Citizenship remains goal of Center for Ed. Renewal

By Steve Hill
University Week

When Paul Heckman talks about his priorities for the UW’s Center for Educational Renewal, one unlikely word always seems to come up - ecology.

No, Heckman isn’t turning his Miller Hall office into a science lab. Rather, the first-year Center director is using the term to describe all the various elements that affect learning within a neighborhood. He’s interested in everything from schools, teachers, students and parents to neighbors and neighborhood merchants. Specifically, he wants to know how all those constituents in an economically poor neighborhood can come together to improve children’s education and, ultimately, life in the area.

“Our idea is to connect school, after-school and neighborhood, creating what John (Goodlad, who along with Roger Soder and Ken Sirotnik founded the center in 1985,) calls a vibrant educational ecology,” said Heckman, who came to the UW from the University of Arizona.

That vibrant educational ecology includes a curriculum that tackles issues affecting the neighborhood surrounding the school. It might include after-school programs for students, their parents and neighborhood residents. And there’s a component of political activism. In short, it’s based on the same theory of educating for citizenship that Goodlad and Soder, who together directed the Center for the last six years, continue to espouse.

That duo no longer directs the Center, but remains actively involved. In fact they made significant contributions to two books set for release later this month. Heckman, who earned his Ph.D. under Goodlad’s tutelage at UCLA, brings a similar approach to education.

“I appreciate this opportunity,” said Heckman, who took over the directorship last fall. “I was one of John’s doctoral students and I’ve always felt I learned a lot from him. I’ll always be indebted for all that he taught me and the encouragement he has given.”

Now that Heckman is directing the Center, it will begin to take on a slightly different look. But not to worry, according to Soder. The underlying theme - the simultaneous renewal of teachers and schools - remains the same. Likewise, the goal of creating a more thoughtful and engaged citizenry prepared to participate in a democracy remains the same.

“It’s just a different entry point, really,” Soder said. “We’re still concerned with the same things.”

In fact, Heckman’s approach is a direct result of some earlier collaborations with Goodlad. Heckman was a key part in the development of a national network of partnerships between universities and colleges and public school districts. He helped begin a partnership between the University of Southern Maine and the Portland, Maine public schools and one in Los Angeles between UCLA, the public schools and local community colleges. Today the National Network for Educational Renewal includes 17 such partnerships and helps give perspective to both, K-12 educators and academics alike.

“Schools and universities are very different places,” Heckman said. “There’s a very different ethos that governs each. Schools are so-called very practical places. Some people call it an ethic of practicality. Universities are more prone to ask what we think about what we’re doing. That doesn’t mean they’re impractical. They’re just different.”

The partnerships have benefited the universities and the public schools alike.

“It benefits us because only when you try things out in practice can you see if it makes any sense or not,” Soder said. “When we do get into a classroom and say, ‘Here’s how we ought to do so and so,’ we’ll suddenly realize we forgot a major component. There’s nothing like the real world to humble yourself.”

It benefits the public schools in a number of ways too, according to Soder. Perhaps the biggest benefit is in terms of money. The Center helps direct hundreds of thousands of grant dollars to network members. Finally, it helps in terms of intellectual support. Network members often will communicate among themselves about different approaches to education.

“They learn from one another,” Soder said.

The success of the network contributed, in part, to the national reputation of the Center. In fact, it’s arguably better known on a national scale than it is on the UW campus. Between the Center and the closely affiliated nonprofit Institute for Educational Inquiry, about 20 books, 50 book chapters and a slew of journal articles and other publications have been written over the years. Now Heckman hopes to get some work done closer to home.

“It’s my hope that here in Seattle I’ll be able to find at least one or two schools and neighborhoods where people might want to take on something like this,” Heckman said, in reference to creating that vibrant ecology.

He’s already at work meeting people and trying to develop an understanding of local issues. But Seattle isn’t so different from other school districts in the nation. The amount of time children spend in formal schooling, for example, is a virtual constant. Heckman said it makes up just 12 percent of a person’s life between the ages of 5 and 18. By contrast, children between 5 and 18 spend about 33 percent of their time asleep.

“That leaves 55 percent of child’s day and year unschooled. The trick would be to figure out how we could take advantage of that time. Then, if we add after-school and school, you end up with an amount of time that if we really rethought it, we could very powerfully impact children - especially those who are economically poor.”