Systemic Improvement in Public Education - Center for Public Research and Leadership (CPRL)

While registering for classes, I came across this course ‘Systemic Improvement in Public Education’ run by the Center for Public Research and Leadership (CPRL) at Columbia University. I was instantly drawn to it because I’ve been long debating with my teacher friends how their teaching is unnecessarily jam-packed with paperwork and bureaucracy when they could use that time actually teaching. I would just sit quietly and nod. There seems to be a heated debate around the efficacy of mandatory education, and a lot of gut wrenching thirsty cry for education reform from all sides. I was always so intrigued especially as I’m a mega-structuralist who finds immense thrill in pinpointing where the system went wrong and fixing it.

Many of my friends at the art education department at TC lamented that they were disappointed with the program. That it was too much theory and not enough practicum. That it didn’t prepare them enough for the real world of teaching. That the prestige of an ivy league has failed their expectation. I understood where they were coming from (I went to Parsons after all - that art school with the most expensive dorm IN THE COUNTRY), but I also knew that Columbia runs like a corporation. You get what you ask for(!?) I was determined to figure out a way to have both. And this course is just what I was searching for.

The Center for Public Research and Leadership (CPRL) strives to revitalize public school systems while reinventing professional education. It conducts high-impact consulting projects for clients in the education sector and provides rigorous coursework, skills training, and real world experiential learning for graduate students. Its clients include State Departments of Education and School Districts, Charter School Organizations, Advocacy/Community-Based and Support Organizations, and Foundations.

Below is the course description.

“To participate in Systemic Improvement in Public Education, students must be enrolled in both the seminar (EDP 5001) and the skills and practicum (EDP 5301) components of the course. Hosted at Columbia University Law School's Center for Public Research and Leadership (CPRL), this offering is a rigorous academic course in the design, governance, transformation, and democratic accountability of public- and allied non-profit organizations. Drawing on domestic and foreign case studies from the private, public, and non-profit sectors in domains reaching well beyond K-12 education but with a particular focus on that sector, students evaluate and apply a number of models for how institutions define objectives and measure success, produce and deploy knowledge, govern internal operations, supervise dispersed staffs, and make themselves accountable to key stakeholders and the public at large. Students explore a variety of tools modern organizations use for these purposes, including design and systems thinking, quantitative analysis, qualitative evaluation, balanced scorecards, structured team-based problem-solving, and cooperative “regimes” of public and private sector organizations. This course is by application only. Prospective students should consult with their academic advisors before interviewing for the course.”

I never had to apply or be on an interview to register for a course. But it makes sense as they were requiring approximately 40hrs/week for the seminar and practicum. Am I really aware of what I’m getting myself into? Hmmmm. I had fun with the application prompts so I think that’s a good sign. Below are my answers to their application prompts. You can read about why I want to be a public school art teacher, and CPRL’s theoretical project.

Prompt A

Please explain what attracts you to CPRL.

            I have been a practicing multimedia artist and a photographer for six years, and finally decided to pursue the MAT Art Education program at Teachers College to become a public-school art teacher to teach kids how to read images. My research is visual literacy and pedagogy, designing curriculums to equip children with the ability to not only decipher and decode image politics, but also with those very tools to become fluent content creators.

            Why public school? Because I grew up living in Iran, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Indonesia, Thailand and the States. So, I know what it is like to go to school and be the only black-haired girl among a sea of blond Dutch friends in the middle of nowhere in a desert of Saudi Arabia. I have felt the inexplicable confusion of going to school with really rich classmates who went shopping to Singapore on their private jet and with classmates whose dad committed suicide after going bankrupt. All children are born into their socioeconomic environment without consent. And I believe public school education is a radical space full of potential to empower children - despite being students of color, in poverty, or traditionally underserved - with agency and equity to equally thrive as global citizens and tension solvers.  

            I was instantly attracted to CPRL’s strong emphasis on practicum with Structural Change in Public Education because I believe public education needs an operational and systematic update in step with the fourth industrial revolution. Not just in theory but grounded in real life. Not just in debate but in catalytic action. I am excited to dive deep into understanding the big picture of governance and democracy model and applying skills & competency training to hands on deliverables that impact the public-school system now. One particular skill I am especially looking forward to honing is facilitating client-centered orientation and communication and stakeholder engagement to better negotiate substantive policies and decision making.

            I hope that with my international and creative background, I will actively contribute as a voice of an art teacher at the table.

Prompt B

Consider the following scenario. A medium-sized urban school district has decided to create a new electronic system to track student academic results and provide teachers a snapshot of student performance that includes an analysis of student strengths and learning needs. The district has engaged CPRL to make recommendations for the design (e.g., key features) and implementation (e.g., roll-out and use) of the system. In CPRL’s kick-off call with the client point, the district’s executive director of strategy and innovation shared a few critical pieces of information:

• The district’s board and superintendent are invested in this strategy and have allocated significant board meeting discussion time to it. There is also sufficient funding allocated to the project in the district’s budget.

• Alongside CPRL’s work, the district will launch a request for proposals (RFP) for a technology organization to customize a platform to meet the district’s needs. The client plans to have this organization use CPRL’s design recommendations.

• The district’s teachers generally have limited access to and training in the use of computer-based platforms.

1. What key steps might your team take over the course of the project to provide the requested recommendations for the design and implementation of the system?

A.    Research

-       Identify purpose & goals. Why use a new electronic system? What was the previous system? What was/wasn’t working? What features to keep and what new features to add? With this new system, what do users envision to achieve?  

-       Identify users. Teachers, students, parents, superintendent? Are teachers going to engage with students within the system? Are they going to be shared with parents? Are they going to be shared with other teachers? Transferrable to other schools in a certain format as students move or graduate?

-       Identify stakeholders and their objectives. Is funding and board meetings going to continue after launching? Identify method of oversight after launch.

-       Scalability. What system is/isn’t suitable for a medium sized urban district? Does it have to be designed to be scalable in the future?

-       Context. What are the needs of parents, teachers, students in an urban environment?

-       Identify deadline.

B.    Design/Prototyping  

-       Email blast RFP to tech companies. Request bidding pricing package for front & back end, server storage, web developing, UX/UI designers, 24/7 customer service & tech support, etc.

-       Identify platforms. Desktop, smartphone, iPads or all? Android or iPhone? Develop apps for both?

-       Accessibility. What if people don’t have smartphones? No internet? Is offline cloud syncing doable?

-       User Experience. Identify features. Quantitative & qualitative logging? What kind of data interpretation features?

-       User Interface. Visually simple, clear, easily readable, fun, engaging, intuitive design.

-       Design training method

C.    Test & bug fixes

-       Choose test group, train, and test on desktop, smartphones, iPads for designated period of time before official launch

D.   Launch

-       Is this launching at the start of a new school year? Is this the only system? Is there a need for a backup system?

E.    Feedback

-       Technical feedback submitted in system directly to tech support

-       Features & goals success/failures shared in meetings?

2. The school district has asked your project team to address all important educational, legal, operational, change management, and policy considerations likely to arise in developing the new data system. Name 1-3 challenges the district and/or your team might encounter over the course of the project and suggest steps your team might take to address them.

A.    Addressing privacy, security, identity, and compliance concerns

-       What is tech company’s & district’s cybersecurity protocol?

-       Identify legal regulations and practices involving all users’ data privacy

-       If users can access data outside school grounds, how to prevent data leak ex. Screengrabs   

B.    Future: Oversight, Longevity, and Scalability

-       Is there going to be oversight after launch? Who is going to be doing that?

-       Plan for new system’s longevity, scalability, and transferability

C.    Teachers’ limited access to training

-       Provide school laptop and wifi

-       Pre-recorded step by step training tutorials

-       Create online community forum

I hope I get in!(?) If I do, I can’t wait to blog about it!!!

-Esther xoxo