If you had $10 million and a chance to design the high school of your dreams, what would it look like?
Jamaal Bowman, principal of a middle school in the Bronx, entered a contest where the prize is $10 million for a visionary high school.
Jamaal Bowman enlisted the help of his students, listened to them, and submitted a proposal.
The competition launched in September and received nearly 700 applications. Hundreds of schools have already been cut, and the winners — there will be at least five — will be announced in August.
Bowman’s ideas for CASA High School include using New York City as a classroom based on its museums, financial institutions and corporations, as well as a heavy focus on interdisciplinary work.
“No longer should each discipline — math, science, humanities — be looked at in silos,” he said. “We should take an interdisciplinary approach to curriculum because in the 21st Century economy, students have to be able to look at things holistically.”
Students would also spend one day a week outside of school working at an internship and spend their senior years studying outside of New York state.
“Senior year is usually a winnowing down year anyway, so why not create true global citizens by taking them outside of New York state, outside of the United States?” Bowman asked. “Go learn with cultures all over the world.”
Bowman stressed that he did not come up with the ideas for CASA High School on his own.
He learned from his students.
Bowman wants the new high school to join the New York Performance Standards Consortium, so students can be assessed by their work, not standardized tests.
He is a leader in the state’s Opt Out movement.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Godspeed, Jamaal Bowman!
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You know, I get the silo effect. But I remain skeptical that beyond using arithmetic in my social studies classes (graphs, charts, etc.), I’m not sure how I can work higher level mathematics into my classroom. I wasn’t trained to do that. The same for music, ELA, science, etc. The topics immediately become too broad and I would lose focus. My point is this, I can’t always align everything I teach to other disciplines. Isn’t their a need for specialists? Especially at the middle and high school level?
I would also ask, where/when will the teachers have time to plan all this out? Something like this would require a HUGE investment in time and energy. I’m willing to bet that results won’t be all that impressive (regression to the mean, and all that).
Perhaps we could keep the current system, but have a separate class that ties everything together? Or give teachers the requirement/option to pursue some other line of discipline that is connected to their field of teaching at some point in the year.
Random thoughts I know.
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Not random, but important. Cross-curricular design is trendy, not necessarily effective. And we are inundated with newfangled tech engineering and social engineering experiments nowadays. It is often difficult to stick to tried and true methods, or even to refrain from all or none experimentation. That said, I truly hope Mr. Bowman is successful in showing that high stakes testing is one experiment by which no one can abide.
I believe the real problem is overly top down governance and management.
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Interdisciplinary and project based learning should be one tool in a very diverse teaching toolbox; yet is generally an over-rated strategy for learning. Too often it becomes forced – a “stretch’ that does a disservice to both disciplines. The simple answer seems to be to use it when appropriate. Nothing wrong with a “silo” approach as long as there a student takes an occasional trip to another silo.
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Question: could you correct the “silo” effect, by simply asking students to think across disciplines throughout the day?
Silo problem solved, at much less cost and trouble.
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7GTiT
Most teachers do not implement their curriculum in a vacuum. Interdisciplinary instruction that is natural and appropriate – and makes sense to kids works just fine. When the reach across disciplines too far to make sense – kids will lose respect for it fast.
A purely interdisciplinary approach often sacrifices meaningful instruction in the silo for the unattainable: a perfect pile of mixed silage. Making connections seems to work best when there is a solid foundation of content (silo) knowledge.
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These are not random thoughts! I agree with you.
I don’t see how integrating everything will work as described above. Do I think there should be more collaboration and cross-curricular advancements? Yes. Do I believe student could take an “interdisciplinary” course where many of their courses are connected? Sure. But I have a strong belief that courses should still be separate.
In mathematics, for instance, there is a lot of valuable material that pertains to preparing for higher level mathematics, but also in applications in physics, engineering, chemistry, biology, and other courses (but are much greater at the college level, which is why it is expected that certain courses are taken as prerequisites). These concepts do not necessarily translate easily to social sciences, for example, or English. Is there English in mathematics? Of course! In proof writing. But this doesn’t mean teach English and math via the same course, because the mechanics of English in proof writing requires nowhere near the fidelity of writing a scholarly essay (at least at the secondary level). Imagine if other courses and modules were combined in here! Ugh.
Social sciences, for instance, can be described using statistics, but that doesn’t mean combine these two disciplines in the same course, along with other topics. There are so many statistics topics that should be learned that are out of a social science research standpoint. Just because it’s not applicable in a SECONDARY SCHOOL context doesn’t mean it’s not applicable later. Why rib our students of this?
Basically, what I foresee is serious watering down and/or removing of topics using this non-silo model. The thing to remember is that we are preparing students for the future, where they will continue to make connections, continue to take courses, and be required to coop or intern in their degrees. Also, students will continue to experience and learn in trade school or careers right after high school. Why not give students the most content and background knowledge to help them be productive citizens that are informed, or give them the foundation to make decisions? Why limit exposure to force “connnections” via an “interdisciplinary” approach?
What I mean is that this non-silo method will also only give students a GLIMSE of the applications of the subjects in an inderdisplinary fashion. A GLIMSE. What I see this model doing is removing important and vital information and tools that students will have in their toolbox for further study later in life. It is the equivalent of stripping students of experiences. What’s wrong with learning pure subjects? I think students would get so much more in a world cultures course learning about world cultures through literature, pen pals, etc. than learning about cultures via some interdisciplinary means. The lense will be very narrow due to the time constraints of the school year.
It’s a great point to note that the time required for teachers to plan this to make it work.
I’m struggling putting my many thoughts and examples against this to words here, but I think of more reasons against this than I do for this.
This is just my humble opinion.
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I’m an English teacher. Every year, my students write and present at least one research report. That’s my opportunity to reach across the curriculum and let my student choose topics of science, social studies, art history, and so on. Sometimes a history or science teacher will team up with me and combine his or her project with mine if the timing is right.
I would never (again) ask a history or science teacher, however, to help me teach reading or writing strategies or skills. And I would never spend an entire school year devoted to research reports. We read literature. I’ll say that again. We read literature. Fictional literature. Poetry. I have tried to mix English and math for many years, but it doesn’t work, as far as I’m concerned. Math is vile. Kidding.
So, to sum up, crossing silos works within limits and math sucks. English rules! Just kidding.
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LCT
In the immortal words of Sigmund Freud,
“There’s no such thing as a joke.”
As far as most kids are concerned, you are right about math.
Taught as an “end” instead of a “means”, math is a mostly senseless activity that we use to judge kids at way too early an age.
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LeftCoastTeacher,
I agree with you. As a former Math Teacher, I definitely think students should be reading Literature! As much as I love math, I want my students to be able to read. More importantly, I want them to learn to read and appreciate literature.
I think there are times where interdisciplinary topics can exist, like some of your examples, but there are other times where things are too contrived.
I laughed when you said math is vile lol. But I do agree that there is no/limited place for math in a literature classroom. Seriously. In a math classroom, however, students can use their literature skills to respond to mathematical prompts or write proofs.
As a former math teacher, this was my way of integrating English in my classroom, and in no contrived fashion either. For example, I’d never ask students to read about a mathematician and write an essay about them. Why? This is mathematics. We are going to learn mathematics. I will tell you about mathematicians where necessary, but I will not read essays about them. Sorry. I won’t. No disrespect to folks who do this. I taught Algebra through Calculus. I didn’t teach History of Mathematics. History of math was discussed through my course, but it wasn’t the context.
I’ll reiterate: this non-silo approach freightens me.
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I admire my many students who, unlike me, have seen the elegant beauty of math. And math can be taught in ways that are interesting, fascinating even. One might use biological or astronomical applications to give the numbers meaning, for example. And I agree that writing skills are needed in math and by mathematicians, but I don’t think those basic skills should be taught in math class.
Hey. No such thing as a joke? To think, all those political cartoons I’ve read over the years were actually Freudian defense mechanism manifestations created by the artists to cover up their Oedipus complexes. No seriously, I can’t tell if you were offended when I said math is vile, Parent. I hope not. I got that line from the 1959 film, “The Diary of Anne Frank.” Anne’s father Otto says to her while he’s teaching her algebra, “Isn’t algebra vile?” I didn’t mean it. Math is — cough — exciting and fun.
I love to have these discussions of pedagogy with all of you. I just hope there are no reformers out there trying to figure out how to mandate cross curricular instruction. What works for some works some of the time. Nothing works for all all of the time. Something like that. And I agree with Diane that what Jamaal Bowman is doing shows great promise.
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Awesome, an idea that deserves support. I’m a retired San Diego City Schools teacher and actually had the honor of speaking with Diane prior to the launching of her book on Education. Keep up the ‘fight’ for all of Public Education students!🌺Ernestine Rae Riner/teacher emeritus/San Diego City Schools.
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Good for him, but I find it infuriating that we have to compete for what all children deserve.
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YEP!
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Amazing waste of time and money reinventing the wheel. The idea of kids learning by running all over NYC has been done before in various forms, such as City As School. Combining disciplines has been done in many places for the last fifty years. For example, numerous schools have English-social Studies combinations. It’s simply more change for the sake of change.
In one period, kids could learn more from a good teacher in a classroom, than from an entire day trekking around Manhattan. It seems to me that for $10,000,000 you could build a new state of the art school with small classes in neighborhoods where the buildings are overcrowded.
The school will undoubtedly use its “portfolios” and other alternative assessments to show how kids in this new Potemkin Village are making amazing progress in reading, math, etc. One wonders how they would score in exams such as the Regents, SAT and NAEP.
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If one cared about the students, one would be more concerned about how well rounded and impactful their educations were, not about test scores. One would revile reductionism. No child’s education is a quotient.
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Dee, I agree.
How about use that money to upgrade schools that are falling apart. How about use the money to build planetariums for students to learn about astronomy? Agreed on the smaller class sizes!
What about use the money to hire services for students (counselors, speech therapists, etc)?
I think this alone would help drive academic progress. Test scores, holistically, etc.
My question is this: what if teachers can’t manage these interdisciplinary courses? Students won’t just lose out on 1 course’s content. They’ll be losing out on a watered down/reduced contented variation of many!
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Who cares how they would score? They will NOT be taking the Regents. They will be evaluated by portfolios. If used correctly, It is a more authentic, rigorous way to evaluate students. Also, it better prepares students for college level work – research, multiple drafts based on feedback, real world experiments and lab reports, etc.
As for interdisciplinary work, it is true that subjects can be watered down if projects are not carefully planned but if done correctly, they can enhance subjects and go a long way towards making content more accessible for students. Obviously, it is easier to pair math with science and English with history or art but it can be done effectively. Teachers do need time to plan and will need the support of administrators.
Sounds like a great school. Where do I apply?
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I think it is useful for readers of this blog to know more about the sponsor of the well-publicized $10 million prize for high-school redesign. It is The XQ Institute. Almost all of the content below comes from the websites of the sponsors.
“The XQ Institute is in service of parents and pioneers, entrepreneurs and teachers, business leaders and administrators, youth and education experts—who are joining a movement to rethink America’s schools. Together, we can use our knowledge, rigor, and creativity to create a new model for school itself.”
“Laurene Powell Jobs chairs XQ Institute’s Board of Directors and is the president of Emerson Collective. Her two decades in the education field have convinced her that America is ready for a sea change to overhaul the system. The CEO is Russlynn Ali, former Assistant Secretary of Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Education and is on loan from Emerson Collective where she is Managing Director of Education.
Emerson Collective, “an organization dedicated to removing barriers to opportunity so people can live to their full potential. Established by Laurene Powell Jobs, Emerson Collective centers our work on education, immigration reform, the environment and other social justice initiatives.”
CREDO stands for The Center for Research on Education Outcomes (CREDO) at Stanford University (known for reports on charter school performance).
SY/ Partners “with our products, we equip leaders, teams, and individuals everywhere to be their best, and do their best work.”
Amplify “creates digital K-12 educational products and services that empower teachers, students and parents in innovative ways.”
MAL\FOR GOOD “is dedicated to purpose-based work that delivers innovative, inspiring models of brand building, storytelling and social movement.”
National Center for Civic Innovation, was ”created by the Board of Directors of the Fund for the City of New York (FCNY) in 2002. Its purpose is to facilitate the ability of other cities and communities throughout the United States to adapt FCNY’s approach, applications and expertise in improving quality of life and the performance of government and nonprofit organizations.”
Rally “solutions drive business agility: transforming IT, software development, and digital capabilities to help you navigate change, foster innovation.”
# Quiero Aprender (connected with Univision.com/educacion) “created as a movement that motivates students to demand more from their education.”
Local Projects “is an experience design and strategy firm with a passion for testing the limits of human interaction. We author concept designs, media, physical architecture, software, hardware, and content for exhibits at some of the world’s top museums, cultural institutions, and attractions.”
OMP was founded in 1986 is a simulation of Ontario Canada’s legislative processes, “not affiliated with any political organizations” ….”to ensure that future generations of young Ontarians gain a greater appreciation for our democratic system. OMP is an organization for secondary school students run by secondary school students.”
e2K events x entertainment “From the stadium to the symposium, from a cast of thousands to a single inspirational speaker, e2k applies creativity, state-of-the-art production systems, and technical expertise to every project. We strive to transform events into experiences, shows into magical moments, and clients into partners.”
Showtime for education, and education as edutainment? Not on the list (yet) major players in the games-on-line business. OMP sounds like a version of my generation’s “girls state” and “boys state” programs.
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Laura, thanks for the information about XQ. Sounds like they will prefer a charter chain or a chain that features blended learning rather than the solid ideas of Jamaal Bowman.
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““No longer should each discipline — math, science, humanities — be looked at in silos,” he said. “We should take an interdisciplinary approach to curriculum. . . ”
That “interdisciplinary” approach has been around a long time. When the adminimals wanted to see evidence of it as part of evaluations back in the 90s here’s what I’d tell them (the adminimals didn’t stand a chance-ha ha):
At the beginning of the hour I have music playing so I’m incorporating Fine Arts.
We are learning the numbers and how to add and subtract in Spanish, there is Math.
We are learning the countries in which Spanish is spoken, here’s Social Studies.
Students learn cognates in Spanish and English thereby learning more English-hey there is Language Arts. (not to mention grammar concepts that they weren’t being taught in LA)
We have a foods day (and they were never just burritos, tacos, etc. . . but authentic recipes) so there is Family and Consumer Sciences (the old Home Economics), etc. . . Anything else you want to know about my teaching????
I could come up with anything that would satisfy their request for “interdisciplinary approach”. If memory serves me correctly, and that isn’t always the case, I always got an exemplary (or whatever the term was) mark for that area of the evaluation.
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My dream high school would be a training grounds for a prosperous, democratic society — not for the capitalist economy.
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Is this sanctioned by you or tag in from some other place?
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Begin forwarded message:
> From: Diane Ravitchs blog > Date: July 8, 2016 at 4:32:03 AM PDT > To: rrplus5@yahoo.com > Subject: [New post] Title > Reply-To: “Diane Ravitch’s blog” > > >
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