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Key Questions Asked About Strategic Design Process at April 9th Open Forum
By Kelley Dickson
I’d like to thank the members of the Board for scheduling this “Open Forum” tonight. I also want to thank you for all the time you invest into representing the community and the children of Grayslake as representatives on the School Board.Return to Watch District 46 Schools Home PageBefore I begin, let me say that for the past 2 months I have been researching William Spady and his philosophies of outcome based education, theories of learning, and his strategic design process. I read what others have to say about Dr. Spady’s philosophies of learning and I have also read many of Dr. Spady’s books directly including: Outcome Based Education: Critical Issues and Answers, Total Leaders, Paradigm Lost, his article in On the Horizon entitled, "Transcending Educentric Achievement Through Strategic Design" and chapters from his latest book, Beyond Counterfeit Reforms: Forging an Authentic Future For All Learners.
I have attempted to determine what I agree with and what I disagree with. I agree with Dr. Spady that we should apply the latest research and best practice to learning and meet the needs of various learning styles: the visual learner, kinesthetic learner, and the auditory learner. We should apply the latest research on how the brain works and the complexity of how and why we learn. Good teaching also involves helping children “do” with what they “know”. It is important to help children learn to analyze, synthesize and evaluate, not just know and understand.
However, tonight we have been talking about William Spady’s theories of transformational outcome based education and the problems with implementation of his theories in many states including: Virginia, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Oregon and others. Another key point we need to clarify is the distinction between “strategic planning” and a “strategic design process” that William Spady and his colleague Charles Schwahn developed between 1987 and 1991. In Dr. Spady’s new book, Beyond Counterfeit Reform: Forging An Authentic Future For All Learners, he states that “Strategic Design is profoundly different from what people call “strategic planning”. The latter takes the existing programs and structures of schools and districts as given and looks at how they need to prioritize and adapt what they’re doing to emerging needs in their communities. In the end, all those programs and structures generally remain in place, but they have new goals and action plans for proceeding. Strategic Design starts with a giant blank sheet of paper…”
Dr. Spady states in, “Transcending Educentric Achievement Through Strategic Design”, that their strategic design process (SDP) was “designed to give school districts and their constituents a powerful and compelling way to transcend the obvious limitations of educentric thinking about school learning and achievement and to equip students with the ‘role performance’ abilities needed in all aspects of life and living.”
In Chapter 7 of his book, Paradigm Lost, William Spady explains how to “chart your new paradigm course” by asking specific Key Strategic Design Questions that lead to developing learner outcomes which relate to the spheres of living. These Key Strategic Design Questions are as follows:
Key Strategic Design Question 1:In the article, “Transcending Educentric Achievement Through Strategic Design", Dr. Spady states that in 1977 he found himself a “major player in the birthing process of what came to be called the Outcome Based Education (OBE) movement". In chapter 2 of William Spady’s new book, Beyond Counterfeit Reform: Forging An Authentic Future For All Learners, he explains that the pioneers in the OBE movement “realized that education had neither any explicit outcomes about student competence after completing their studies nor a bedrock rationale for defining such abilities. But wait, we argued: If we want our young people to lead productive and fulfilling lives, wouldn’t it be good for us to be clear about what life is all about so that they can better understand it and prepare for it?”
In which spheres and contexts of living do we want our students to function effectively and be successful in the future? (page 119)Key Strategic Design Question 2:
What significant problems, challenges, and opportunities are likely to exist with the ______ sphere that our students will have to anticipate, address, and solve as young adults? (page 121)Key Strategic Question 3:
If these are the spheres of living in which we want our students to be successful, and if these are the future conditions they are likely to face in those spheres, then what qualities and capabilities will they need to face those problems, challenges, and opportunities successfully? (page 133)Key Strategic Design Question 4:
What knowledge and competencies do our students need in order to do this?The key question for the members of the Board and Superintendent is this:
Will these be the questions that will be asked in our Strategic Design Process with William Spady?Dr. Spady goes on to explain that the bedrock element in this process is called “Spheres of Living”. These spheres of living developed by Dr. Spady are described on pages 20-21:
Dr. Spady says on page 21, “Once we develop a framework like this with our particular communities, we’ll be equipped to ask the following questions about the legalized and institutionalized curriculum structure we’ve had for a century.”
- Personal potential and wellness - Your inner essence, mind, and physical body are ever-present and define who you really are.
- Learning challenges and resources - Life is a continuous new experience that requires us to constantly assess, learn, and adapt.
- Life and resource management - Every day requires managing your food, shelter, time, and finances, and relationships.
- Close and significant relationships - Nothing in life is more fulfilling than deep, caring connections with others.
- Meaningful and fulfilling pursuits - People work for inspiration, satisfaction, self-expression, and self actualization.
- Physical and cultural environment - Water, air, climate, scenery, food supply, congestion, media, people, and politics surround us.
- Group and community memberships - We’re fundamentally members of social entities, families, organizations, communities, and so forth.
- Work and productive endeavors - A key definer of our status is self-esteem, financial welfare, life-style, and capacity to contribute.
As I read Dr. Spady’s questions, I’d like each of us, members of the Board and the community, to determine whether or not we agree with Dr. Spady’s belief that the mission of school is to prepare children to be successful in these spheres of living.
On page 21-22, Dr. Spady asks these four questions regarding the mission/curriculum that schools should teach:
While I agree that these domains of living are important, the questions we must ask ourselves BEFORE we embark on the Strategic Design Process with Dr. Spady, are these:
- If these are the major Domains of life and living in which we conduct our lives, why isn’t our curriculum designed to extensively teach all our young people about them?
- How can we expect our learners to live fulfilling lives without a deep grasp of what life in these Domains is really all about?
- How much better prepared for life would our young people be if these Domains were the explicit substantive focus of the curriculum they regularly encountered?
- How much better would our learners understand and deal with themselves, others, and the world around them if our curriculum were structured around these Domains of Living?
- What is the parent(s) role and what is the school’s role in preparing kids to be successful in these spheres of living?
- Should it be the school’s responsibility to assume the role of preparing children to be successful in all 8 of these spheres of living?
- If we structure our curriculum in District 46 around these spheres of living as Dr. Spady advocates, will this cause us to lose our focus on ensuring academic success for all learners on core subjects such as reading, writing, math, and science?
- Since the heart of Dr. Spady’s “Strategic Design Process” centers around asking key strategic design questions that relate to the spheres of living, can his process be separated from his beliefs?
- And finally, can you give us some specific examples of how these “8 spheres of living” would be designed into a curriculum and how they would be taught in a classroom?