Special Pre-Conference Institute:
Designing and Implementing the New 21st Century Secondary Schools

Presented by:
Bob Pearlman -- Director of Strategic Planning, New Technology Foundation
Kathi Mullin -- Special Assistant to the Superintendent for High School Renewal, Boston Public Schools

The comprehensive secondary school works well for only a fraction of students. Students of the 21st Century, in the US, the UK, and elsewhere, need a richer secondary school experience that connects them to the real world, real work, and quality relationships with teachers and adult mentors in the workplace and the community.

Participants will tour (virtually) several of the country’s most innovative new secondary schools and redesigned existing high schools. They will learn about and examine the design criteria, design principles, and design elements that characterize these new and redesigned secondary schools. And they will learn how large urban school districts organize and restructure to convert large schools to small schools and create new small, high schools.

This pre-conference workshop and design studio is led by Bob Pearlman, Director of Strategic Planning, New Technology Foundation, and Kathi Mullin, Special Assistant to the Superintendent for High School Renewal, Boston Public Schools. The New Technology Foundation is the replication organization that is developing 10 small high schools in Northern California and 14 more in the rest of the country, based on the Napa New Technology High School model. The Boston Public Schools, through a Carnegie Foundation grant and a Gates Foundation grant, is one of the lead urban districts in the country in high school reform.

Participants will work in voluntary teams to design new or redesign existing secondary schools. Teams will develop their design criteria and principles. They will then design the elements that will bring these principles to life, including facilities, school organization, program, and technology. Additionally teams will develop business plans to implement their designs in their local communities and school districts. Design plans and business plans will be presented and shared to other participants for input and review. Participants in this secondary school Design Studio will acquire key ideas and resources and gain a fuller understanding of both the design issues and the programmatic, implementation, and political challenges involved in designing new schools and converting large schools into small schools.

For more information on Napa New Technology High School, and the Met, go to http://www.newtechhigh.org, http://www.newtechfoundation.org and http://www.bigpicture.org/. For information on Boston’s High school Renewal initiative, go to http://www.highschoolrenewal.org/.

For an Institute preview, see the 2003 Institute Agenda and Resources.

For 21st Century Skills, see the report Learning for the 21st Century (PDF) from the Partnership for 21st Century Skills.

Special Conference Strand:
Designing and Implementing the New 21st Century Secondary Schools

Both in the US and the UK a great movement is underway to transform secondary schools to insure student success in the 21^st Century. Spurred by the Gates Foundation in the US and by the Specialist Schools Trust in the UK, school leaders are designing new schools and redesigning existing secondary schools for the 21^st Century.

A Special strand at the Building Learning Communities 2004 Conference, July 20-22, examines the key issues facing designers of 21^st Century schooling, including curriculum, assessment, ICT integration, learning environments/facilities, portfolios and school district reform.

Presentations:

Designing the 21st Century Secondary Schools
Bob Pearlman, Director of Strategic Planning, New Technology Foundation, Napa, CA

Getting and Assessing 21^st Century Knowledge and Skills
Bob Pearlman, Director of Strategic Planning, New Technology Foundation, Napa, CA

Driving District Reform: Converting Large High Schools into Small, Autonomous Schools
Kathi Mullin, Special Assistant to the Superintendent for High School Renewal, Boston Public Schools

New Dimensions of Teaching & Learning -- the Highland Tech High Experience
Mark Standley, Associate Principal, Highland Tech High, Anchorage, AK

Digital Portfolios for Graduation
David Niguidula, Principal Partner, Ideas Consulting

Special Panel on Secondary School Transformation in the UK
Moderated by Bob Pearlman

Conference

Conference July 20-22, 2004
Pre-conference July 19

Regis College, Weston, Massachusetts
(10 Miles west of downtown Boston)
(The subway to downtown Boston is less than a mile from the hotel.)

Featuring World Class Presenters

If you attend only one event this summer, this should be THE event. You can look forward to stretching your mind, meeting new colleagues, and gaining practical applications for empowered teaching and learning.

For his fourth annual summer conference, Alan November's hand-picked presenters are some of the finest thinkers and practitioners. These leaders, who have been chosen for their world class skills, will provide valuable insights into the latest strategies for the effective planning and implementation of powerful learning technologies. This conference will have a healthy combination of discussion and hands-on practice. Come and learn and enjoy the wonderful suburban Boston setting.

Registration Form and Fee Structure