BOSTON — Following a presentation on education reforms to embrace artificial intelligence, increase classroom flexibility and fundamentally rethink where and how students learn, the state's K-12 education commissioners Massachusetts agreed that it “needs to be willing to embrace change.”
Last week, the Rennie Center for Education Research and Policy released an action plan for education reform, calling on states to modernize schools and take advantage of new opportunities presented by technology.
“Smartphones, Wi-Fi connected devices, and the latest consumer electronics have become ubiquitous and have changed everything about our daily lives, from family relationships to household responsibilities. The school hasn’t changed much,” said Chad d’Entremont, Rennie Center executive director.
Interest in teaching as a career among high school seniors and college freshmen is at its lowest level in 50 years, and job satisfaction among teachers is at its lowest level in 50 years, according to a Brown University study. It has become.
As teacher shortages and turnover rates wreak havoc on schools, the center recommends “moving away from the rigid one-teacher, one-classroom model” to make teaching a more attractive job.
“Reevaluate the rigor of school schedules,” says Alexis Liang, policy director at the Rennie Center. “This may include reorganizing classes to support a rotating staff model where schools will continue to operate on a five-day schedule, but individual teachers will be in the classroom for only four days. This has the potential to optimize time for collaboration, shared planning, and professional development opportunities.”
Mr. Liang also recommends establishing a “flexible team teaching” strategy, where multiple educators with different areas of expertise work with a larger group of students, or an entire grade level, rather than one teacher teaching a class. also recommended.
d'Entremont said these models allow teachers to have more flexibility in their schedules, as colleagues in other industries can work from home or set their own schedules to accommodate childcare and non-work priorities. He said he was deaf.
Asked to comment on some of the proposals, Department of Elementary and Secondary Education Secretary Jeffrey Riley said there have been some early attempts to make teacher schedules less rigorous.
“I recently had a chance to meet the folks at Timely, a machine learning scheduling company that helps you manage your schedule,” Riley said. “One of the examples I was given was that the high school was able to save him 40 or so positions because they were able to create a better schedule and that's why they recouped that money. And I could use it in a different way.”
He said the money saved was used to give teachers more paid planning time and to schedule teachers who had to come in later or leave early to pick up and drop off children. said.
“There is an efficiency boom and we need to respond to it. It feels like the global business world is moving to a more flexible model. Children have to be supervised. So it's even more difficult with children, but I think we can find ways to manage the process that can give teachers flexibility,” Riley said.
The Rennie Center also recommended further ways to incorporate technology into education.
“Rather than using technology to recreate schools as they are, we need to think about how we can use technology to deepen and expand the types of learning experiences that are possible,” their action plan states. .
According to the center, this could mean using technology to transcend geographic boundaries by leveraging online platforms and virtual classrooms. For example, students in rural and underserved areas can use computers as a tool to access new learning materials, virtual courses, or work opportunities such as internships.
“To facilitate these connections, policymakers should invest in state learning management systems and other digital platforms to share resources and materials across districts and schools,” the report states. ing.
These strategies will need to go hand in hand with investments in making computers and the Internet more accessible, they added.
Riley seemed open again to some of the Rennie Center's ideas on integrating technology into schools when asked last week.
“You don't have to think of traditional brick-and-mortar systems the same way,” Riley says. “While COVID-19 has been a disaster for this country, this has actually affected children (and let me be clear on this, I think more likely middle school and high school than elementary school) showed us that we can work on Zoom.”
He said he could imagine an environment similar to universities offering virtual night classes, adding, “Perhaps kids have internships or more quality time during the day, and they get to spend time together with their teachers after regular school hours.” I'll probably be able to take classes at the club,” he said. It requires that flexibility. ”
Riley added that there is no stopping the penetration of artificial intelligence (AI) into schools.
“When knowledge and information is just a click away, dividing resources and opportunities along school district boundaries or school assignment areas seems outdated,” d'Entremont says. “How do we rethink the stubborn assumption that learning should happen at the same time and in the same way for all students?”
