EduCon Day 1

Today I had the opportunity to tour the Science Leadership Academy (SLA) in Philadelphia.  Actually, I enjoyed the tour so much I toured the school a second time.  Throughout the tours, I was able to speak with students and teachers from SLA along with other educators.  My thoughts have really been all over the board since the visit, and I must first say how amazed I was with the school.  SLA was a different type of school.  Here are some of the biggest things I observed that I would consider different from most schools.

• Students took complete ownership in the school.  When we asked them questions, they would answer with the word "we" quite frequently.  We talked with one student about the admissions process and he shared how "we are trying to make that process better."
• The school had a vision, which they called their core values, that were evident everywhere in the school.  Those core values were inquiry, respect, collaboration, presentation, and reflection.  The work that students did in their classes, student work in the hallways, and the entire atmosphere of the building reflected those values.  One teacher said the two things that made SLA better than other schools that he had worked in were the commonality of vision and language.
• Teachers were not the owners of all of the knowledge in the classroom.  In many of the classrooms that we walked into, I didn't immediately know where the teacher was (No, this isn't because they were running off worksheet copies in the office).  Instead, students and teachers were working side by side.  When asked about their teachers, students described them as a sort of friend (this relationship may lead to an entirely different conversation).  They said that they were very comfortable talking with them. 
• As a former principal, I of course had to ask about discipline.  My tour guide explained that there really weren't any major discipline problems in the school.  If a discipline problem did occur, the student would meet with the principal, guidance counselor, teacher, and parent, to decide how to best deal with the situation.  He said that they didn't really have lots of strict procedures or policies to deal with discipline.  They did have three rules that I saw posted everywhere.  Those rules are listed below, and were similar to the schools vision in that they seemed to be engrained in the school.  It was extremely apparent that respect was a key component to the school.
• • Respect yourself
  • Respect the community
  • Respect SLA as a place of learning
• Although technology was everywhere in the building, it wasn't the focus of instruction.  The core values (inquiry, respect, collaboration, presentation, and reflection) were the focus of instruction.  When technology was used, it was to enhance their core values.  This is a message that I frequently try to deliver to 1:1 schools, but observing SLA gave a more powerful example of this than my words ever could.  If I was asked what was the most drastic difference between SLA and more traditional schools, I would describe their focus on core values and not technology.  The teaching and learning were extremely focused on those values.

On the back of my business cards, it reads, "I met with Nick and......... I'm energized."  I have to say that today I visited SLA, and I'm energized!  This school renews my faith that schools can excel and meet the needs of our learners.

Comments

[JeffDicks]

Nick,

Sounds like a great model. How large of school was it? I also would be interested in the demographics of their student population. I would guess it is very diversified.

I also liked that you identified they use technology to assist them in attaining their core values and not focus on the box.

[Nick Sauers]

Jeff,

You are correct that SLA is a very diverse school. SLA is a school of 480 students and their demographics are very similar to those of Philadelphia. This is a link to the school.
http://www.scienceleadership.org/drupaled/