At Our Core: Helping students discover purpose in learning

By Joe Saboe, Director of Strategy

I know this time of year can feel like a grueling sprint to the finish, but I hope that you are also taking some time to appreciate the many fruits of your labor — the many accomplishments of our students and schools.

I want to share with you a story that I experienced last night at Green Valley Ranch High School. It is a story about purpose.

Carla, Peter, and Leon are all children of immigrants, and will be the first generation in their families to attend college in the fall. They stood up last night in a crowd of about 50 (but, it could have been 1,000!) and confidently delivered their E-Ship Senior Intensive presentation as a team. E-Ship, for those of you not familiar with it, is DSST’s entrepreneurial studies program that is expanding across the network, but currently exists at our GVR and Conservatory Green campuses. OK, back to the story, and purpose. Carla, Peter, and Leon created a website called First Gen. The website is designed to help other first-generation students navigate their way to and through college, and includes materials for parents in multiple languages. Team First Gen was working to solve a problem that they have actually faced, and that they know many after them will face, too. This problem is different from many others they were asked to solve during their time as students. This problem is real. They chose this problem. It was personal. And, they could be a part of the solution. This problem required these students to do, as well as think. This problem was fun. The level of investment, pride, joy, and excitement that Team First Gen felt in the solution they offered was palpable. The entire audience could see that this work offered a meaningful contribution in the world, and also offered a significant development experience for these young people.

This is a story about purpose in learning. Purpose is of tremendous importance to learners, and yet is a connection made far too infrequently.

To this end, I am proud to say, five DSST high schools (GVR, Stapleton, College View, CG, and Byers) and two DSST middle schools (Cole and Noel) have chosen to opt into a new multi-year pilot program next year. The pilot is focused on pathways. Pathways are exploratory in middle school, and more focused on specific fields in high school. The specific fields open to high schools are: four in a STEM suite (Engineering; Tech; Bioscience; Science, Technology, and Society); four in a Creative suite (Visual Arts; Drama; Written & Spoken Word; Music); and E-Ship. Not all types of pathways will exist in all schools.

All pathways have in common three major components: (1) elective course sequences that span 6-12; (2) experiential learning; and, (3) advising and postsecondary links.

• Strong pathways employ a pedagogy that is both project-based and competency-based. Project-based learning (PBL) is deliberately authentic, engaging in real-world problem-solving. PBL is about thematic variety and autonomy — for schools, for teachers, and students. PBL is about craftsmanship — reflection, critique, revision, and public presentation of student work.
• Competency-based learning (CBL) is about having rigorous, higher-order standards around skill progression that students seek to attain. In pathways, we identify four distinct sets of competencies: (1) technical; (2) common core aligned to field; (3) soft skills; and (4) navigational.
• The experiential learning component contains a suite of opportunities, including everything from group career exploration visits, clubs, mentoring, consulting projects, internships, and senior project.
• And the advising/post-secondary component is about actually linking our students to specific areas of interest and passion in higher education.

While schools will be piloting this approach in the realm of the new pathways program, it is important to note, that DSST as a network is aspiring toward a balanced pedagogy—a mix of inquiry-based learning in our core content classes, and project-based learning in our elective suite.

The result we hope for from all of this? 

• No. 1 is purpose.
• Pedagogical balance—intentional rigor, intentional purpose, intentional choice, and intentional joy in learning.
• Greater student choice, investment, pride, and excitement in their own learning.
• Greater thematic choice and variety for teachers around their areas of passion.
• Improvement in grade level cohort retention, college success, integrated schools, soft skill development, and student engagement outcomes.

Where are we now, and how can you get involved?

• There have been two delegations of teachers and leaders since March that have gone to visit High Tech High in San Diego to learn about PBL practices.
• We are forming a working group of teachers and leaders to move this pilot forward for the coming years.
• We have heard from many of you about your level of excitement and interest in this project, and we encourage you to be a part of our effort! If you would like to join the working group, or provide input, please reach out to us.
• We expect to hold a teacher academy to support teachers participating in the pilot. Info below:

•  The Home Office Staff working on this project are Jackie Blizzard, Senior Manager of STEM Project-Based Learning; Mike Lang (Byers teacher partnering with the Home Office) to build the creative suite of pathways; Jeremy “Wick” Wickenheiser, Director of E-Ship, Nicole Lovato, Senior Manager of Strategic Partnerships, and myself, Joe Saboe, Director of Strategy.

This work is our passion, and we hope you can join us in it. We believe it will have a great positive impact for our students. Thanks for any interest and ideas you have, and thank you for all the great work you are doing on behalf of our students!