WEST NEWBURY — If the future belongs to the so-called "right-brained" innovators, designers and researchers of the world, why are most public schools in this country still taking a more "left-brained" linear, sequential approach to learning?
Ray McNulty, senior vice president of International Center for Leadership in Education, posed this question to members of the Pentucket community at the regional high school on Monday. McNulty, who was featured on ABC's "Nightline" for a program on early childhood education and infant brain development in 1997 and named Vermont Superintendent of the Year in 2000, first spoke with teachers and administrators, then with parents, students and town officials during two 90-minute presentations in the auditorium.
He made the case for identifying and fostering the critical skills students need to compete in an increasingly global society.
"Our students are moving forward into a world that, I dare say, you and I can't even begin to describe," said Pentucket Superintendent Paul Livingston at the start of the second session.
The superintendent brought McNulty in as a keynote speaker for his staff on their first day back to school, but decided to hold a second session as a way to foster more understanding within the larger Pentucket community for what his schools need to be successful in a rapidly changing society. The school year opened for students yesterday.
"Schools are more like they used to be than anything else in society — yet the world has changed dramatically," McNulty said. "In the environment we live in today, if you don't change, you fall behind quickly."
Finishing a course or a textbook doesn't equal achievement, listening to a lecture doesn't ensure understanding, and scoring high on a standardized test is not necessarily an indicator of proficiency, McNulty said.
"We need to teach content, but we should not stop at content — we should be taking students beyond that."
Learners in the 21st century need to be flexible, to be able to problem solve quickly on their feet, to take creative risks and learn to collaborate. Yet most schools today penalize a trial-and-error approach to learning and perceive sharing of ideas among peers as cheating.
Today's generation gap is as wide now as it was at the advent of rock 'n' roll, McNulty said.
How kids relate to technology is vastly different than how their parents and teachers do. He recalled a school in Texas that was having a severe problem with cell phone use policy violations. However, when he spoke with students, he learned that more than just text-messaging their friends, students relied on cell phones to check the time in lieu of wearing wristwatches, to snap photos of the homework board instead writing in assignment books and to fill in their calendars of after-school activities and school events.
The school's cell phone policy had not kept up with what has become a multifaceted tool for today's student. Schools need to embrace technology and teach students how to properly navigate it, he said.
"You don't ban sharp pencils from the classroom just because they can poke someone's eye out," McNulty said.
He described a recent visit to an extremely impoverished school in Africa where every student had been provided with a laptop computer. Instead of repeatedly purchasing new textbooks, the U.S. should be investing in this kind of technology for its students.
"There's no more money. We have to figure out how to spend the money we do have differently," he said.
McNulty says it's time to move beyond the traditional brick school building. Districts should be investigating how to incorporate online classrooms and homeschooling into the public school system.
"It won't happen overnight, but you've got to have the ability to make the incremental moves."
Assistant Superintendent Bill Hart reminded those present that in order to create this kind of paradigm shift within the schools, teachers must have additional support.
"A certain amount of retooling has to happen," Hart said. "Professional development is essential to this kind of change."
Despite objections by some parents, Livingston persuaded the school board this spring to schedule 20 early release days to accommodate consistent professional development throughout the upcoming school year. Students will be let out 90 minutes early on the following Wednesdays: Sept. 24; Oct. 1, 8, 22, 29; Nov. 19 and Dec. 19. And in 2009, Jan. 7, 14, 28; Feb. 4, 11, 25; March 4, 11, 18, 25; April 15, 29, and May 6.
A video of McNulty's talk will be available at the Central Office for interested members of the public to borrow, Livingston said.
Killer of Fla. Girl Found in Landfill Gets Life
Army Orders Bradley Manning Court-martial
Cancer Charity Revives Breast-screening Grants
Heavy Snowstorm Hits Colorado On Its Way East
2nd Teacher From LA School Arrested on Sex Claim
Prosecutors Close Armstrong Inquiry, No Charges
Sights and Sounds: Football Fans Pour Into Indy
Unemployment Rate Down to 8.3%
Obama: Still Far Too Many Americans Need Jobs
GOP: Jobs Numbers Welcome, Can Do Better
Fla. Man Adopts Girlfriend in Legal Battle
More Deaths As Egypt Clashes Continue
Raw Video: Prince William in Falklands
Egpyt Protesters Blame Police for Soccer Deaths
'Lucky' 9-Year-Old Receives 6-Organ Transplant
Raw Video: Michelle Vs. Ellen in Pushup Contest
First Person: Will Peyton Manning Stay in Indy?
Egypt Shaken After Deadly Soccer Riot
New Suits, New Starts for New York's Unemployed
Hall of Famer Dorsett Speaks Out on NFL Injuries
