1. Challenging the Assumptions that Hold Schools in Their Orbit: Iowa BIG -An exploration of time, space, curriculum, and assessment Dr. Trace Pickering, Co-Creator & Administrator, Iowa BIG $1M Prize Winner Pioneer

3. What do adults need to do and know as a professional?

4. What the “students” saw:  Bored and disengaged kids  Teachers working really hard (and a few not) to connect and engage  A key “ah-ha” that struck them deeply: The ridiculousness of separating out disciplines and subjects and courses – the result of which…  Decontextualizes the content and learning... Which makes it hard on teachers and boring for kids.

5. Recommendations for Transforming Education

6. Engaging Community: Outcomes Their design criteria for a transformed school:  Student passion  Authentic projects that integrate content  Community-infused

7. Choosing Learner-Centric over School- Centric View of Education  School-Centric: viewing, filtering, and implementing changes, initiatives, theories, and concepts through largely implicit assumptions about what school is and how school is organized.  Learner-Centric: viewing, filtering, and implementing changes, initiatives, theories, and concepts through the needs of the learner and actively denying any and all assumptions about what school "is" necessary to serve the best needs of the learner.

8. Choosing Learner-Centric over School- Centric View of Education Example – School-Centric  Identifying competencies by subject and connecting them to courses, allowing students to advance out of the course when the competencies and standards are met. Example – Learner-Centric  Identifying key competencies and standards required to advance and co-creating authentic learning experiences to provide learner’s the opportunity to become competent-in- context and across a myriad of standards. Competency-Based Education: A system of education in which learners advance through content or earn credit based on demonstration of proficiency on competencies. Some students may advance through more content or earn more credit than in a traditional school year while others might take more than a traditional school year to advance through the same content or to earn credit. Credit may also be earned for out-of-school experiences and/or accomplishments. Students at all grade levels are afforded opportunities for more explicit or intensive instruction or enrichment within the content. (Iowa Department of Education)

9. Choosing Learner-Centric over School- Centric View of Education Example – School-Centric Projects are determined by teachers in classes or in combination with another teacher; done after the “real” teaching; often has pre-determined or assumed conclusions. Example – Learner-Centric Real projects and problems are culled from the community for students to select and work on based on passion; teachers job is to teach standards and competencies as they naturally present themselves in an authentic project; no assumed answer or conclusion at the outset. Project-Based Learning is a teaching method in which students gain knowledge and skills by working for an extended period of time to investigate and respond to an authentic, engaging and complex question, problem, or challenge. (Buck Institute)

10. How BIG Works  100+ partners and projects/problems  Students select projects/problems they care about  Teachers provide support and learning resources  Team meetings  Individual sessions  “Seminars”  Community professionals are part of the team T  BIG teachers jointly discuss every student and argue/defend whether or not a student has met a standard  Projects live and die naturally and students simply transition to the next project  The community is the curriculum

11. Assumption Crushing. A Few of Our Operating assumptions:  Schools aren’t broken, they’re obsolete  A curriculum is a solution to a problem that doesn’t exist  “Teaching” is often a major obstruction to learning - only do it when it is the best way  A good educator can take almost any project and integrate their content and standards into it  Discrete subjects and courses purposefully remove real-life context from the content, making the learning boring, feckless, and difficult to apply  A “Family Table” approach – less than 150 humans together – builds the relationships necessary to accelerate learning and development  Teacher reflection, co-creation, and joint review of student performance are the keys to rapid improvement and an intense focus on the learner

12. Actively Iterating to Meet the 5 Key Elements  Competency-Based  Personalized, Relevant, and Contextualized  Learner Agency  Open-Walled  Socially Embedded

13. Created a plasticide aquadrone from scratch

14. Won three student-authored grants/contests totaling $7,500

15. Students presented to Iowa STEM Council & at U of I

16. Designed and planted CR’s first Urban Orchard

17. Formed 3 LLC’s Major scholarships awarded & BIG referenced A senior beat out graduate and under- graduate students for a lab position/fellowship at the U of I.

18. Interns with Lt. Governor, Rockwell Collins, Iowa Startup Accelerator, VMI, and others

19. Assembled a computer and camera enabled aerial drone

20. Redesigned Johnson Elementary STEAM Academy

21. Student invited to teach adults about Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs)

22. Results in the First 3 Years  5X increase in student positive perception of their community.  3 students have increased their ACT scores by 5 points.  3 start-up companies spun out.  100% of BIG students report stronger:  Sense of efficacy and ownership of their learning  Ability to communicate effectively in adult settings  Know-how in building and maintaining a professional network  Resiliency – ability to push through seemed failures to success  Mutually beneficial relationships – our business and community partners are recognizing financial and performance benefits.

23. Q & A