I had the opportunity to go visit SciTech High in Harrisburg, PA today. SciTech High is a small magnet program started as a partnership (funny how that word comes up often these days when we talk about education, isn’t it?) between the Harrisburg School District and Harrisburg University. SciTech is one of the many schools around the country that is watching what High Tech High out in San Diego is doing closely, and applying the lessons learned in their own ways.

It’s always amazing to go out to visit schools and witness how similar pedagogical ideas play themselves out in different places. SciTech High has a powerful focus on science, technology integration (we call it infusion, but hey, you get the idea) and project-based learning. As it says in their mission statement:

The current curriculum is project based and the program presently being used is "without walls." Students work on extended research projects requiring the use of knowledge in mathematics, science, technology, and writing.

And they mean it.

This week, the sophomores were all involved in their "Genocide Project." The kids have spent ten weeks looking at issues related to genocide in English, History, Math and Science. And as they’ve been studying the various content in those classes, they’ve been working in groups of four, reseaching a specific act of genocide in the world, doing process logs, meeting various project benchmarks along the way, all leading up to this week where all of the kids spend the week building exhibits that explain their research (again, sounding familiar?) and turning the school into a museum. The research included a grade-wide trip to the Holocaust Museum in DC, so they could understand how a museum could attempt to make sense of atrocities. What we saw were kids building, painting, researching, writing, talking, problem-solving, collaborating and just generally creating.

And this was only one of the several kinds of projects of this all encompassing nature that the school takes on every year. The school is committed to creating powerful, meaningful experiences for their kids so that the students could see how the various disciplines intersect. The kids talked about how they pulled all the information together to create something they were proud of. One senior we spoke to talked about how SciTech kept him on his toes and kept him involved and interested in school, even as a second semester senior.

And to me, it was a somewhat off-hand comment made by the Assistant Director, and our host for the day, Meg Burton that summed up the feeling that permeated the school. She was talking about how, when they built the school, some folks couldn’t believe what they were spending on furniture (and it is really nice furniture), but after several years, everything was still in perfect condition because "the kids care about the school. They believe in the school." She was talking about the physical plant, but she was clearly talking about much more than that as well.

It was a wonderful day, and several times my SDP companion (and co-conspirator in SLA’s creation) Danielle Floyd laughed because so much of what Meg told us about their structure and their philosophy and their planning process mirrored what we’re trying to do with SLA. Are we a SciTech High clone? No. But there are a lot of moments of commonality. There are things that they do that we have a lot to learn from, but I also think there are things about our model that could be powerful for them as well. And that’s where this really gets fun. I think they’ve started from a very similar pedagogical places as we are starting, but the answers they’ve come up with to some of the questions are a little different than ours. (An example — they are a Physics First school, which was an option we decided didn’t fit for us.) But they have wonderful answers, and their answers should inform ours.

As we came back, Danielle and I talked about the power of knowing that there are other institutions out there that believe what we believe… that look at education the same way we do… and that want to collaborate and come up with answers to questions that will make both schools stronger.

With all the visits I’ve been able to make lately, I keep coming back to one inescapable fact: There is a growing movement out there… it’s a movement of schools that do not measure learning by a score on a test, nor do they consider curriculum to be something that you can unpack and deliver. There is a deep committment to progressive education that still exists in this country, and these schools are finding ways to thrive even in the days of NCLB. There is hope that we can still build school communities that matter for the kids in our cities. The evidence is all around us. Now, we all have to keep talking, keep collaborating, keep creating — students and teachers and parents and administrators together — to keep the movement growing, so that we truly don’t leave our children behind.

(And if Meg Burton or any of the SciTech High crew read this entry, thanks again for a wonderful, enlightening and invigorating day!)

Every now and again as teachers, we get the chance to really feel the difference we make. There are a lot of my former students who stay in touch and let me know what’s going on in their lives. A few of them even read this blog. And yesterday, one of my former students who really was like a daughter to me called yesterday from college to wish Kat a Happy Mother’s Day. Those are the moments that make every 5:00 am alarm clock, every 3:00 am grading session, every frustration worth it.

I imagine that for Salome Thomas-El, Saturday was one of those days. Because Saturday, three of his former chess players graduated from Kutztown University, and he was there to see it. Salome wrote a book, I Choose To Stay about his experiences as a teacher and chess coach in North Philadelphia — and about his own story growing up in Philadelphia. These days, he is a principal at Stoddard-Fleischer Middle School in Center City, so I get to chat with him at the principal’s meetings every month. And I must say, that the meetings are always more fun when I can end up sitting next to him. And after the success of his first book, a movie deal in the works and a second book just coming out now, he is still in our schools every day, looking to make a difference in the lives of his kids. And nearly a decade after being in his classroom, Nathan Durant was thrilled to have Mr. Thomas-El at his graduation, as he said:

"If I can impact someone’s life, like [Thomas-El] impacted my life," Durant said, "then I’ll consider myself a success."

So, on Wednesday, I flew out to Illinois to speak at the Illinois Math and Science Academy to speak to their board about what we’re doing with SLA. For those who have never heard of IMSA, they are a state-wide magnet boarding school with a focus on inquiry-based science and math learning.

These folks are the gold-standard. The school is twenty years old, founded by Nobel Laureate Dr. Leon Lederman and Dr. Stephanie Pace Marshall, two brilliant scientists and educators. (Did I mention that Dr. Lederman has a Nobel Prize?) And they really have pioneered some amazing programs over the past twenty years.

I was able to spend a few hours at the school before the conference, most of it in Granger Lab talking to an IMSA senior named Davina and her Biotechnology teachers. They opened up their curriculum for me, showing me notes, plans, projects… but more importantly, they really talked powerfully about what IMSA means to them. And that’s when the power of IMSA really came through. I think there are a lot of schools across the country where kids can tell you about the content they’ve learned. There are a lot of smart kids and smart teachers in this country… but this conversation revealed much more about what IMSA means to the students there.

These kids get it — they understand what it means to think… to dream… to analyze… and to reflect. They understand that it’s about content becoming meaning. They understand its about what we do with what we learn. And they see how the kind of learning they do in their science classes spreads across all their other courses. And they understand the power of being involved in a community that believes in the power of student learning.

Now let’s return to the idea that I was speaking to the board of trustees of this institution that I so admire. Let’s return to the idea that there was some thought that our process at SLA would somehow be illuminating to these folks. Let’s return to the fact that Dr. Leon Lederman is one of the leading voices in the "Physics First" movement (so much so that I brought some of his writing to SLA’s first curriculum conference) and that SLA has chosen not to do physics first. Let’s throw in the whole "English teacher as founding principal of a science and technology high school."

Let’s say I was nervous.

I’m proud to say that I think that our vision of SLA stood up to some pretty tough questions, and while I think there are areas where IMSA’s theory and SLA’s theory deviates, I also think there were a lot of places where what we believe about education and what they believe dovetail. And I even think that, in some places, there are some places where the ideas we’re bringing to the table about what a 21st century school should be can be helpful to IMSA as they continue to reinvent themselves. (And, as an aside, it’s clear that this is a school that is continuously tweaking, reflecting, growing and changing as a school… and they are a better school for that.) It’s my hope that, coming away from this meeting, we’ve found another school for SLA to work with and share with and learn from as we move forward.

In the end, I think there are a few things I take away from the visit. One, there are some amazing models for us out there as we continue to create ourselves — and IMSA is clearly one of the best models in the country for inquiry-based learning. Two, I still love getting out there and seeing amazing schools… and exposure to places like IMSA will make us a better school. Three, we really do have something to contribute to the national discussion about education reform, and I can’t wait for our teachers to get out to conferences and start telling our story. Four, I am starting to get tired about what we’re going to… I’m just ready for us to start doing it.

(And thanks again to all the IMSA folks for giving us the opportunity to see an amazing school and share our vision with theirs. I hope to return soon. It really is a wonderful place.)