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Perhaps the most controversial element of Project ISIS is the
substitution of standardized tests in favor of local assessments. That
would come in later years and Rhea is working with Texas Education
Agency officials to determine if and how that could be implemented
in the pilot public schools.
“What will happen with our K-2 students is that we are going to
go from a grade-based system to a developmental-evaluation
system,” she says. “What that means is that (each student) will get an
evaluation at the end of the fall and at the end of the spring.”
The evaluation will encompass the different areas of knowledge
each student needs and where each is developmentally compared
to where each should be developmentally.
Rhea says Project ISIS’ focus is to produce a more inclusive learning
environment for public school teachers and students than a
traditional public school model. Trinity Valley and Starpoint are
involved because private schools can implement changes faster and
begin without as much training, and because their students aren’t
required to take state-mandated standardized tests.
“Trinity Valley is already so ahead of the curve,” she says. “They were
going to start the character development this year anyway, so this is
a good way for us to see if this curriculum works with these young
kids, and whether we can adapt it or need to create different lessons.”
Head of School Gary Krahn agrees with Rhea that they can’t mimic
the Finnish model because the two countries are so different
demographically and socially. However, Trinity Valley wants to
promote physical exercise and how important spending time
outdoors is for everyone’s development.
“Physical education happens every day here in kindergarten through
sixth grade,” he says. “Then, seventh- through 12th-grade kids
participate in athletics.”
However, the students still sit a lot in their classrooms. So Krahn
likes that every hour students in Project ISIS will move and
express creativity.
“We are just trying to take advantage of how our bodies were
designed, and they were really designed to walk about 12 miles and
not just sit in chairs…,” he says. “I’m glad someone has pushed us, so
that we can do what’s best for our kids.”
Trinity Valley teachers also will stress dignity in the classroom setting.
“It will be an evolution, not a revolution,” Krahn says.
The public schools’ teachers and other school officials will spend the
2013-14 school year in training, including attending two sessions
with Pasi Sahlberg, director general of the Centre for International
Mobility and Cooperation in Helsinki, Finland. Sahlberg has
championed Finland’s recent educational success throughout the
world and traveled to TCU in March to present a lecture about The
Global Educational ReformMovement (GERM), which is based on the
principals of competition, standardization, test-based accountability
and choice.
In his lecture, Sahlberg said the GERMmodel is how the U.S. andmany
nations base educational success and it’s essentially marketization.
It decreases overall educational performance in every nation that
uses it.
He explained the Finnish model counters GERM. Instead, it focuses
on cooperation, personalization, trust-based responsibility and
equity.
Assistant project coordinator Alex Rivchun, who recently earned a
master’s degree in kinesiology fromTCU, says teachers and principals
look forward to the pilot and want to know new ways to help their
students. Even parents, who have heard about the project through
the grapevine, have expressed excitement.
Rhea says she hopes Project ISIS will provide educators an array of
tools and processes for improving the ways in which schools operate
and focus on students’ success.
“The more play and creativity students receive as youngsters, the
better off they are going to be to develop the skills needed for more
content later,” she says.
“WHAT WILL HAPPEN WITH OUR
K-2 STUDENTS
IS
THAT
WE ARE GOING TO GO FROM A
GRADE-BASED SYSTEM
TO A DEVELOPMENTAL-EVALUATION SYSTEM
,”
RHEA SAYS. “WHAT THAT MEANS IS THAT (EACH STUDENT)
WILL GET AN EVALUATION AT THE END OF THE FALL AND AT
THE END OF THE SPRING.”
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