Recommendation to Refresh and Replace Strategic Plan Pillar - Westport Public Schools - 2024 PDF

WESTPORT PUBLIC SCHOOLS THOMAS SCARICE 110 Myrtle Avenue Superintendent of Schools Westport, Connecticut 06880...

WESTPORT PUBLIC SCHOOLS THOMAS SCARICE 110 Myrtle Avenue Superintendent of Schools Westport, Connecticut 06880 Telephone: (203) 341-1025 Fax: (203) 341-1029 [email protected] To: Westport Board of Education Members From: Thomas Scarice, Superintendent of Schools Re: Recommendation to Refresh and Replace Strategic Plan Pillar Date December 19, 2024 Purpose of this Memorandum In this memorandum to the Board, I will make a strong recommendation to refresh and replace the Collaborative Problem Solving pillar of the strategic plan with a new and enduring focus. I recommend that the district embrace a bold and transformative vision to: Harness the exponential power of artificial intelligence and position the Westport Public Schools as a national leader in public education's AI revolution, encompassing every facet of our work—from powerful and innovative student-facing teaching and learning experiences to optimizing district operations, driving efficiencies and high performance across all functions. This is not merely an opportunity; it is both the responsibility and privilege of the Westport Public Schools to set the standard, to lead with courage and clarity, and to redefine what is possible in public education. By forging deep partnerships with extraordinary experts in our community and leveraging the prodigious potential of generative AI, the Westport Public Schools can seize this moment to establish itself as the model of excellence in public schooling in the age of AI. In addition, in this memorandum I will provide the following: 1. The evolution of the current strategic plan ○ beginning with the process, culminating with a presentation to the Board in January 2022 2. The drivers in selecting the original two pillars ○ Student Well-Being and Collaborative Problem Solving 3. Rationale supporting this strategic redirection - “This is The Moment We’ve Been Bracing For” ○ recognizing that generative AI is not just a generational revolution, but an AI system unlike anything society has ever experienced, one that learns and forms new and original content, text, visuals, images, music, audio, videos, etc. ○ AI is a transformative, or epochal, revolution, one that will reshape the structure of society and influence humanity for centuries to come. Evolution of Current District Strategic Plan Current District Strategic Plan The district Strategic Plan is grounded in two primary pillars with seven strategic objectives. The two primary pillars are: Student Well-Being Collaborative Problem Solving The Board was presented with the first part of an update on the Student Well-Being pillar on October 10. This included updates on the following strategic objectives:  #3: Excel in Explicit Instruction of Social/Emotional Capacities #4: Elevate Student Voice and Engagement. On December 19, the Board will be provided with an update on the progress, or lack thereof, for the following strategic objectives within the Student Well-Being pillar: #1: Establish the WPS “Center for Leadership Development” #2: Stimulate Growth Mindset Belief Systems in All Students The other pillar is grounded in Collaborative Problem Solving and involves the following strategic objectives: #5: Anchor the Curriculum with Collaborative Problem-Solving Cornerstone Tasks #6: Integrate Iterative Problem-Solving Processes Into Curriculum #7: Revitalize Learning Spaces It is the Collaborative Problem Solving pillar that I will recommend to refresh and replace. Evolution of the Strategic Planning Process The district’s strategic planning process began ambitiously in the summer of 2021. As the world continued to confront Covid-19, mitigation strategies consumed the majority of our time and energy as administrators and educational leaders. Yet, the district found a way to carve out a vision for the future. To that end, the district hosted two “futurists” (Dr. Mitch Weiss, Professor of Management Practice at the Harvard Business School, and Christopher Bishop, TEDx Speaker and Workplace Futurist) for socially distanced keynote addresses in the fall of 2021. These events followed meetings that I held in small groups with faculty, parents, and students across all 8 schools in the spring of 2021 to gather perceptions and better understand our collective aspirations. Finally, a Core Planning Team of educators across departments and grade levels partnered with educational consultant Judith Wilson in the fall and early winter of 2021 to digest and analyze this information, along with their own study of trends in work and citizenship, culminating with a final draft strategic plan. The original essential questions driving this work included the following: To what extent are we preparing our students for the true challenges of work and citizenship that they will confront as young adults? What are the consequences for students, and our society, if our students are unable to meet these challenges as a result of not transforming our current practice? How can our schools justify much of what we do? These questions remain as relevant today as they did three years ago when first developed. The first draft report in its final form was presented to the Board in January 2022. It has been three years and a great deal has changed in our world. Most of the work in the plan remains timeless, particularly in the Student Well-Being pillar. Yet, certain strategic objectives warrant a refresh. Drivers in Selecting The Original Two Pillars: Student Well-Being and Collaborative Problem Solving Student Well-Being At the time of the initial development of the plan there was an acute concern for the mental health of our students. The Covid-19 pandemic had disrupted lives, increasing isolation and compromising the social and emotional development of many students. Patterns of compromised student well-being emerged years before the pandemic, but only accelerated during this time. Additionally, focus group feedback and surveys identified student well-being and social emotional learning as priorities in preparing our students for the worlds of work and citizenship that they will confront as young adults. It became apparent that a “Student Well-Being” focus would not only address the immediate concerns in the midst of the pandemic, but also serve as assets in preparing students for their futures as young adults.  In the final analysis, with this broad faculty, parent, and student feedback, there was deep conviction among the Core Planning Team that this pillar was the “right” work to pursue, for that moment and beyond. Collaborative Problem Solving Over the course of analyzing focus group and survey feedback, and scanning the horizon, the Core Planning Team sought to identify student skills and capacities that would transcend academic content, preparing students for the worlds of work and citizenship as young adults. The team considered a number of areas of focus, ultimately recommending a focus on Collaborative Problem Solving and iterative problem solving processes, such as design thinking. Within this pillar the team also included a strategic objective related to facilities and learning spaces. Why Did This Pillar Stall? To no fault of the faculty and administrators charged with advancing this work, unlike the Student Well-Being pillar, this pillar stalled. In my analysis, progress in this pillar suffered for a number of reasons. First, as Board members warned following the strategic planning presentation in January 2022, although all of the proposed work in both pillars is worthy, the scope was daunting, especially with other district work related to facilities (i.e. CIP, LLS, redistricting, etc.), academic initiatives (i.e. program evaluations, early literacy program, new courses, etc.), the Equity Study Action Plans, etc. Clearly this caution proved to be prescient as this pillar was more than the district team could deliver. Secondly, I believe that the development of this pillar was just a year or two premature. There are elements to the Collaborative Problem Solving pillar that continue to resonate, and will be incorporated into a strategic vision for AI. Collaborative Problem Solving is an essential part of using generative AI effectively. Generative AI is not a replacement for human expertise and creativity but a complement to them. Collaboration ensures that AI is applied purposefully, ethically, and innovatively in problem-solving processes. However, I believe that a strategic vision for generative AI is best to anchor the system, with Collaborative Problem Solving skill development in service to that larger vision. Finally, there are “forced fits” in this pillar as the team attempted to honor the comprehensive facilities work across the system, and the remote learning experiences of the pandemic, by including strategic objective #7, “Revitalize Learning Spaces”. Rationale Supporting This Strategic Redirection: “This is The Moment We’ve Been Bracing For” In the early 2000s, the “21st Century Skills” movement began gaining traction. Driven by the realization that traditional “knowledge acquisition” education models (i.e. modern schools) were not adequately preparing students for the rapidly evolving demands of the globalized economy, organizations like the Partnership for 21st Century Skills (P21) began a movement, advocating for a shift in education to focus on skills that transcend academic content knowledge. These skills were often categorized in three main areas: 1. Learning and Innovation Skills: ○ the “4 C’s” (critical thinking, creativity, collaboration, and communication) 2. Digital Literacy Skills: ○ Information literacy, media literacy, and technology skills 3. Life and Career Skills: ○ Flexibility, adaptability, leadership, initiative, and social skills The goal of the “21st Century Skills” movement was to prepare students not just for college and careers, but also for lifelong learning and global citizenship in the 21st century. Ultimately, I believe that the movement was bracing for “the moment”, a transformative moment ushering in an epochal revolution, forever altering and reshaping the worlds of work and citizenship. Although the worlds of work and citizenship were heavily impacted by the advent of the internet, email, social media, search engines, smartphones, cloud computing, and e-commerce, nothing has, or will for the foreseeable future, profoundly disrupt and reshape the structure of society like generative AI. Two Forecasts From the Last 30 Years Clayton Christensen and the Theory of Disruption In the mid-1990s, Harvard Business School Professor, and business consultant, Clayton Christensen, developed the theory of disruptive innovation, culminating in his 1997 book “The Innovator's Dilemma”. In short, Christensen contends that as disruptive technologies incrementally improve over time, they eventually reach the mainstream, redefining industry standards and displacing incumbents in the market. Generative AI started with limited capabilities (e.g., simple text or image generation), targeting niche or low-value tasks (e.g., brainstorming, draft writing). However, with wide access and an unprecedented pace of improvement, rapidly expanding into more complex tasks (e.g., legal drafting, customer service, personalized education), generative AI has disrupted industries reliant on human creativity and routine knowledge work, quickly becoming mainstream in the process. As a result, generative AI has reached mainstream industries and personal affairs at an exponential rate, with most in the mainstream unaware of precisely how far it has come, and how its reach will further disrupt, transform, and reshape societal structures and ultimately, humanity. Dancing with Robots - Levy and Murnane (2013) On July 17, 2013, MIT Professor Frank Levy, and Harvard Professor Richard Murnane, published the provocative article, “Dancing with Robots: Human Skills for Computerized Work”. In full disclosure, in an effort to be forward-thinking I shared this article with my leadership team in my previous district at that time. Although some elements are now dated, the primary premise remains. In order to serve future generations, Levy and Murnane implore schools to shift education to foster “non-automatable” skills by emphasizing the human-centric capabilities in the future of work. To support their premise, Levy and Murnane point out that automation, through computers and robots, is best served at tasks requiring routine skills, both manual (e.g., manufacturing) and cognitive (e.g., data processing). They maintained that jobs that require adaptability, problem-solving, and interpersonal skills are harder to automate and will dominate the future workforce. They further posited that essential human skills, such as critical thinking (i.e. the ability to solve new problems that cannot be explicitly solved by following rules), and complex communication (i.e. the ability to exchange information and ideas effectively, requiring nuance and responsiveness) will dominate the future workforce. Again, a provocative theory, but very dated in the age of generative AI. Their forecast was compelling, and somewhat accurate, but in the modern world, generative AI can, and very effectively, perform many of the tasks Levy and Murnane identified as essential human skills. This seismic shift has consequential implications for not only “what” we teach, but “how” we teach, and “how” schools will conduct learning activities to maximize learning and prepare all students to “dance with AI”, today as students, and in the future as young adults. Recent Workforce Studies Among the most recent studies assessing the current impact of generative AI in the workforce, and forecasts for the future, I found these two most compelling. Both point to significantly increased use over the last 6 months to a year, and both expect this rate to increase, even exponentially, as AI systems mature, learn, and develop. That said, I believe there is great reason for excitement, and less for fear. Below are relevant highlights of these studies, along with links to the full reports: Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania: “Growing Up: Navigating GenAIs Early Years On October 21, 2024, in collaboration with the GBK Collective, the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania released the report, “Growing Up: Navigating GenAIs Early Years”.  Gen AI surged in one year, with 72% of decision-makers reporting uses of Gen AI once a week in 2024, compared to 37% in 2023 Increases are pronounced in the functional areas that lagged last year, including marketing, operations, and human resources Greater experimentation has shifted sentiment, with more decision-makers feeling “pleased,” “excited,” and “optimistic,” and less “amazed,” “curious,” and “skeptical” Negative perceptions are also softening slightly, as decision-makers see more promise in Gen AI’s ability to enhance jobs without replacing employees The top concerns cited by leaders continue to be accuracy or bias, data privacy, team integration, and ethical issues (though intensity of these barriers has slightly softened from last year) 2024 Work Trend Index Annual Report from Microsoft and LinkedIn On May 8, 2024,the “2024 Work Trend Index Annual Report from Microsoft and LinkedIn: AI at Work Is Here. Now Comes the Hard Part” was released. The executive report revealed three major findings: 1. Employees want AI at work—and won’t wait for companies to catch up: They’re bringing their own tools even as leaders face AI inertia ○ 75% of knowledge workers around the world use generative AI at work ○ 78% of AI users are bringing their own AI to work (BYOAI) ○ 79% of leaders believe their company needs to adopt AI to stay competitive ○ 60% of leaders worry their organization’s leadership lacks a plan and vision to implement it ○ BYOAI is not just for Gen Z, employees across every age group are bringing their own AI tools to work (85% Gen Z, 73% Boomers) 2. For employees, AI raises the bar and breaks the career ceiling: Some are itching for a career change, and there is a massive opportunity for those willing to skill up on AI ○ 66% of leaders say they would not hire someone without AI skills ○ 71% say they’d rather hire a less experienced candidate with AI skills than a more experienced candidate without ○ There was a 142x increase in skills like Copilot and ChatGPT added to LinkedIn profiles last year 3. The rise of the AI power user—and what they reveal about the future: Power users use AI at least several times per week. They say it saves them more than 30 minutes per day ○ Frequently experimenting with AI is the #1 predictor of an AI power user ○ Power users say AI boosts their creativity (92%) and helps them focus on the most important work (93%) ○ AI also helps them feel more motivated (91%) and enjoy work more (91%) Generative AI use in the workforce has doubled in less than one year. Its use transcends age groups from Gen Z to Boomers. 66% of leaders say they would not hire someone without AI skills, while 71% say they’d rather hire a less experienced candidate with AI skills than a more experienced candidate without. The democratization of information became unbridled with the rise of the internet. Generative AI stands to exploit this phenomenon, catapulting performance of individuals across wide ranging demographics. This is the moment we have been bracing for. This is the moment that P21, Clayton Christensen, Levy and Murnane, and countless other tech and educational visionaries forecasted. The moment is now. However, while we are preparing for the future, one that has likely already arrived, we must simultaneously confront the present day in our classrooms. Current Challenges Agility and dexterity are not skills native to public school systems. Largely bureaucratic and monolithic, local public school systems are governed in a deliberate manner, which serves as both a strength and weakness. When faced with transformative moments, and in the modern world these moments have multiplied, public schools struggle with responsiveness. Today, generative AI tools are readily accessible to our students and faculty. They are currently being used by students  and faculty. Yet, as a system, we are static, waiting for an overarching strategy. Our current policies, as minimal as can be, are rigid and obsolete. The current state of business in our classrooms with regards to generative AI is categorically unfair to our faculty and students. In contrast to the workforce findings above, precisely where students will be entering in a matter of years, what is considered efficiency in the workplace, is considered cheating in the classroom. A healthy measure of reconciliation between these two must evolve. That said, there is a great deal to decide. This will take time. Guardrails will be needed to ensure that academic, and perhaps most importantly, thinking skills, are authentically taught, assessed, and mastered. Yet, it is time to come off the sidelines. It is time to not just join public education's AI revolution, but lead with clarity and conviction. This will not only help mitigate our current challenges, but distinguish the Westport Public Schools as a peerless leader in the revolution that will define the current era and beyond for the foreseeable future. Is a Trailblazing Strategic Vision for AI Inconsistent with the Recommendation to Ban Smartphones in Our Schools? In a word, no. Generative AI represents a powerful, intentional tool for learning, creativity, and productivity. Smartphones, by contrast, are often sources of distraction, reducing students’ ability to focus and engage deeply in academic tasks. By banning smartphones, we create an environment where technology is used with intention, emphasizing tools within AI for structured, meaningful purposes rather than passive consumption. It minimizes distractions that hinder academic performance and social development, particularly in an age where attention is a critical skill. Effective and appropriate use of generative AI actually requires students to think critically, engage creatively, and collaborate effectively—skills that demand focus and intentionality. Eliminating smartphone distractions helps students build the deep focus necessary to maximize AI’s potential in the classroom. Structured use of AI within lessons can help students develop ethical, practical, and creative skills, enhancing their readiness for college and careers. A strategic vision for generative AI is about empowering students to lead in a world transformed by technology. Banning smartphones reflects a commitment to ensuring that our classrooms are spaces for deliberate learning and innovation, not fragmented by constant interruptions. Banning smartphones sends a strong message: we value the purposeful integration of technology and believe that meaningful engagement with tools like AI is incompatible with the persistent distractions of smartphone use. Targeted smartphone use can be an effective tool in the learning environment. Operations that support teacher discretion in smartphone use could serve students well. A smartphone ban and a bold generative AI vision are not contradictory; they are complementary. The ban ensures that our classrooms remain focused spaces where technology enhances, rather than detracts from, learning. My Recommendation Our district stands at the threshold of an unprecedented opportunity to lead in the age of artificial intelligence. I recommend that the district refresh and replace the Collaborative Problem Solving pillar of the strategic plan with a new and enduring focus, one that harnesses the exponential power of AI across the entire system, including teaching and learning, finance, facilities, security, transportation, human resources, etc. By integrating AI across every department—from the classroom to the boardroom—we will transform not only how we educate but also how we operate. The vision is clear: we will harness the power of AI to personalize learning, streamline operations, increase efficiencies, and elevate student outcomes. Board Endorsement We are at our best when we aim high. With enthusiastic Board endorsement, I will immediately begin the process of developing the details of a clear and compelling generative AI strategic vision, with measurable actions. By convening faculty members interested in this work, and partnering with our extraordinary community talent, we can begin the process of harvesting the best of the current Collaborative Problem Solving pillar, and engaging all facets of the system to usher in a bold and exciting new era for the Westport Public Schools. Every student will be equipped with the critical thinking, problem-solving, and AI literacy skills essential for the classroom of today, and the workforce of the future. Every department will adopt AI-driven efficiencies to ensure that we are maximizing resources and focusing on our core mission: empowering all students for success. Together, we will position our district as the preeminent beacon of educational innovation, with AI as a cornerstone of our strategy.