School of the Future or Just the Present?

School of the Future, Philadelphia, PA

While clicking around the website, www.educationnext.org I came upon an interesting article about a school located in an urban Philadelphia neighborhood. The article, http://educationnext.org/high-school-2-0/ tells the story of a school, called School of Future, which was created with the help of the Microsoft Corporation to better prepare students, specifically urban students for learning and living in the 21st century. It was what the developers of the school envisioned as the "future" for education. However, it didn't turn out exactly how they saw it. Many students were not ready for the technology the school used, the change from books to computer based learning was difficult. Teachers struggled to educate students who were all over the board in levels of ability or spent the majority of class time instant messaging or playing video games. The school did not escape the scrutiny of The School District of Philadelphia and their need for student assessment. The School of the Future had to revamp its style of project based, interdisciplinary learning to incorporate time spent on standards based testing for measuring accountability. This is not to say that the students haven't benefited from the technology rich environment in which they learn, they have, but the scores on the standardized tests show that they are not performing any better than a student in a regular high school. This may be the School of the Future, but the students may not be ready to be a part of it just yet.

Students and Digital Learning

While looking at this article in terms of critical literacy, the author is looking to inform the reader how the integration of technology into the classroom in what may be the ideal way isn't always the best for the students. Labbo and Place (2010) say that technology can assist traditional book learning, which can help students begin to make the transition, "computer technology consists primarily of tools that should be used to enhance students' learning of traditional print-based content". They also point out that, "teachers who take the time to thoughtfully integrate computer technologies into the classroom are doing cutting-edge work in the field" (Labbo and Place 2010). It is not helpful to throw students into new technology blindly where they are left to flounder.

Digital Learning-
Is It Right for Everyone?

Also, Seglem and Witte (2009) mention that, "by teaching students how to critically read and view all, texts, not just the traditional print texts, teachers can build upon the skills needed to read and write, increasing students' literacy on all levels". The students that attend the School of Future are learning in one way, digitally, they are not being taught in the traditional way. This one way of learning will not always benefit students to learn effectively, ideally the school has envisioned that their way of learning be the most beneficial. However, this not going to be the case with students how are most familiar with traditional learning and have limited or no computer skills as one might find in a low income urban area, like where the school is located.