Seminole County Public Schools – Aligning a High School Model with Beliefs About Learning

We are currently developing and rolling out a prototype high school model aligned to our beliefs about student learning and competency (CBE): PSI High. PSI High is a school concept where students work in an environment that looks like a high-tech office instead of a classroom. Rather than learning through lectures and tests, students participate in teams of students and teachers to solve real community, business, and social problems. Students still acquire a rigorous high school education, but instead of demonstrating what they know through seat-time, they receive credit by applying their skills to make a difference in the world. This school will be characterized by a; 1) small school size (~200); 2) hands-on problem-solving approach to learning and demonstrating proficiency; 3) competency-based credit model, and; 4) coworking-style startup environment. In 2017-2018, an elective course based on these principles is launching in three of our high schools. The following year, a full school program will launch with an initial class of 100. We are currently hiring three (3) teachers for the elective courses, identifying rooms to renovate, and we will start work soon with those teachers to design the cross-cutting proficiencies for the PSI program.

There are a number of influences on our decision to focus in this domain, but foremost are the ideas outlined in Tony Wagner’s “Creating Innovators.” The belief that play, passion, and purpose are what helps young people develop into creative innovators drives us to move away from traditional models of teaching and learning.

We received a $1,000,000 grant award from XQ: The Super School Project to implement the PSI High concept school, providing us an opportunity to pilot some of our transformational ideas in a small program. This program allows for the development and evaluation of reform ideas, such as CBE in a small scale environment and we will apply them to other schools throughout the county.

The grant award to implement this learning model.
Student, parent, and teacher support.

Something that we did not anticipate was student, parent, and teacher enthusiasm for such a dramatic change in teaching and learning. Even our most successful students and teachers indicated that they feel like school often doesn’t align to their passions or ambitions, and that most school-based work feels arbitrary instead of authentic. USA Today released a video that did a nice job of capturing our students’ desire for change.

We were also surprised by the number of students and parents who expressed concern that instructional change may affect the strength of applications for college admissions. We believe that this instructional model will supercharge our students’ applications for college and increase their postsecondary preparedness by helping them to graduate with a diverse portfolio of real-world, problem-based work. We also routinely communicate with local colleges and universities to assess what they are looking for in our graduates.

Resources that could be diverted to other initiatives.

Districts will need to consider how and where to start such an ambitious shift in learning. We chose to do so in a pilot format and were fortunate to receive a grant to do so. Another consideration is the recruitment of the highly effective and engaging teachers needed to make an ambitious instructional change work. Finally, consideration of how to prepare students, teachers, and administrators for a transformation to self-directed and collaborative learning is an important consideration for us.

USA Today/XQ Video Feature on Seminole County Public Schools
PSI High website, including elective description and video

Please contact Walt Griffin (walt_griffin@scps.k12.fl.us), Anna-Marie Cote (anna-marie_cote@scps.k12.fl.us), Tim Harper (tim_harper@scps.k12.fl.us), Derek Jensen (Derek_jensen@scps.k12.fl.us)