Urbandale HS

New School Year

September 09, 2011

One of the best prizes that life offers is the chance to work hard at work worth doing (Theodore Roosevelt).

This morning I heard on the radio that the Iowa State Fair begins in ten days.  Glowing memories overcame me as I considered my many Fair adventures.   As a college student, I vividly recall being awed by the sights and sounds of the midway as Styx’s “Grand Illusion” resonated from the grandstand.  Ensuing years meant sharing the wonders of the Fair with my wife and eventually my children.  The way we experience the Fair has evolved as the boys have grown, but each of us has a unique, genuine bond to Iowa’s late summer marvel.

For as long as I can remember, the Fair was also a signal that school would be starting soon.  Young children, teens, and adults alike know that leisure days at the Fair would soon be replaced with the excitement and hustle and bustle that comes with the first day of school.  Considering the freedom that summer allows students and educators, it’s understandable why some regard the beginning of the school year with something less than exuberance.  Thomas Huxley puts that reluctance into perspective:  “Perhaps the most valuable result of education is the ability to make yourself do the thing you have to do when it ought to be done, whether you like it or not.”  When one’s outlook is to embrace the potential of the upcoming school year, it becomes reasonable that the Fair must end so school can start.

As the transition from summer activities to school endeavors occurs, it’s one’s attitude and character that determine how much will be garnered from this year’s adventure.  When everything else feels out of your control, know that you will be remembered by your attitude and character.  In the book, The Diary of Anne Frank, the young Holocaust victim revealed insight beyond her years when she wrote, “The final forming of a person’s character lies in their own hands.” As you reflect upon Anne Frank’s wisdom, understand that this year’s educational opportunity will be what you make of it.  Do your best.  Character counts!

Brian Coppess, Ed. D.

Associate Principal

Urbandale High School

References

Lickona, T., and Davidson, M. (2005). Smart & Good High Schools: Integrating excellence and ethics for success in school, work, and beyond. Cortland, N.Y.: Center for the 4th and 5th Rs (Respect & Responsibility)/Washington, D.C.: Character Edu- cation Partnership.

Frank, Anne. Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1952.

April 02, 2011

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A Historical Perspective of 21^st Century Skills

Brian Coppess, Ed. D.

Associate Principal

Urbandale High School (Iowa)

In 1918 the Cardinal Principles of Secondary Education (Cardinal Principles) declared that, “…education in a democracy, both within and without the school, should develop in each individual the knowledge, interests, ideals, habits, and powers whereby he will find his place and use that place to shape both himself and society toward ever nobler ends” (p. 3).  Our nation’s eminent educators of the time debated how to best achieve this ideal; eventually The Cardinal Principles decided the issue.  The solution the authors came upon was the Comprehensive High School; American students would have the opportunity to enroll in vocational and academic opportunities within the same building.  This model has remained the standard of secondary education in the United States since the publishing of the Cardinal Principles.

Since the publication of the Cardinal Principles in 1918, the Comprehensive High School, and American education in general, has withstood regular scrutiny, criticism and reform efforts.  Sputnik created awareness of the importance of Math and Science instruction and led to improvements in resources for teaching Math and Science.  Why Johnny Can’t Read brought attention to strategies for teaching children to read, and A Nation at Risk rekindled the country’s interest in education and led to needed reforms in facilities, curriculum and teaching strategies.

Notably, these previous efforts at improving American secondary education were usually concerned with the core instructional areas.  Consider, then, the seven original main objectives of education according to the Cardinal Principles: health, command of fundamental processes, worthy home membership, vocation, citizenship, worthy use of leisure time and ethical character.  Iowa’s recent Core Curriculum includes standards and benchmarks for the core areas.  However, the ingenuity of the Iowa Core that has been hailed by educator’s across the nation has been the emphasis on Twenty-First Century Skills:  Health Literacy, Civic Literacy, Technology Literacy, Financial Literacy, and Employability Skills. 

One might recognize Civic Literacy as an obvious link to the Cardinal Principles’ original main objectives.  In addition, though they were composed nearly one hundred years later, a scan of the Essential Concepts of the Employability Skills reveals remarkable similarities to the main objectives of education from the Cardinal Principles.  Though the vocabulary is not exactly the same, the parallels are astonishing:  communicate and work productively with others to increase innovation and quality of work; adapt to various roles and responsibilities and work flexibly with others; demonstrate leadership, integrity, ethical behavior, and social responsibility; demonstrate initiative and self-direction; demonstrate productivity and accountability.

Like themes in great literature, the objectives of the Cardinal Principles have withstood the test of time and proven to be a bit epic.  In the mean time, however, government regulation and legislation has equated success in education with scores on standardized tests.  This emphasis on quantifiable results has diminished the focus on the original main objectives and there has been a tendency for some in education to overlook them completely in favor of focusing on improving standardized test scores. 

The Employability Skills of the Iowa Core are an attempt to restore what were once viewed as the most important outcomes for American high school students, and this isn’t the first attempt.  Exit outcomes in the eighties and the nineties reveal incredible similarities to the original main objectives.  Despite continued attempts to refocus education on the basic set of beliefs laid out in the Cardinal Principles, politicians, and the America public to some extent, hold out that grades and an academic education in the core areas are the most significant benefits of education.  It will require a paradigm change on the part of our country’s most valuable educators, the classroom teachers, if the significance of the Employability Skills is to be realized.  Teachers will need to come to the understanding that the Employability Skills need to be a function of their regular every day routines in order for the Skills to become embedded in the culture of their school and the regular day to day practice of their students.  This is far more easily said than done.  Thank goodness for Power 2 Achieve (P2A)

Urbandale High School has been proud to participate as a pilot school through the evolution of the Power 2 programs.  Our students have had the opportunity to consider and practice life long skills like communication, collaboration, time management, and ethical behavior through the Power 2 activities.  The Other Studies in Power 2 have enriched our students’ experiences by providing them with real life examples of people who knew when to turn it around and others who overcame incredible odds.  Students have learned the importance of being an interdependent part of a team and they have been taught to use all available resources like the astronauts on Apollo 13 and Tom Hanks in the movie Castaway. 

This year P2A activities have provided direct connections to the 21^st Century Employability Skills of the Iowa Core.  Through P2A our staff has access to strategies for embedding these skills and making them a part of our daily routine.  Recently Unit Five demonstrated to our students and staff how to enable the bystander and the importance of being an active bystander; the video and subsequent discussions and activities had an immediate impact on the culture of our building and the way our students viewed hazing and bullying.  Prior to Unit Five, P2A provided us with resources to develop positive and productive relationships and methods to help students understand the importance of committing to high standards and continuous improvement, components of the Quality Initiative we are beginning school district wide. 

The Cardinal Principles spoke of the Importance of Applying Knowledge:  “Subject values and teaching methods must be tested in terms of the laws of learning and the application of knowledge to the activities of life, rather than primarily in terms of the demands of any subject as a logically organized science” (pp. 2,3).  Isn’t it amazing how Twentieth Century wisdom anticipated the skills people would need to succeed in the Twenty-First Century?  The creators of P2A have been wise to listen and have provided us with some very valuable tools to prepare our students for life beyond high school in the Twenty-First Century.

Resources

Cardinal Principles of Secondary Education. (1918). A report of the commission on the reorganization of secondary education. United States Government Printing Offices, Washington D.C. Retrieved September 21, 2009, from http://tmh.floonet.net/articles/cardprin.html