It might be a bit of an understatement to say that Winston Churchill was not a fan of school during his early life. When he learned that he would be starting school as a child, he said, “I did what so many oppressed people have done in similar circumstances: I took to the woods.” Things in school did not improve for him for some time. He later suggested that if he could have done something real, or meaningful, things might have been better for him. Then as Prime Minister, he said he was very supportive of schools; he just never wanted to go back to them.
Image from Flickr Creative Commons https://flic.kr/p/HVehEN
As someone who also struggled with school early on, I can relate to some of what Mr. Churchill said. I don’t think anyone ever intended for people to walk away from schools feeling frustrated. However, his story prompted me to think about what an effective secondary school looks like for students. On a related note, we have a new book coming out in summer 2020 (we hope!) with Routledge Press that we think will help address how secondary schools can improve experiences for all students (and staff).
The first chapter of our book (with co-authors Lisa Caputo Love and Kelly Morrissey) describes factors that lead to effective schools. We also talk about some of the big ideas related to MTSS in secondary schools. Keeping with our theme of providing information efficiently, we are offering an infographic that covers some of the big ideas related to effective secondary schools and MTSS.
As you can see from this infographic, there are certainly more considerations for effective secondary schools and MTSS. However, we wanted to provide a brief overview of some of the key ideas that seem to help staff to think about school improvement/MTSS in secondary schools. These ideas may serve as talking points you can use with your team. You might have your community members review them and ask if they agree or disagree with any of the ideas. I think having a dialog about what an effective school looks like is a healthy way to begin developing goals for your school.
What would you add to this infographic? How could you use something like this infographic with your schools? Please leave a comment below!
Special thanks to Choobe Mammbo at Loyola University of Chicago for his work on the developing this infographic