I thought I would mention one last session from the NSBA conference because it captured many of the key ideas pertaining to high school organization and design. Part 1:

Here are some of the "17 Principles for Teaching the Digital Generation" that were part of Frank Kelly's presentation, “No More Cookie Cutter High Schools”. The ones that you've heard before are worth repeating.

Learning must prepare students for a world of constant change. This might seem obvious and somewhat clichéd, but there are important implications for education, such as:

Learning must focus on 21st century thinking skills.

Learning must include 21st century fluency skills. This encompasses a number of areas, such as:

• Speaking & Listening Skills, which include the ability to speak a foreign language; non-verbal communication skills; public speaking; as well as active listening and the ability to change one’s mind.
• Reading & Writing Skills include the ability to read fiction and non-fiction for meaning; to understand & apply the principles of graphical design; the ability to read technical material manuals - as well as write technically. (There will always be jobs for people who can write comprehensible instructions.)
• Information Skills refer to the ability to analyze the context of information in order to discern its veracity, accuracy and usefulness; the ability to ask good questions; the ability to recognize and organize information needs (that is, what is and isn’t known); and the ability to shape & distribute information in ways that make it understandable and useful to others.

(An editorial aside: In my humble opinion, Pennsylvania will have entered the 21st century when these competencies are measured by the Keystone exams.) Which is a nice segue to:

Assessments must encompass both knowledge skills and higher order thinking skills. This goes to the heart of the accountability issue: that is, are we measuring the things that are important, or just those things that are easy to measure? Fortunately, some pretty good assessment tools are being developed to measure these higher-order skills.

Learning must be connected to the outside world. (An idea that relates directly to the Service-Learning model.)