The Five Factors!

"So, two final numbers: Two decades, five factors. Two decades have passed since Barton wrote 'America's Smallest School: The Family.' He has estimated that about 90 percent of the difference in schools' proficiencies can be explained by five factors: the number of days students are absent from school, the number of hours students spend watching television, the number of pages read for homework, the quantity and quality of reading material in the students' homes -- and, much the most important, the presence of two parents in the home. Public policies can have little purchase on these five, and least of all on the fifth." - George F. Will, The Washington Post, 29 August 2010

1. number of days students are absent from school
2. number of hours students spend watching television
3. number of pages read for homework
4. quantity and quality of reading material in the students' homes 
5. presence of two parents in the home 

Public policy may not be able to do much about these, but Murray Academy can! Well, not the last one, but we can certainly work on the others. 

Shrunken Student Motivation

Etienne R. LeGrand mentions in an article entitled "How to motivate students when culture attacks ambition" that one of the main reasons schools fail is because of a decline in overall student motivation over the last few decades. This is one of the things primary schools need to address in curriculum: getting students to love learning and want to be the best in the world.

Lower vs. Higher Level

I think students need and should have more guidance (and better teachers) at lower levels and have less guidance at more advanced levels when they know more.

Flipped Classrooms

I am getting more and more drawn toward the idea of flipped classrooms. I was pleasantly surprised to see that flipped classrooms work best for subjects like math, science, and foreign language (which I had never thought of before).This would lower the homework load (less teacher grading) and increase student success for students like my high school friend Bryce. He had quite a few problems in school: he had a hard time paying attention to lectures in class; he could rarely do homework without a teacher present; he had trouble concentrating on assignments when someone wasn’t forcing him to do them. A flipped classroom would help all of those problems. I did not have the same problems as Bryce, but I did have my own, particularly with below-average teachers and unmotivated students: lectures were too complicated for my tastes; homework didn’t reflect my skill level; other students constantly wanted to copy my homework. With a flipped classroom, videos are often more to-the-point and have fewer errors. The teacher could give me work in class based on my understanding of the topic and how well I do with the work assigned. Because the teacher is there, students will rely on help more and on copying less.

What Engages Students?

What engages students? This article talks about different ways students say they stay engaged. Here are their answers: 

 Working with peers. Working with technology. Connecting work to the real world (even with topics like Medieval times). Project-based learning. The teacher clearly loving the topic. Moving around in the classroom. Visuals. Student choice. Understanding the students and doing what is best for them. Mixing it up. Being Human.

Physical Activity

I want to somehow incorporate more physical activity into the school. With all of the obesity problems now (who knows, maybe we won't have to worry anymore in ten or twenty years), students need to stay physically active. I'm not sure how to do this yet. I think students should be required to have at least one PE ASA (after school activity) every week in addition to the one art ASA.

Student Skills

Students need to be able to think critically and independently so they can form their own evidence-based judgments and develop skills to explain it to others then reach out to those with whom they disagree and find common ground or at least common understanding. They also need the twenty-first century skills: the four Cs: communication, collaboration, creativity, and critical thinking.

Teacher Bonuses

I want to make sure to continue to compensate teachers who learn, evolve, and grow.

Teacher Training

Teacher prep seminars in teacher training to develop curriculum. For example, all of the English teachers could get together and develop curricula for all of levels of English being taught that year.

Encourage teachers to grade AP tests because it is a valuable learning experience that affects even non-AP classes.

Speaking Practice

30 second responses to topics such as “What makes you right for this job?” “How did WWI start?” “What has been your favorite topic in this class and why?” Depending on the question and the time in the year, students could have no time to several days to prepare their answers. I think this should be done often enough that most students have to do one of these every single day to strengthen their speaking skills. This would be a great exercise in a foreign language class.

Explaining Why in Science

An article talks about how many American students can perform simple experiments in science class but cannot explain why there are certain results or manipulate multiple variables. I want my students to be able to do these things.

Knowledge Game

There could be themes for some of the Games, just to keep it interesting. "Are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader?" variation could be fun. There's also this program called THINK Together that has a summer camp that promotes reading based on the Hunger Games series. As a huge fan of the books myself, I love the idea of taking something so popular to help kids learn.

Evaluation to Personalize

I would like to have some sort of evaluation system so teachers can personalize assignments for students. The student would be evaluated after presentations and assignments. I think it would be something like a table:

Names	Citations	Analyzing	Vocabulary	Short Answer	Essay on Literature
Ali			Strong		Poor comparisons
Nikki	Strong			Poor structure
Nicole				Good form	Poor structure
Kelsey	Poor citations				Imaginative
Ben		Strong	Literary terms
Patrick		Symbols		Strong

 As we can see, Ali is not very good at writing on literature, and Nikki isn't very good at answering short response questions. So on the next writing assignment, the teacher would give Ali a text-based prompt and Nikki several short answer questions. Same with homework. Nicole isn't good at structuring her essays, and Kelsey isn't good at citing in a paper, so for homework, Nicole would have to read an article on structuring essays, and Kelsey would have to watch a video explaining citations. Teachers would have to be very careful about grading, though, because the assignments are unqual.

But maybe that would just mean fewer grades. Students could be evaluated in this way more often. It is based on mastery and skill, not on cranking out good grades. This is also a great way to organize information so a teacher can speak with the student and parents about the student's strengths and weaknesses.

I think for some subjects, there would have to be variations of this evaluation system. For instance, in history, a teacher would probably need one of these for each topic. Certain skills during a WWI unit, Cold War unit, terrorism unit. Same with math. Then the graphs could be analyzed over several topics to figure out what is slowing down the student.

This does not have to be a grading system. I'm worried that this graph will get more and more concrete until it is what many teachers have now with grades, and I do not want that. I want it to be primarily for analyzing student data and personalizing the learning experience.

Parents - Math and Science Education

According to this CNN article, students are more likely to take extra math and science courses if their parents are provided with websites and brochures (with evaluation of the materials to make sure the parents look at them) about why math and science are important for their child. Something easy and effective. I'm requiring four years of each, but at least this might push students to do better.

Science Requirement Archive 8/9/12

Experimental Sciences:
4 years, at least one year of physics, chemistry, and biology, and at least one year of a higher level of one of the three

Restorative Justice Program

I read a CNN article that talks about a "restorative justice program" in which students help each other design constructive programs to restore damage from breaking the rules. It cuts down on student misconduct and students failing for disciplinary reasons. I think this sounds like a great program for MA.

Friday Classes Archive 8/9/12

PE:
Students should always be physically active. Classes should be mixed by age and skill level.
Arts:
Students should be trained in the arts. Classes should be mixed by age and skill level.
Current Events/Modern Issues:
Current Events/Modern Issues class is one that focuses on current events, international studies, and issues that our world is facing in these times. We can do this class democratically, too. Each class can be arranged by subject, region, theme, etc. A modern issure that would be discussed in this class could be sex trafficking. Classes should be mixed by age and skill level.
Change/Life Skills Class:
Change/Life Skills class is one that focuses on four areas: Making a difference outside the classroom (hands-on volunteering - 100 minute classes allow for a fifteen minute bus ride to and from a volunteer site and plenty of time to volunteer); Making a difference in the classroom (writing letters/making things for officials/military/sick children/community leaders/etc. asking for change, thanking them, and/or supporting them; meetings about issues within the school and helping MA); Practical Skills (how to balance a checkbook, buy a house, get a job, do taxes, etc.); and Personal Skills (transitioning to college/stages in life; life lessons like one of my professors who gave us a life lesson lecture). Classes should be split by year because of the practical skill and personal skills section of this class.

Study Hall

I think in some of my posts, I've included something called "homebase" in the schedule. That's what my middle school called study hall, so it stuck with me. But I think it should be called study hall! It would be in classroom and spaces in which students can study with adult supervision. This is a time for students to get help from teachers if needed and study quietly while teachers work quietly to minimize work done at home for both teachers and students. I currently have it splitting a period with lunch every day.

Scheduling Issues

I am becoming very conflicted about the schedule. I really like the split lunch/study hall schedule, but it does not account for panels on Fridays. I don't particularly want to do this, but after some thought, I think I am going to cut a Friday class. I looked at the list, and I am going to get rid of Friday art and replace it by requiring students to have at least one art After School Activity (ASA) every week.
M-Th Schedule:

8:30-9:55 – 1/5

10:00-11:25 – 2/6
11:30-12:10 - Lunch/Study Hall
12:15-12:55 - Lunch/Study Hall

1:00-2:25 – 3/7

2:30-3:55 – 4/8

4:00-5:00 – After school activities

Friday Schedule:

8:30-9:55 – PE/MICE/CLS
10:00-11:25 – PE/MICE/CLS
11:30-12:10 - Lunch/Study Hall

12:15-12:55 - Lunch/Study Hall

1:00-2:25 – PE/MICE/CLS

2:30-3:55 – Panel

4:00-5:00 – After school activities

PE (Physical Education), MICE (Modern Issues/Current Events), and CLS (Culture and Life Skills) will each have one period in the first three periods of the day. The the four period will be the panel. Then ASA (After School Activities).

Schedule

I'm having problems deciding on a schedule because I want to get everything in, including Friday panels, which I didn't account for in the last schedule I posted. Here are two more schedules. Half the school would be on one, and the other half would be on the other.

8:30-9:55 - 1/5
10:00-11:25 - 2/6
11:30-12:05 - Lunch
12:10-1:35 - 3/7
1:40-3:05 - 4/8
3:10-4:00 - Study Hall
4:05-5:00 - After School Activities

8:30-9:55 - 1/5
10:00-11:25 - 2/6
11:30-12:55 - 3/7
1:00-1:35 - Lunch
1:40-3:05 - 4/8
3:10-4:00 - Study Hall
4:05-5:00 - After School Activities

Prefects

I recently found out my little cousin's school (in Louisiana) has prefects...like in Harry Potter! I think that is very cool, so I did a little research and decided I want prefects in MA. But then I started worrying about how that would unbalance the students, and I do not think I want to put some students above others like that. I haven't completely made up my mind, but I do not think I want anything like prefects. I'm not even sure anymore that I want Student Council presidents and other captains to have a big enough role to be above the other students. Equality! But leadership...I'm not sure yet.

10-Period Schedule

New 10-period schedule for focus schools:

8:30-9:35 - 1
9:40-10:45 - 2
10:50-11:55 - 3
12:00-12:35 - Lunch
12:40-1:45 - 4
1:50-2:55 - 5
3:00-3:55 - Homebase
4:00-5:00 - After school activities

I haven't yet figured out if I'm going to have split lunches or how that would work.

Schedule 8/8/12

I've decided that the day is too long, and there is no time for after school activities, so here is my newly proposed schedule!

8:30-9:55 - 1/5
10:00-11:25 – 2/6

11:30-12:55 – Lunch/Homebase

• 11:30-12:10
• 12:15-12:55

1:00-2:25 – 3/7

2:30-3:55 – 4/8

4:00-5:00 – After school activities

Lunch and homebase (study hall) would be during lunch. Half the students would have lunch first and homebase second (lunch 11:30-12:10, homebase 12:15-12:55), and the other half would have it flipped. That way we would only have about 200 students at lunch at once. 

After school activities: 

Arts and sports and some teams can have up to 3 days in the week 

Student Council 

PSAT/AP/SAT prep clubs/classes

Clubs and fun activities like I had at the British School of Amsterdam in 5th grade. Second semester I have an after school activity every day of the week. I had classes like handwriting and art. 

I want to encourage students to have something every day after school (and encourage parents to make their kids sign up for an activity for every day of the week). 

Classroom Walls

I really like an open feeling in buildings. I'm not sure if it would work (or be way too expensive), but it might be nice to have the walls leading into classrooms from the hallways to be made of glass. I don't want students to be distracted by other classes or other teachers, so maybe glass would not be best, but I do want something to keep the school open and flowing.

Classes

As of right now, I'm requiring 28 classes of students. With 8 classes over 4 years, students will have the opportunity to take 32 classes (or 64 semesters of classes), which leaves the students with 4 classes (8 semesters) that are completely up to them. They can take extra classes in anything: math, science, art, history, further studies, anything that fits into their schedules.

Lesson

In addition to not speaking with filler words (umm uhh like), I want my students to quickly get out of the habit of spending a lot of time telling people about what they're not going to tell them. Honestly, teachers are probably worse at this than students, so everyone should learn! I went to a presentation last week, and one lady spent 4 or 5 minutes of the hour-long presentation telling us about a program she was not going to tell us about. She told us what is is, why it doesn't apply to us, why she's not going to tell us about it, etc. It was a waste of everyone's time.

Spring/Summer Breaks

UPDATE 8/19/12:
I am going to have one week breaks in the Fall and Spring and three week breaks in the Summer and Winter. Then I'd have 11 week quarters. I still want optional camps in the breaks, particularly in the longer Summer and possibly Winter breaks.

I'm thinking I'm going to shorten Spring Break and lengthen Summer Break. Spring Break two weeks, Summer Break four weeks. That way students and teachers can do at least some seminars or internships or other things during the summer. It'd be great if we could get some sort of Maymester (in the summer) abroad relationship with MA so students could study abroad. I haven't changed any of the schedules for this yet.

I also want sports camps during breaks. Maybe teams and groups can have camps just for them sometimes, but they should be optional, and there should also be camps for those not in those groups.

Yearly Meetings With Students

I'm thinking of ways to keep in close contact with students. I want each student to meet with administrators and counselors at least once each year. If there are 110 students per year, two adults could easily split each year and meet with 55 students during lunch in the year. That would mean 8 administrators and 8 counselors (I don't know how many admins and counselors I'll have, but this is the general idea). For instance, Mr. Admin A would meet with half of the freshman class (one at a time), and Mr. Admin B would meet with the other half of the freshman. Ms. Counselor A would meet with half the freshmen, and Mr. Counselor B would meet with the other half. Then Admin C and D and Counselor C and D would meet with the sophomores and so on. And all of this would happen each year. That way, each student has one-on-one contact with an administrator and a counselor for 35 minutes each year.

Admins/counselors should ask about how they like school, how their personal life is (check for bullies and the like), how their family life is, studies, what they like about MA, what they don't like about MA, what they would change, how they like high school, what they see for themselves in the future, etc. Admins/counselors should add a short summary of the meeting with observations about the student into the student's file then sort any information that could be useful to the school elsewhere. This information can be brought up every week in meetings.

Admins/counselors should ask students (by email) for the appointment one week before it is to be scheduled then remind them (again by email) the day before. Students can bring lunch to the meeting and eat while the admin/counselor is asking questions and possibly giving advise or answering the student's questions.

Number of Students

In coming up with an ideal number of students for each year, I need to keep in mind that I can't exceed the number of students that can be on a panel their senior year. There are roughly 40 Fridays in the academic year, so let's calculate with 38 of them. Let's say 3 senior panelists each week. So I can't have more than 114 seniors each year. That's 456 students total. So I'm thinking no more than 440 students in the school. So 110 students each year! I think I can try to have 100 freshmen each year then let in a few more students for sophomore and junior year then not let anyone else in before their senior year (so students get at least two years at MA before they graduate).

Input and Advirtizing

When I'm starting to open a school in a community, I should go out and talk to people (community members, parents, etc.) one-on-one, preferably in their homes, asking their opinions on integrating MA into the community and being the best for these students and parents. I'd get valuable information about customizing the school, and MA would be advirtizing and making a personal connection in the community without pitching anything!

Handwriting

I want handwriting lessons in English and/or culture class to promote permanent improvements in handwriting, not just during that week or two the teacher is paying attention.

Doing Less with Less

I want to strip school down a little. A study showed that students in Japan, despite how well they do in international testing, use more traditional methods of teaching (like reading and writing from a textbook). Also, students do not need as many bells and whistles as we think. I learned all of the Microsoft Office applications, but my friend Charlie, a buisnessman, only needs Excel and PowerPoint in the real world.

AEI event: "Do less with less instead of more with less" - Anya Kamenetz

MA Mindset

Getting into Murray Academy should be good, but the real accomplishment should be when a student graduates from MA.

Shared Governance and Unbundling

Terms I heard at the AEI event

Inefficiencies and Barriers to Change

Jeff Selingo: Inefficiencies and barriers to change:

1.      Unneeded hierarchy and complexity (too many layers of supervisors)

2.      Fragmented and redundancy (technology, servers, underutilized, inefficient)

3.      Lack of standardization

4.      Misaligned incentives

Free Online Courses

While I've been doing this internship at the Department of Education this summer, I've been working with a lot of online courses, in particular, free ones. Should I require students to take one free online course from a site like edX or Coursera?

There was also an interesting question raised at the AEI event: Should online classes be for lower-level courses (like they mostly are now) or for higher-level courses because more-advanced students need less guidance?

I'm also thinking that some students who do not come in at the same levels (like in math) should take online courses to get caught up. For instance, if I'm starting freshman with geometry (to move into Algebre II next), then students who didn't take Algebra I in middle school could take it online during their freshman year and be caught up in time for sophomore year.

Executive Board

To start MA, I need a Board of Directors. I need a lawyer, an accountant, and me. I might bring someone on for fundraising (Robert Archibald - Fundraising staff must raise more than their compensation), someone who can do IT work, and a parent.

Eventually, I want a lot of schools and programs that answer to an executive board. I heard a lot of terms thrown around at the AEI event that I thought I should note as possibilities:

CEO: Chief Executive Officer – ensure quality is high

CFO: Chief Financial Officer – ensure cost is low

CIO: Chief Information/Intelligence Officer – collect and use data within and from outside the schools. Also figure out how to keep the schools running with different potential obstacles.

CLO: Chief Legal Officer

COO: Chief Operating Officer – me?

CAO: Chief Academic Officer

Executive Director – me?

What Employers Want from Schools

Employers want employees to have strong communication skills and creativity. They want schools to teach students how to think, usually not to train them for a job.

Faculty Training and Rewards

I want to have my own teacher training program. I think I want it to just be a summer-long course for my new teachers. But eventually it'd be awesome to have a credited teaching school from which people can actually get teaching certificates. Or I can have a year-long (or summer-long) MA teacher boot camp for people who want more training.

In college, faculty gets rewards based on teaching, service, and research, so I'm thinking two aspects for which I can reward my faculty are teaching and service.

Panels

There were five different panels at the AEI event I attended yesterday, and I loved them so much that I decided I want my students to participate in weekly panels. Each senior will be required to sit on one panel. This is practice with events students will run across, public speaking, and work they'll probably be expected to do in the real world.

I liked the way the AEI event did it: one moderator and four panelists for each panel. Each panelist had 10-15 minutes to discuss the issue (in this case, two of the panelists had written a paper on the topic at hand, and everyone had to comment on them) with a PowerPoint (excellent practice for students). Then the moderator asked one or two questions of all or one of the panelists then opened the floor for questions of the panelists.

Each panelist could have a different aspect of the topic on which to focus: economic factors, social networking, health, future implications, etc. Teachers should get to know their students' interests so they can suggest panel topics and even students who might be interested in sitting on the panel. I'm thinking the panel topics should be announced about 5 weeks before it happens. Students can email whoever is in charge if they are interested then the panel should be finalized one month beforehand, so they have a while to work on the topic. This would be good, also, because we have three week breaks, so students would have plenty of time during the quarter sessions to plan for their panels.

I'm thinking of shortening Friday classes and/or putting the panels during the time students have for homebase the other days of the week.

I want students to turn in reflections to their English teachers (or ones that have to do with the panel's topic) on Monday or Tuesday the next week. I also want journalism students (and sometimes regular students) to write real papers on the panel topics and on what they're learning about in their classes.

I still don't know how many students I want at MA, but if I have 400 students total, then I'll have about 100 seniors that have to participate each year. There are about 40 Fridays in the academic year. I could fill 2 or 3 of the four spots on the panel with seniors. The other spaces can be taken by freshmen, sophomores, and juniors. I don't care which level of student moderates.

Making MA Happen

Ben Wildavsky: Making it work:

1.      Pick curriculum carefully

2.      Keep students engaged

3.      Train teachers thoroughly

4.      Track student progress and learning – “outcome guides” that directly track the learning of a student

Be careful of elitism and grade inflation (Amy Laitinen)

Are we paying for a college experience or for learning? – Amy Laitinen

Make data-driven decisions supported by measurement and accountability – Ari Blum

See a city/place as a big campus (Anya Kamenetz)

What Are Schools For?

A lot of people had opinions about what schooling is for, and then the question came up asking what a quality education really is. Here are some answers to that and to what education should provide that I think I need to apply to MA:

Accreditation (why learn) + socialization (how learn) + content (what learn) - Anya Kamenetz

Cost + Access + Relevance - Anya Kamenetz

Convenience, cost, completion, and credential (how fast learn)

Soft skills, citizenry, mastery of subject, network of peers, global structure

National service, study/service/work abroad, subject matter expertise (class, internship, etc.), living and learning communities

How to think and thrive in a world that is constantly changing. Everyone should be in a constant state of reinvention – 58% of grade school kids will have a job that doesn’t exist yet, this year MOOC’s are the fad, next year adaptive learning, etc. (Anya Kamenetz)

Personal growth – coming of age

Competitive in our economic market and in an international economy, become a good citizen, teaches you to enjoy life and to open you senses - Andrew Delbanco

Eliminating barriers to innovation and competition

Cost of MA

Last year, Texas governor called for schools to develop a $10K bachelor's degree so more people can have access to a college education. I've only barely started crunching numbers for MA, but I'd like to at least try to make my school less than $20K for all four years ($5K per year) because I want as many students to have access to MA as possible. Amy Laitinen from the AEI event I attended yesterday stressed that schools need to be careful of elitism, which was a wake up call for me to lower prices because I want all of America to attend MA's.

AEI Event

Yesterday I went to an AEI Event: Stretching the higher education dollar. It was incredible, and it really reminded me why I love education. I need to keep going to events like this to keep my education dreams alive. What I'm posting today are things that I heard in and/or thought of during this event. I should mention that this event was about higher education, but I learned a lot that could also be applied to private high schools.

Some insentive:

“You have to be able to say in 30 seconds why what you’re doing is totally awesome.” – Michael Staton

“Do or do not. There is no try.” – Yoda

Archive: Cross-Subject Project Before 8/1/12

CROSS-SUBJECT PROJECT:
Based in 21st Century Topics: Students write a letter to (a) government (or other) official(s) about a current topic. English checks on formatting and argument. Culture checks on letter-writing skills. 21st Century Topics checks on argument and promotes the idea that students can make a difference in our society.

Archive: CE/LS and Change Class Descriptions Before 8/1/12

Current Events/Life Skills Class:Current Events/Life Skills class is one that focuses on current events, international studies, and epistemology (like theory of knowledge in the IB program).
Change Class:
Change class is one that focuses on volunteering (100 minute classes allow for a fifteen minute bus ride to and from a volunteer site and plenty of time to volunteer), doing good, making a change in the world (local to international), transitioning to college and careers (career goals), and having meetings working on different events throughout the school year. It seems like a complicated umbrella, but it is basically dealing with making change happen and dealing with changes that are happening.

Archive: History Class Description Before 8/1/12

History:12 - 20th and 21st Centruy Topics/World Topics
11 - European History
10 - American History
9 - World History
I'm playing around with the possibility of doing a year or a semester on each continent, but I haven't worked out the kinks yet, and that could only be done if I included middle school. If demand is high enough, I may include more specific classes that can replace European history.
Some of my goals: students should be able to have an overview of history, be able to analyze certain situations, and go in depth on specific topics; students should learn how big and different the world is but that it is accessable to them at all times for jobs and travel; and students should have an international mindset.

Archive: Graduation Requirements Before 8/1/12

English: 4 years
Foreign Language: 4 years, at least 3 years of the same language
History: 4 years
12 - 20th and 21st Centruy Topics/World Topics
11 - European History
10 - American History
9 - World History
I'm playing around with the possibility of doing a year or a semester on each continent, but I haven't worked out the kinks yet, and that could only be done if I included middle school.
Experimental Sciences: 4 years, at least one year of physics, chemistry, and biology, and at least one year of a higher level of one of the three
Math: 4 years
Students will need to complete algebra I, algebra II, geometry, and pre calculus. Depending on when they start math in middle school, they should also complete calculus and statistics.
Arts/PE: One year of art, one year of PE/sport, one year of health
Art and PE are also required every Friday, but the M-Th class is unrelated to the F class.
Culture: 4 years
Further Studies: 2 years of one semester courses

Friday Classes:
PE: 4 years
Arts: 4 years
Current Events/Life Skills Class:4 years
Change Class: 4 years

Other requirements:
40 hours of community service by graduation - completed during change class primarily

Start with Pre-K?

I've been agonizing about how I'm going to get to the position to be able to open a school like this (I know, I'm still in college, I have a few more years to worry about that!), and I think maybe the best way to go would be to start with pre-K classes. Kids learn sooooo much in their first five years (hey, not a bad name) of life, and there are so many parents without the basic skills to help their children grow. I know I'm passionate about the first five years, and I've known since I started dreaming about this school that I eventually wanted to go into pre-K work. So why not start there?

The First Five Years:
Parenting classes for expecting parents
Parenting classes for new parents
Classes for child development and parental development
Day care and learning
Play-based learning
Montessori-based learning
Classes for parents - mothers can "have it all" - family and successful careers

Faculty Training

The Texas Private School Accreditation Commission requires schools to train their faculty frequently. I think it'd be great to have an online system set up that has continuous materials to train faculty. That way, teachers could take the courses whenever they want (as long as it's by a certain date), and it would be part of their personal schedules. This would include regular teacher training as well as current materials in their subject and some of what students are learning in all of their classes, particularly in culture class.

Current Events/Life Skills Class

I'd love to have interesting and exciting ways for students to get involved with current events and history. Here are some sites that have games I found interesting:

Education World has an interesting activity about creating historical newspapers.

Free Current Events lessons

Lesson Planet lesson plans

10-Period Schedule

My focus schools will each have a 10-period schedule. Here are possible times based on my 8-period schedule:

8:30-9:45 – 1^st

9:50-11:05 – 2^nd

11:10-12:15 – 3^rd

12:30-1:05 – lunch

1:10-2:35 – 4^th

2:40-3:55 – 5^th

4:00-5:00 – study hall

I'd simply have to add an extra class on Fridays to make the Friday schedule comparable to my 8-period schedule. 

During Breaks

Like I say in my trips for students post, I want to have plenty of school-sponsored opportunities for students to travel during breaks. I also want day programs (half day?) for students during breaks. There should be advanced, enrichment, and remedial classes as well as SAT and PSAT prep classes. There should also be day camp-like programs. This way students aren't just staying home all day without their parents. I'd like these programs to be free.

Flipped Classroom

After Khan Academy came to be, some teachers started using "flipped classrooms." A flipped classroom is one in which the teacher assigns videos for homework (in many cases, Khan lectures) then students work on problems (traditionally homework) in class, where the teacher is available to help. This is supposed to personalize teaching. I love the idea! I don't think it would work for every subject, but I think especially for the maths and sciences, this could work at most levels. 

Independent School vs. Private School

From the looks of it, I may be thinking of an Independent school instead of a private school, like I thought. Wiki Link

I'd have to get accredited either way. Wiki Link

Trips for Students

I know it would make tuition steep, but I want trips added in to students' tuition so they go on "free" trips throughout the year. We have four big breaks, so I think one week trips should be offered in fall break (only two weeks long) and winter break (don't really want to go over Christmas) and two week and one week trips should be offered over spring and summer breaks (both three week breaks). This gives students time to relax at home and the opportunity to see the world.

I want to offer two "free" trips to every student each year: one 2-week and one 1-week or two 1-weeks. That would be eight trips by the time they graduate high school. I'd also encourage every student to plan the trips so they go to every continent (besides Antarctica) at least once.

With so many students going on so many trips, it would be great if we could get a partnership with an airline and with other companies like the Ron Clark Academy has with Delta. Of course, at least at first, because this is a for-profit school, my kids aren't going to be mostly low-income students, but maybe I can at least get some deals.

Number of Students and Teachers

I think I want to have about 300 students in each academy. (This is completely just initial thoughts.) That would be 75 students in each year.

We could admit 65 students their freshman year. I'm guessing 60-65 of those will accept. Then we could work our way up to 75 by letting students in their sophomore, junior, and senior year.

Classes could be about 25 students each. That would be three classes of each year for each subject (so three Culture I, three Culture II, three Culture III, and three Culture IV each year). That would be 12 classes total for most of the subjects. Two teachers could be 6 classes each, perhaps underclassmen for one and upperclassmen for the other.

That leaves two periods open for the teacher. One of those periods could be an open period, a planning period, and the other could be used for teaching a further studies or other class. Maybe some of the teachers could be hired to analyze data within the school during that last period.

2 English teachers - f/s and j/s
2 History teachers - f/s and j/s
2 Culture teachers - f/s and j/s
3 Math teachers - students come to high school at different levels of math


Arts
PE
Further Studies
Science - One science teacher for each of the three sciences?
Foreign Language - One teacher for each foreign language offered?
Friday Classes:
Arts
PE
Change Class 
World Class

School Mascot

Here is a list of mascots that I think would be acceptable for my academies: Athena, eagle, dog, owl, presidents, (name) poet, Pegasus, Lord (name), knights, phoenix, lion, hawk, stag. There are plenty more, I'm sure, but these ones are just my initial list. I think because I want all of my schools to have the same colors that they should all have the same mascot, too. It would be more unified. Maybe I should have the first school vote on what the mascot should be. I'd like to have veto power, though! Oooooor I do like the sound of the Murray Academy Lions. MAL.

School Colors

In the midst of educational policy and logistics, I can't forget that opening a school requires the thought of things like mascots and school colors! I haven't gotten anywhere with the mascot problem, but I'm thinking the school colors could be emerald and platinum. I love that both are precious and rich materials and especially that platinum is the best of normal jewelry metals. The green and silver colors would also be beautiful, if done right.

Ron Clark

Understand from the beginning that I am a full fledged fan girl of Ron Clark. I went to a talk by Ron Clark at my university a few months ago, and at the end, when he was signing his latest book for me, he told me I had been a very good listener during his presentation. It floored me because the talk was to a room of 50 or so people, but he had still noticed and was able to compliment me. I think for a very long time, that is going to be the best and most remembered compliment I'll get. Moral of this story: at a younger age, praise like that is even more important for the self esteem and work ethic of students.

Calligraphy

I recently learned how to write using basic (and rather rough calligraphy). It is not going to be terribly useful to me ever (except the times I just feel like writing something more nicely, like on photo albums or journals I know I'm going to keep for a long time), but it was fun and possibly made my regular handwriting a bit neater.

The point is, I think it would be nice to just have one lesson on some sort of calligraphy (oh yes, there are MANY different types) in culture class. Perhaps each student could pick from a handout and/or video showing and explaining how to write using calligraphy, and the teacher could wander around the room helping and learning with them.

Culture Class

Let's introduce some democracy and allow the students in each class to vote off of a list of countries to study. For example, the class would be getting ready to study a new country, and out of a list of all of the countries they hadn't studied that year, they would get to have a few rounds of voting to pick which to study next.

This could also work with the other topics in the class, at least with the order of learning it, like whether to study business attire, formal place settings, or other topics next, though each topic would have to be covered in the year.

Moonwalking With Einstein

I recently read a book called Moonwalking With Einstein by Joshua Foer. It is about his experience training for and winning a national memory competition, mostly using a technique involving "memory palaces," where interesting and outrageous information is stored in a familiar buildling (like your childhood house) in your head to remember things.

One thing he mentioned, which I think is INCREDIBLY important to include in my school, is that "Creating new memories stretches out psychological time, and lengthens our perceptions of our lives." Basically, it feels like we've really accomplished something and had a great life if we do exciting and interesting things, like trips, work, and other activities.

I highly recommend the book to everyone. It is easy to read and very interesting.

Longer Day

I'm liking the idea of having a longer day than I had originally planned. I'm thinking 8:30-5:30.

I do want to note that I really need to keep in mind that my kids need to stay active during the day, especially if I'm lengthening the amount of time they're in school. So maybe this means that there should be a PE and an arts class every day, which wouldn't mean extra homework but would mean staying active and engaged.

Split Culture Class?

Now that I'm thinking of lengthening the day, I am considering splitting my culture class into two separate classes simply because there is so much I keep adding to the class. Still in the thinking stage of this one though.

I need to think about what is going to make these kids do the absolute best in the world, be the best for themselves and an international economy.

Boarding School

I do not think I want to have a boarding school for my first school simply because I want kids of all ages, and I do not want kids younger than high school in boarding school.

In talking with my dad over the past few months, I have found that he is incredibly against boarding schools because he feels like then the parents are not raising their own kids, and the kids are being sent off like rejects. I think he has the completely wrong opinion (in most cases), and here is another example why:

My fellow intern at the US DOE, Lucy, went to boarding school for high school, and she loved it. Her school kept the students busy from 8:30-6:30 six days a week (that schedule five days for my private school kids?), so she became incredibly involved when she got to college because she was used to having that much time filled every day.

Paul Quinn College Food Program

As part of my internship, I went to the closing remarks of the White House Interfaith Challenge at Howard University. One of the speakers was Michael Sorrel of Paul Quinn College in Dallas, TX. He told an incredible story:

About two years ago, Paul Quinn College, a historically black school of only 200 students, cut their football program - practically a criminal thing to do in Texas - to start growing organic food on the field to use, sell, and give away. The purpose was to teach its students about taking steps to fight problems in their communities, and the biggest problem in the area was getting food. This student-run program has decided to give 10% of the food grown to the local community and use the rest in their cafeterias or sell it.

This story was incredible, and the lesson these educators are teaching their students, about helping their communities, is truly priceless.

An article about the program.
Information about the Presidential Challenge.

Secretary of Education Arne Duncan Q&A

I have the great pleasure to be an intern at the U.S. Department of Education this summer. On my very first day, I got to go to a Q&A session with Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and the rest of the Department's interns. A few things that popped out to me while listening to him speak:

1. I should have international races/competitions with my schools and schools/districts overseas.
2. The idea of a flipped classroom sounds like it could really be a great step in education. The idea is that students are sent home to watch online lectures (like the ones from Khan Academy), when the student can watch the video as many times as needed, and then work on what is normally considered homework in class, where the teacher is able to help.
3. Something the Secretary said himself: Technology has changed so much in the past few hundred years, and yet education is still on an agrarian schedule. Innovation in the classroom is important, and we need to change with the times.
4. I may want to bring back the 3rd language, at least in the international schools.
5. Arne Duncan: "Education is too far down on the priority list." President Obama met with the head of South Korea once and asked him what his most difficult challenge was with education. The leader of South Korea said that the parents are too demanding. He has to spend millions of dollars to do things like start English in first grade because the parents won't wait until second. What does this say about American parents and education?
6. I'd love to find something for every class (or have the teachers/departments find something) that has to do with the subject that can be a filler so that wasted time in class goes down. For example, in almost every class, current events in that subject could fill up time. Or, in math, practice problems. Things of this nature.
7. Arne Duncan: "I don't teach 3rd graders to read. My job is to help those people who teach 3rd graders to read to do their jobs better." This is exactly how I feel about what I want to do with education.

If you want to see some of the fun things I'm doing in Washington, D.C., please visit my other blog The Travels of Olivia, DC Internship.

Athletic Academy?

1. English – all four years

2. Foreign language – all four years

3. Experimental Science – all four years

4. Math – all four years

5. PE (team sport)* – at least one year

6. PE (individual sport)* – at least one year

7. Social Studies – all four years

8. Culture – all four years

9. Further Studies – at least three years

10. PE (conditioning)* – at least two years

*at least 8 classes of physical education

Some sports:
Individual:
bowling, fencing, duathlon/triathlon, golf, gymnastics, martial arts, tennis, racketball, track and field, roller blading, ice skating (figure, speed), squash, swimming, table tennis (ping pong), wrestling
Team:
football, baseball, basketball, volleyball, cheerleading, cricket, curling, field hockey, ice hockey, lacrosse, laser tag, paintball, polo/water polo, rugby, softball, handball, ultimate frisbee

Recommended for all four years (not in period order): 
1. English
2. Foreign Language
3. Science
4. Math
5. Social Studies
6. Culture
7. Sport
8. Sport
9. Conditioning
10. Further Studies 3 years and team/individual sport (whichever did not pick above) 1 year

If a student fails anything, he or she would have to drop out of conditioning and/or sports as an upperclassman.