KEY QUALITIES OF THE 3 R’S IN ADULT LEARNING

Relationships

• Teachers know colleagues so well that learning opportunities can be tailored to the needs of each teacher.
• Teachers model integrity and open-mindedness for their colleagues.
• Teachers trust their colleagues so well that they grant them the moral authority to challenge them.
• Teachers are committed to their own success, as well as that of their peers.

Relevance

• Instruction is inherently meaningful and engages teachers in multiple domains.
• The learning community values and welcomes the diversity of each teacher into the life of the classroom and its community.
• Learning activities develop within each teacher the habits and curiosity associated with lifelong learning.
• Assessments are meaningful to teachers and offer them insights into their own learning.

Rigor

• Instruction is grounded in content that is complex, ambiguous, provocative, and emotionally or personally challenging.
• Teachers are engaged in active participation, exploration, and research.
• Teachers set learning goals for themselves and monitor progress toward academic excellence.
• Teachers develop resilience, flexibility, and confidence by facing academic challenges and temporary classroom setbacks that are opportunities for deeper learning (Karschney & Squires, 2005).

The project

The Small Schools Project, part of the Coalition of Essential Schools Northwest, provides technical assistance to new small high schools and conversion schools.
Resources include school and district coaching, professional development activities for educators and administrators, publications, and the web site, www.smallschoolsproject.org.
At the web site you can also find the study described in this article, entitled “Adult Learning: Turning the Corner to Instructional Change.”

An instructional framework is:

1. A construct about teaching and learning that guides decisions inside and outside the classroom;
2. An overarching theory of teaching and learning that provides guidelines/key areas of focus for what is important; and
3. A guide for practice, not a teaching recipe (Marzolf, 2005).

Qualities of distributed leadership

1. Leadership is shared among people in different roles.
2. Leadership is situational rather than hierarchical.
3. Authority is based upon expertise, rather than formal position (Wallach, Lambert, Copland, & Lowry, 2005).

Professional communities

Professional communities are groups of teachers, teacher leaders, and other professionals working together in redesigned small high schools who:

1. Work toward having a collective focus on student and adult learning;
2. Share common norms, values, and goals that are evident in their work with each other and in their classroom practice; and
3. Have sufficient time and structures available to build collaborative relationships and interdependence (Wallach & Gallucci, 2004).