“Are you with me now” A J Ryder
A little bit of this and a little bit of that – Carlos Santana
My time at the XQ/Carnegie Exchange was spent doing lots of listening to large group presentations and also having lots of 1:1’s. There were loads of influential speakers like Frank Luntz and Dr. Michael Lomax. Many speakers came at issues around the elimination of the Carnegie Unit from different perspectives i.e. from systems and community perspectives. I loved Dr. Lomax’s storytelling about the Rosenwald School Project that built more than 5,000 schools, shops and teacher homes in the South for and with African American communities. When we first started The Met, I researched the Rosenwald Schools because they were small schools that through community participation were built and scaled across the South. These schools educated hundreds of thousands of Black children in the segregated South. For me, this was an example of getting to scale, not as a systemic top-down approach but one that arose from communities. My bet is that few people know about this history.
For me, some of the highlights were the times away from the major events of the conference. It was here I met with old friends like Yee-Ann Chou and Harry Feder, both of whom I hadn’t seen in a very long time. It was great to catch up and reconnect. In the evening, the entire conference went for dinner at the Museum of African American History and Culture where I sat with Mike Sellemme and Ashanti Branch. Mike is at Latitude High School in Oakland doing LTI work and Ashanit is head of the non-profit Forever Forward. Not only was the Soul Food great (and vegetarian) but another highlight of the conference was a special performance of This Ghost of Slavery, written and performed solo by Anna Deavere Smith. She was accompanied by two musicians Joshua Roman, Zane Rodulfo on drums and cello. “The story, which combines Anna’s signature interview-based documentary theater with deep archival research, is set on a college campus and moves between the 1860s and the present day, exploring life in post-emancipation Maryland.” It was amazing how Anna Deavere Smith went in and out of character after character transforming her whole being to assume the different roles. After the play Russlyn Ali, CEO of XQ Institute interviewed Anna about the performance and the play.
The next morning Viv White, Co-director of BPL Australia emailed me an article done by Dean Ashenden. Dean is a well-known author and journalist from Australia. The Fall of the Meritocracy is his response to the David Brooks’ article in Atlantic - How the Ivy League Broke America – the meritocracy isn’t working we need something new. At the end of the piece is a shout out to the IBPLC as a game changer in how to deal with student measurement going forward. I’m hoping we get lots of traction from Dean’s piece. And, just by coincidence, David Brooks was on the docket in a plenary. Hmmm?
BPL Leadership Summit - Denver
Below is a summary of how participants at the History of BPL Workshop at the Leadership Summit believed what is next for us. There’s lots of ideas that match up to what many are already thinking about.
BPL Sankofa workshop – What’s next?
New Learning spaces
Move into learning spaces outside the traditional system
Home school COP/Upstream
Beyond geography/conventional school options
IBPLC
Rethink standardized testing, grades, seat-time Carnegie Unit
Presentation of skills connected to jobs, internships and shadows – stackable credential and paid.
Question a learning system with a diploma as the endpoint
AI driven B-Unbound for all ages and with the IBPLC at the end
Programming around students and families who are undocumented to get access to post-secondary
Scale BPL k-8 initiative
k-12 BPL
Research
Longitudinal data
Alumni mentor/Ambassador
Certifications
Advisor Training program with credential
Push in/out conventional teacher training through College Unbound
LTIC credential program
Support education in prison and transition and beyond
ImBlaze/B-U
ImBlaze – “Waze app” where learners can connect around their learning pathway and assist or share hazards along the way – Share solutions to those that might feel stuck and need to re-route their journey
National LTI Network –
AI student learning – digital literacy
How will driver less cars open up learning opportunities beyond geography
Disrupt system – CTE – Perkins school choice, legislatures, school bonds, academics, parent choice, educator stories, federal
Multi-generational learning – elder-young people engaging together in both direction
International
Bigger BPL international
Connecting to local, national and international cooperative organizations i.e. Jackson <Mississippi and Mondragon Spain
Miscellaneous
How can schools make their own money?
Respond more directly to climate change and the challenges states will face and how BPL can help
Hand-mind – no screens, tools, paper, handwriting
BPL becomes the norm for all schools not an alternative
I was walking a long a street in San Diego and spotted a London Taxi. On the grill was LTI. London Taxi International is the name of the manufacturer.
Next week, I’ll be in Los Angeles following up with new industry connections for Harbor Freight Fellows with Andrea. Last week, Charlie, Andrea, Dean and Bob spent lots of time on this important work as well.
Be well!
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