I really enjoyed designing my “South Jackson School District" (it is attached here). Wresting with what plagues JPS’s problem-solvers (superintendents, analysists, specialists, teachers, principals…) in real life was a meaningful exercise. This project reaffirmed my desire to study educational structures within the bounds of social science. That way, interaction with the social structure (schools) “on-the-ground” (in real time, in person, in the mess of it all) can be melded to thinking on a higher level about what macro-level changes could make a difference for students and their neighborhoods.
The most interesting feature about SJPS is its use of the New Basics curriculum. In lieu of standardized tests (SATP), students are slated to turn in a series of well-defined, authentic assessments (projects and original work) every three years. Teachers are rigorously trained to evaluate and assess student work; thus, the bar is raised for both students and teachers in their vocations. A few other notable changes I made in my district were: doing away with central offices and placing clerks/bureaucrats/specialists in small on-site (in-school) teams; using the subsequently vacant downtown office as a bargaining chip for getting the library involved in a strong inter-institutional alliance with schools; replacing SATP with only one mandatory test, the ACT, to be administered in 10th grade district-wide; a low student-teacher ratio with high teacher pay, made possible by a large number of TAs (with associates’ degrees, or possibly lower); school floorplans and groupings in a cluster structure (not by ability, but sustained K-12 to foster continuity); alternate Fridays off for teachers; a “mosaic” block schedule (90-minute periods M-Th, and 50-minute periods on Fridays).
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