{"id":7361,"date":"2017-08-01T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2017-08-01T04:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/aurora-institute.org\/blog\/cw_post\/iteration-in-action-denver-school-of-innovation-and-sustainable-design\/"},"modified":"2020-02-05T13:02:42","modified_gmt":"2020-02-05T18:02:42","slug":"iteration-in-action-denver-school-of-innovation-and-sustainable-design","status":"publish","type":"cw_post","link":"https:\/\/aurora-institute.org\/cw_post\/iteration-in-action-denver-school-of-innovation-and-sustainable-design\/","title":{"rendered":"Iteration in Action: Denver School of Innovation and Sustainable Design"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"This post and all pictures first appeared at Springpoint<\/a> on January 11, 2017.\u00a0This is the first in a\u00a0series\u00a0on iteration in school design.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

On a typical day at the\u00a0Denver School of Innovation and Sustainable Design<\/a>\u00a0(DSISD<\/span>), groups of four or five students are reading different novels in\u00a0ELA<\/span>\u00a0class. They discuss the characters and plots of their books, record standards-based observations and respond to questions on their Chromebooks. One group is predicting a protagonist\u2019s next moves, and another is using context clues to infer the definitions of key words.<\/p>\n

The curriculum, designed by English teacher Stephanie Price, allows students to move through the course in two distinct, yet intertwined, paths\u2014some are in AP English and others are in Intro to Lit (the equivalent of a standard ninth-grade English curriculum). Students can opt into whichever path they want, and rather than being in the same path for an entire year, they have an opportunity to move between them at the beginning of each trimester. If a student wants more of a challenge or is improving quickly, she can opt into AP English after just a few months. To read more about Ms. Price\u2019s classroom design, see\u00a0here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Student-driven design decisions<\/h3>\n

When\u00a0DSISD<\/span>\u00a0opened, it didn\u2019t feature this kind of deeply integrated differentiation. Originally, students spent the majority of their time working individually to master online course material. The curriculum was mastery-based, but\u2014according to students\u2014it wasn\u2019t engaging. Alex, a student who chose\u00a0DSISD<\/span>\u00a0for its emphasis on student agency, thought there should be more time for direct instruction. So Alex, along with a few other student leaders, took action. As Alex describes it, they \u201cheld the principal captive\u201d to discuss \u201chow students are learning. Not necessarily what they were learning, but how.\u201d<\/p>\n

Principal Daniel Medved remembers the conversation differently. Because his team had designed a space for student leaders to share their feedback on the model, they were comfortable articulating their desire for more direct instruction. In response to their concerns, Medved adjusted DSISD\u2019s model to support teachers in rewriting their lessons to incorporate more direct instruction alongside personalized projects. The shift gave students the tangible instructional benefits they asked for, but it also sent a powerful message: As one student said, \u201cif you [have feedback] and you talk to Principal Medved about it, and it\u2019s reasonable, then he will do everything he can\u201d to make a change.<\/p>\n

DSISD<\/span>\u00a0students feel that they\u2019re part of a dynamic community that responds rapidly to their needs and gives them room to grow. According to another student, \u201cI used to have the mindset that once I turned in a paper and got a grade, it was done. The greatest thing about this school is that you can always make yourself and the grade better.\u201d<\/p>\n

Systems to support mastery-based learning<\/h3>\n

DSISD<\/span>\u00a0opened as part of\u00a0Opportunity by Design<\/a>\u00a0in partnership with Springpoint, and its design is informed by the\u00a010 School Design Principles<\/a>. The school has adapted\u00a0Summit\u2019s Personalized Learning Plan<\/a>\u00a0(PLP<\/span>) platform, with its competency-aligned playlists, to enable a personalized, mastery-based approach. The adapted\u00a0PLP<\/span>\u00a0houses all of DSISD\u2019s teacher-designed projects and assessments, which are tagged to specific\u00a0cognitive skills<\/a>. These skills, like \u201cselection of evidence\u201d or \u201cidentifying patterns and relationships,\u201d cut across subject areas. When they log into the system, each student can see exactly how they are progressing toward mastery of each skill.<\/p>\n

Cognitive skills are a subset of DSISD\u2019s\u00a0competencies<\/a>, which are posted in almost every hallway. The competencies are split into four categories: personal academic excellence, lifelong learning and citizenship, innovative thinking and action, and transformative leadership. The first category, academic excellence, comprises cognitive skills and content knowledge; the remaining categories are non-academic, or \u201csoft\u201d skills. On a recent visit, some students were completing questionnaires in Google docs to communicate mastery of non-academic competencies like personal health and \u201cwayfinding,\u201d or planning what comes next after high school.<\/p>\n

Now in its second year,\u00a0DSISD<\/span>\u00a0has made targeted adjustments to its instructional model to support the evolving needs of students. Teachers now plan at the yearlong level, repeating cognitive skill lessons at regular intervals. This allows students to build their mastery of key skills throughout the year, rather than at a single point in time.\u00a0DSISD<\/span>\u00a0has also shifted its PD approach to be aligned with the\u00a0Buck Institute\u2019s<\/a>\u00a0project-based learning approach. Lastly,\u00a0DSISD<\/span>\u00a0moved advisory to the middle of the day to accommodate students who arrive late\u2014these are often the students who benefit from advisory time the most.<\/p>\n

Student agency and ownership<\/h3>\n

Thoughtful instructional design aside, what stands out most about\u00a0DSISD<\/span>\u00a0is the way students speak about their role in designing their school, the flexibility their school gives them to accelerate if they feel they\u2019re ready, and the sense of camaraderie they feel toward one another. \u201cThe fact that we\u2019re able to choose AP classes in 9th grade is amazing,\u201d says one student. \u201cThey kind of let us bend the curriculum a little more,\u201d another student says. \u201cWe can choose what to do now and what to do later, and the teachers will support us.\u201d<\/p>\n

As\u00a0DSISD<\/span>\u00a0scales to full enrollment, it is considering the best ways to scale this level of student ownership, and ensuring students get credit for all the different kinds of work they do. Medved and his team are already considering ways to create student leadership teams to ensure the strong culture they\u2019ve built continues through 12th grade. And each teacher, including Ms. Price, is planning for how they will embed competency-based learning even more deeply into their courses. Principal Medved has learned that it\u2019s important to \u201cconsider the few things we want to be excellent at, and not try to be all things to all people. The more moving parts, the more room for error.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe feel like\u00a0DSISD<\/span>\u00a0is our school. It\u2019s the students\u2019,\u201d is how one student summarizes their sense of ownership. We\u2019re excited to see how these student pioneers continue to shape\u00a0DSISD<\/span>\u00a0as it grows and evolves.<\/p>\n

See also:<\/p>\n