Let me tell you about the fifth-grade students at Boze Elementary School in Tacoma. They spend the entire school year planning to colonize the planet Alpha Centauri to preserve future generations. They will get there on a multigenerational spacecraft so that the grandkids of the people on the ship will arrive at Alpha Centauri, ready to start a new civilization.
Now projects like these usually start with a guiding question, and theirs is "How do you sustain life for a generation on a spacecraft?" These 10-year-olds get into initial conversations about governance on the spacecraft, the necessities to have on board. Is it even ethical to have a generation live and die on a spacecraft? And what roles are needed to create a functioning community? There are some whispers and some head nods as the teacher explains to them that this quarter, they're expected to deliver a persuasive essay, a 30-second elevator speech, a model of a section of the spacecraft in diorama form, a system of government with laws and a constitution, and a research display demonstrating their knowledge of planets. That's a lot.
(Laughter)
But these students aren't fazed, they'd been here before. What they're interested in is what group they'll be in and what roles they will play.
Now I don't know about you, but when I was in fifth grade, I wasn't doing that.
(Laughter)
But for many of these students, they have been learning like this since kindergarten. You heard that right, kindergarten. Shoot, when I was in fifth grade ... we sat in cemetery rows in academically segregated classrooms, and sadly, things have not changed. In most schools, students are sitting, listening to the teacher, and many of them scared to death they'll get called on to answer a question. And too often, students are totally deflated, because the teacher is spending more time on classroom management than engaging them. So these students and the generations behind them ... they are our talent pool for everything from community organizing to running business, to running government, and everything in between. And as it stands, our public education system is not cultivating future leaders. And in particular, students of color are constantly devalued and marginalized.
Regardless of background, students need to envision themselves as successful in life. And how teachers deliver the lessons plays a big role in that. The most common way to teach is through a textbook or a series of textbooks and a scripted curriculum. And then, let the test decide if the students learned anything. And while you get coverage, it leaves little room for student voice, exploration, intellectual rigor and academic risk-taking. This is schooling, not educating. And the long-term impact is that students likely won't have that autonomous spirit they need in the work environment. This is not what most teachers signed up for. It's not. I don't think there's a single teacher candidate that said, "I want to be a teacher so I can help kids pass standardized tests."
(Laughter)
(Applause)
Twenty-five years ago, I left my 17-year tech career and cofounded a nonprofit that prepared students of color for jobs in the tech industry. And over time, we learned about our students' experiences in the public education system, and we began to wonder what would happen if we rebuilt public schools to develop the genius in every student and give them the tools to be critical thinkers, problem solvers, ideators and leaders. So we got a bunch of educators to help us answer that question. Today, my job is to set the vision and strategy for how we partner with public schools to create collaborative, anti-racist learning environments grounded in equity, where students can actively participate in their own education, instead of memorizing for tests, where the curriculum is delivered in a way that supports the needs of our students. Where professionals in the community are invited to participate in teaching and learning.
The teaching and learning is built on interdisciplinary project-based learning. One of the most equitable ways to teach. This approach enables teachers to understand how each student learns, use multiple ways to assess their knowledge and then make instructional adjustments based on the results. You know, students, they get a chance to set their own goals. They have time to discuss the work. They take academic risks. And along the way, they get to discover who they are as learners.
And speaking of learners, let's take a visit to our fifth-grade Alpha Centaurians, and listen in as their teacher facilitates a discussion about how Native Americans live. They talk about the logistics and the preparation behind the colonizers' move out West, and how colonizers always had conflicts with Native Americans. And the students vow that they will do better on Alpha Centauri. They will ensure that everyone has equal rights and lives well. And you better believe it will be part of their constitution. And if you poke your head in the classroom next door, which is rather loud, you will see the kids are in their small groups, using their math skills to calculate the human capacity for their spacecraft. And another set of students will be working on their planet research. When we visit, a week or so later, there might be a visiting engineer talking to the students about design specifications. Or the classroom could be empty because the students are at the Museum of Flight, sitting in real spacecraft and learning how they work. Bringing that authentic context to learning helps students retain knowledge and generate new ideas.
After weeks and weeks of working on their projects and giving each other authentic, supportive feedback, and doing that fine-tuning, the students are ready for the big day -- the exhibition of learning. This is where hundreds of people from the community, the most important members being their parents and families, come to see the students present their work. The students are all dressed up. They're a little nervous, they're excited at the same time -- kind of like me right now.
(Laughter)
And the teachers are beaming with pride as they recognize how far each student has come in their learning journey. OK, and the parents? The parents are high-fiving, and "You get it, girl!" And "That's my baby," and "You go, boy." And there's just so much praise. And the students feel accomplished and more confident.
This is project-based learning in action. These students are developing the advanced critical thinking skills they will use throughout their lives. They are learning through exploration. There is confirmation their unique voice matters. These students have the freedom to create a world, with their ten-year-old imaginations, that's actually grounded in academic rigor. This is educating ... versus schooling. Yeah?
(Cheers and applause)
There is teacher support, diverse interactions ... team-building and practical application of reading, writing, math and science. An environment where real learning is happening, and students are discovering their own genius. Plus, I have to say, it's just a lot of fun to learn this way.
(Laughter)
Students who attend our partner schools ... learn this way in every single stage of their academic career. Starting in kindergarten, students are encouraged to share their views, to ask questions and support each other. They are creating a community and an environment that is safe and their own. In middle school, the students are starting to become socially aware. They care about things like world hunger, immigration and homelessness.
One year, the seventh-graders at TAF at Saghalie in Federal Way turned their classrooms into an immigration museum exploring the historic and contemporary issues of immigration. And the sixth-graders use food to learn about each other's cultures. They created cookbooks with recipes and stories from their countries of origin. And then on exhibition night, they cooked for everybody, and it was actually pretty good.
(Laughter)
By the time students get to high school, they have enough experience that they can address a wide range of issues and opportunities. A group of 10th-graders created wearable technology that detected the flare-up signs in sickle-cell anemia. Experiencing gentrification in their own neighborhoods, 11th-graders created plans and models for equitable, financially sustainable urban neighborhoods. The list goes on and on. This ... This is how we develop the strong, the strong leaders and critical thinkers of tomorrow. Our students deserve to learn in an environment that includes and understands their unique voice, their individual genius. If we are going to rebuild public education, we have to be on a continuous cycle of recognizing, intentionally undoing, and, ultimately, replacing the institutional practices that undereducate and harm our children.
And there are a couple of things that we can do right now. We could reallocate the tens of millions of dollars each state spends on standardized tests every year.
(Applause)
Alright.
(Applause)
And we can invest the majority of that in teacher professional development so that our teachers can continually hone their instructional and assessment skills. And then, we could take the rest and invest it in a national effort to curate authentic assessment methods and projects from teachers all over the country. I believe that this will bring joy and respect back to teaching. We also need to embed racial equity in the DNA of how we operate schools.
(Applause)
Achieving racial equity is a journey that requires dedication, consistency and accountability. It needs to be normalized as part of the daily practice of principals, administrators, teachers and staff.
We can do this. We can. All it takes is political will. Education either functions as an instrument to bring about conformity or freedom. Let’s give our children freedom.
Thank you.
(Cheers and applause)
