Initiatives
Transatlantic School Innovation Alliance
UK & US Educators Launch Transatlantic School Innovation Alliance
Education organisations in the United States and the Department for Children, Schools and Families in England have formed a partnership designed to develop a network of schools in London and New York City.
The goal is to incorporate the best thinking about urban education systems to create demonstrably better outcomes for students, parents and communities, according to Robert Hughes, the President of New Visions for Public Schools, a New York City-based education organisation that is co-directing the Alliance in the United States, along with the Annenberg Institute for School Reform at Brown University and Mike Gibbons, Lead Director for the Innovation Unit funded by the Department for Education and Skills in London.
“Schools in the United States and the United Kingdom share common problems. They also each have ideas about what works to help urban children succeed,” Hughes said. “By bringing people together from both countries, we can create a transatlantic ‘school system’ that can do what each country, separately, might not be able to do.”
In its initial phase, the Transatlantic School Innovation Alliance (TSIA) has linked two schools: Marble Hill School for International Studies in the Bronx, New York, and Bow School in Tower Hamlets, London. Teachers from the two schools have been jointly planning and co-creating a common scheme of work and lessons for students. The first lesson took place last week; the teachers plan additional lessons throughout the year.
As part of International Education Week, students from both schools are participating in a videoconference today to begin a discussion of how Student Voice can inform the ongoing work of the partnership. The videoconference is being sponsored by Lehman Brothers and aired from their European Headquarters in London and their World Headquarters in New York City.
Next year, the Alliance plans to link two newly created schools to foster bolder and more innovative approaches to school and system reinvention. Over time, the Alliance also plans to create a space for learning, planning and sharing best practice that can become the Virtual School for Alliance members as well as create a wider international network of participating schools.
- An important shared priority is to develop strong curricula and extended learning supports that motivate students to engage in post-secondary learning and the world of work, in addition to taking on civic responsibilities within their own community and in the virtual learning space.
“Every Child Matters” and “No City Left Behind”
- TSIA is the product of a series of conferences held in 2004 and 2005 in the U.S. and the U.K. known as “No City Left Behind”. The conferences brought together practitioners and university researchers from both countries to explore issues of common interest and to seek possible solutions.
- “London and New York face similar challenges,” said Mike Gibbons, Lead Director of the Innovation Unit funded by England’s Department for Education and Skills. “They both have ethnically diverse populations with a large number of first languages spoken. Both cities have high levels of poverty next to areas of extreme wealth. And both cities strive to find innovative ways to invest in education to improve achievement and contribute to long-term economic wealth”.
- The over-arching idea that emerged from the conferences was to establish schools in London and New York that would develop in parallel and share key features. In early 2006, the lead organisations selected the initial schools to participate in the “twinning” phase of the project to prototype the ideas being generated and began planning and preparing professional development exchanges for educators from both countries.
To help ensure that the Alliance contributes to educational improvement in both countries, the lead organisations are committed to documenting the work over time and engaging an independent evaluation. Findings from the documentation and evaluation efforts will be disseminated widely.
“Our goal is not just to create great schools,” said Warren Simmons, the executive director of the Annenberg Institute. “We intend for these schools to inform the work of their local education agencies and communities so that they can better support all schools. And ultimately, we can share our knowledge more broadly, so that millions of students can benefit from what the TSIA is doing.”
TSIA is supported by the Annenberg Foundation. For more information, visit www.annenberginstitute.org/TSIA.
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