Smart & Good High Schools - The Flippen Group

CHAPTER 5: Fostering the 8 Strengths of Character—Outcome 1In our own study, we saw many examples—includingsome of the 12 models listed above—of efforts to providea curriculum that is relevant, rigorous, and engaging.Here we describe just two and draw general lessons fromeach. The first curriculum was developed by a small, suburban,private school in the northeast; the second, by alarge, urban, public school on the west coast.A Core Works ProgramIn the small private school, we asked the headmaster—under whose leadership the school had received twonational awards—to explain his vision of an engagingschool. He said:You need three things happening at the same time:(1) teachers ready to teach; (2) students ready to learn; and(3) something important to teach. The something importantto teach is the curriculum—the essential understandings youwant students to acquire in any given class and in the programas a whole.“To have an engaging school, youneed three things: teachers ready toteach, students ready to learn, andsomething important to teach.”At the center of this school’s curriculum is its Core Worksprogram. A booklet on the program explains: “Our purposeis to teach the best that has been thought and saidin the world.” Its Core Works include “works of enduringsignificance, including great works of literature, worksfrom the visual arts and music, and documents andspeeches that inaugurate, define, or explain our nation’sinstitutions, or which record important historical eventsand processes.”The Core Works are selected by the faculty using four criteriadeveloped by the National Endowment for theHumanities:1. timelessness (judged important by thoughtful men andwomen over long periods of history)2. centrality (involves major themes)3. influence/importance (reaches beyond the discipline)4. originality (offers new vision).A key factor supporting this school’s implementation ofits Core Works curriculum is its strong professional ethicallearning community. Faculty at a given grade leveldevelop common lesson plans for each core work studied.They also study with national scholars each year so thattheir presentations of the texts will be at the highest levelof teaching and learning. The Core Works booklet states:“The school has budgeted sufficient funds so that facultyteams responsible for teaching a specific text or art piecewill have the opportunity to work with scholars or engagein other learning, such as traveling to Mississippi to aWilliam Faulkner seminar or working closely with expertsat the Metropolitan Museum of Art.”“Our purpose is to teach the bestthat has been thought and saidin the world.”These are the lessons we draw from this school’s curricularefforts:1. A visionary school leader provides a strong impetus fora quality curriculum.2. “Core works” contribute to a rich and rigorous curriculumwith strong potential for developing critical thinking.3. National criteria, such as those provided by the NationalEndowment of the Humanities, are helpful in selectingcore works.4. Having faculty choose the core works and then plantogether how to teach them is an excellent way tostrengthen the professional ethical learning community.5. Ongoing support for faculty development in teachingthe core works promotes high-quality implementation.PaideiaWhat if a school does not have the resources available tothe private school that provides such strong support forits Core Works program? In a large, urban multi-ethnicCalifornia public school that operates with much leanerresources, we nevertheless found an example of the threecrucial ingredients—passionate teachers, motivated students,and a rich curriculum—named by the Core Worksheadmaster as essential for an engaging school. We alsofound the personalized learning environment identifiedas essential by Engaging Schools.For the past 18 years in this urban school, Ms. W. and Ms.J. have teamed up to staff their Paideia program, recipientof two awards for excellence.89Smart & Good High Schools