Flip the System: Designing a Sustainable System of Professional Learning in Times of Austerity

Session 6

Paul Tritter & Shakera Ford Walker — Boston Teachers Union

The Boston Teachers Union and Boston Public Schools are working together to create a sustainable system of professional learning that meets the needs of educators and students in their contexts. While systems that include intensive coaching are ideal and often the first thing educators say they need, systems are unable or unwilling to commit the resources necessary to provide sufficient coaching to all educators. Likewise, as district level departments work hard to protect their shrinking budgets, they often feel pressure to roll out system-wide programming that can demonstrate "results." In this conversation we will learn about the early rumblings of a "system-flip," where the needs are determined by educators in the field and district administrators play networking and collaborating functions to help those on the ground continuously innovate to solve the challenges in their contexts. The workshop will present several elements of the emerging design and ask participants to share their ideas, build out a model system, recommend successful existing models, and raise questions or concerns that need to be addressed.

Conversational Practice

We will likely use a modified charrette protocol. I will present the context as well as some of the existing design elements of the system and have participants create ideas and share conversation around what it might look like in practice.