go of
old ideas. No one is talking about letting go of things —
instead we just keep adding things to the system. I work with schools and
educators to plan and evaluate their systems, and then sort them into three
categories: Things we should stop doing,
things we should continue doing, and new systems and strategies we should begin
doing. We seem to not let go. For example, we spend a lot of time today
teaching basic skill acquisition, but we can’t seem to find the time for higher
levels of rigor. Technology is much better at teaching basic skill acquisition,
so using technology — while supported by our educators — provides time for them
to use their skills to increase rigorous learning.
Q: Do you see the SNHU online instruction
model becoming more accepted among students and even high school counselors in
2017?
RM: We see enormous acceptance for many
online learning systems. There are many states that now require students to
take online courses to graduate because that’s what is happening in the
workforce. Most companies today train their workers using online systems. The
real drivers for these new models are competency-based learning anytime, anyplace,
and at any pace. Online education has been around for a long time and the
systems used today are highly sophisticated. When you match a great online
system with a great teacher, together they represent a powerful learning system
for our students.
Q: You mentioned
competency-based learning. Can you expand your thoughts?
RM: Competency-based education is
attracting a lot of attention for its potential to resolve many of the
challenges we face. I can’t believe we
are still using equal amounts of seat time for learning, clustering students by
age, and using a grading system that lets students move on after only
understanding 60% of the content! In a competency-based system, students who
are the same age may learn at different rates in different subjects while
progressing to more advanced work once they master the material. Mastery in a
competency-based system pushes everyone to a much higher standard because you
do not move on until you demonstrate proficiency (over the 80% level).
Forty-two states have granted public schools the flexibility to incorporate and
explore competency-based policies. Although there is no agreed-upon definition
about what “competency-based” means, there is agreement on three basic core
elements: Mastery, where students demonstrate their grasp of skills and
content; Pacing, where students progress at different rates in different
subjects or areas; Instruction, where students receive customized and personalized
support so they can reach mastery.
Q: Is there a
strategy that you believe schools should begin to work on as we see a push
toward more personalized learning models?
RM: I don’t believe
there is one strategy that will help the push toward more personalized
learning. I think you just need to look around and realize that one person is not
the same as the other. What works for Brian in class likely will not work for
Ray or Mary. And what works for Brian in math class likely will not work for
him in English class. We need to have schools and learning systems with multiple
models and multiple pathways for all our students. Therefore, technology and
learning management systems will be critical to the success of the systems we
design in the future.
Ray
will be a key presenter at the 25th annual Model
Schools Conference. Spots are still available—join us!