Manual Arts moving forward as an “iDesign” school

Manual Arts is now an official “iDesign” school (formerly referred to as the iDivision).  Focus groups and surveys are being conducted; a transition team will soon be in place; an official “launch” day is being planned; the stage is being set for transformation and renewal.

If you have questions or comments, click here or on the FAQ tab above.

Teacher vote counted. Manual Arts to become an iDivision school!

The ballots cast by teacher were counted and announced today at Manual Arts.

Yes Votes: 123 (71%)
No Votes: 50 (29%)

With 71% of the teachers and 95% of the parents casting YES votes, Manual Arts will join the Innovation Division. In the next few days, MLA and WestEd will provide details about what will happen next. Stay tuned. What an exciting time for Manual Arts!

Parents vote for the iDivision

In a strong show of support for the iDivision, 96% of the parents who cast a vote on Saturday voted in favor of Manual Arts becoming an iDivision school (105 voted yes, 6 voted no). The results of the teacher vote, which took place last Wednesday and Thursday, will be announced after school on Monday, June 2.

“Dreams are no longer deferred, hope is here. Incomplete goals and dreams have become reality. This is the day I’ve been waiting for. As of now my future is in sight.”

These words are from a student named Shawn who recently graduated from the Academy of College and Career Exploration High School in Baltimore. A few years ago this school became an “innovation school” and was granted significant autonomy by its district. To provide a more personalized environment for students the school divided itselft into smaller schools. Now, dropout rates are way down, and many more students are going to college. As witnessed by the comments like Shawn and numerous classmates, they are seeing a very bright future for themselves.   Click here to read a news story about the impressive turnaround at ACCE. 

A Letter from UTLA VP Josh Pechtalt on the iDivision

Dear Manual Arts colleagues,

Travis asked me to put my comments from last weeks meeting on paper.
For those who don’t know me I taught at Manual from 1984 through 2005 in the social studies department.

After reading a number of emails I see that there is some skepticism about entering the iDivision. Friends and colleagues who have stood with me in the effort to keep our union strong are some of the most skeptical and I share their concerns.

Why I support the iDivision, by Mike Oppenheim

Some seem to feel that a “yes” vote on joining iDivision would be a slap in the face of an Administration that is working hard to improve our school. Others feel that a ‘yes’ would betray a lack of confidence in our leadership or a failure to comprehend the problems that dedicated administrators face every day.

Introducing Jill Aguilar

Dr. Jill Aguilar is pleased to be part of the WestEd team that will work at Manual Arts if the school joins the iDivision. Here is a short bio:

After earning her Bachelor’s degree and credential at CSUDH, Dr. Aguilar taught middle and high school English (gen ed & ELD) and History (gen ed, sheltered & bilingual) in Long Beach for twelve years. During that time she pursued a Master’s degree at CSUDH in Curriculum and Instruction with a focus on the language and literacy struggles of US-born Latinos. She completed her PhD in Language, Literacy and Learning at USC. Her dissertation title was “Urban Adolescent Literacies: Multiple Ethnographic Case Studies in a Community-Based Theatre Arts Program.”

She is the Senior Educational Consultant at Shakespeare Festival/LA. She is on the faculty of the CSUDH College of Education in the secondary teacher preparation program. She has taught Language Learning, Foreign Language Methods, Teaching Practices Seminar, and Teaching Secondary Reading. She is the Coordinator of the CSUDH Early Assessment Program (EAP).

Introducing John Davis

Dr. John Davis is pleased to be part of the WestEd team that will work at Manual Arts if the school votes to join the Innovation Division. Several teachers at Manual have taken courses with Dr. Davis who teaches at CSU, Dominguez Hills.  Here is a short bio:

John Davis holds a Professional Clear, Single-Subject English credential in the state of California. Dr. Davis’ teaching responsibilities primarily involve secondary English/Language Arts instruction. His research interests lie in literacy instruction and culturally-relevant instructional methods. He joined the faculty at CSUDH on a full-time basis in 1998, and he has taught courses in the Masters of Arts sequence as well as in the credential sequence.

Prior to joining CSUDH, Dr. Davis taught in Compton and Los Angeles Unified School Districts at the middle school and high school levels as well as teaching at a private secondary school in the city of Compton.

Dr. Davis received his Ph.D. in Educational Psychology from the University of Southern California in 1999. He has presented his research at local, statewide, national and international educational conferences. His writings are also included in local, national and international publications.
 

Two Steps Back (at least in Chicago)

During a recent road trip, among other miscellany, I listened through a handful of older This American Life episodes. As any longstanding fan of the show will tell you, nothing passes the time on the 5 freeway quite like the nasally storytelling of Ira Glass and Co. Most prescient of the episodes listened to was “Two Steps Back,” a frustrating look at school reform in Chicago. Following the transformations of Washington Irving Elementary, the story starts with the exuberant sense of positive change in 1994. The later half of the episode checks back in with the school and – diggy-doo – 10 years later things have done gone and changed for the worse. Though the marked pessimism and frustration that is captured in this episode is something all too familiar to me, if anything the episode serves as a hint of the possibilities that are being offered under the Innovation Division, should Manual Arts enter the new LAUSD division next year. In many ways, I can imagine the story being enacted in reverse for our school: the negative and constant upsets that our students and staff face could be upended by the reinvigorating changes of the iDivision. I’m hoping that other teachers, staff members, and potential network partners find an hour of their time to listen to the episode here (it’s free after all!). There is a valuable dialogue to be had.

Is there evidence that the iDivision or Tipping Point strategy really works?

Yes. Mass Insight Research and Policy Institute recently released a comprehensive national study of school turnaround initiatives. Their findings indicate that the model we propose–where schools voluntarily opt into a comprehensive local re-design process with a qualified turnaround partner–is far more successful than ”old-world” models. 

Click here to see their findings and case studies of high schools.

WestEd recently published a report titled, “Rethinking High School,” which contains several case studies of high schools that were struggling but are making remarkable progress.