The biggest and
easiest change was
we purposefully and
explicitly identified
civic learning
practices in the
things we were
already doing.
dard letters to the principal about dress code
or other school-specific topics, we had stu-
dents research and write mock grant propos-
als to community organizations that would
affect change in policy and practice.
The easiest and most effective change is
to explicitly and purposefully call out civic
learning within your school community
and let people know you are facilitating the
students’ influence beyond the school. With
staff, students, and parents, align curricu-
lum and projects to a greater purpose that
you hope will influence the community. Let
people know their ideas and actions matter,
then listen and respond. When students and
teachers feel like the work matters, they will
give more of themselves.
Take what you already do, and find a way
to connect it beyond the school and enhance
the entire community.
Connecting the School and the
Community:
As we worked on being purposeful, we
discovered that our curriculum and work in
general, lacked authenticity. Thus, we added
a schoolwide project with the purpose to au-
thentically engage students in Civics.
In the midst of the drought in the fall
semester of 2014, Eliza Jane Whitman,
founder and CEO of EW Counsulting, Inc,
20
Leadership
and also a parent of a student at the school,
approached me and suggested that students
create and develop solutions to mitigate
water consumption during the drought. Ms.
Whitman felt like young college graduates
were not attracted to her field and thought if
she could interest high school students, then
perhaps she would get more people commit-
ted to community and environment building.
Ms. Whitman f lexed her professional
connections and brought in speakers from
local water agencies in an assembly for the
students to kickstart the project. She then
recruited friends in the industry to adjudi-
cate the student papers and presentations.
My role as principal was to get the teach-
ers on board to engage every student, (ap-
proximately 2,000, grades 6-12), and all
ability levels (GATE, college prep, students
with disabilities) to write papers and produce
presentations. We just jumped in. Using the
department chairs we developed a timeline
for the project, a rubric for grading, and the
role each subject level would have. Over the
course of four months students studied the
drought, developed solutions, and submitted
papers, all while continuing their course of
study in all their classes. A teacher named
our work the “Innovation Project.”
We defined the work and its purpose. The
goal of the Innovation Project is to engage
every student in work focused on making
change. It is up to the student to take a local,
state, federal, or global focus. The Innova-
tion Project is to include all academic subject
areas to show how all subjects can be used
to drive progress. There must be a written
document and an oral presentation. Industry
professionals are used to listen and provide-
feedback on the projects.
A group of teachers chose the top papers,
students from all grades were represented
(the middle school ideas were often more
creative than the high school ideas) and
the top students went on a field trip to the
boardroom of the Metropolitan Water Dis-
trict of Southern California (MWD) and
presented their papers. The panel of judges
was so impressed they actually invited the
students back to an MWD board meeting
to present ideas to be considered for legis-
lation and implementation, offered summer
internships, helped one student start a 501(c)
(3) to help actualize his idea, and gave a col-
lege scholarship. They affirmed the impor-
tance of the ability to not only develop ideas
but effectively communicate them.
While we were fortunate that the com-
munity came to us to partner together; we
had to be in a place and willing to take on
the extra work at the leadership level to
make it happen. While one parent provided
a significant amount of personal and politi-
cal capital, most of our students and fami-
lies did not have that access. It was our role
through the Innovation Project to provide
all our students access to the industry.
The work was also messy, and not every-
one agreed how or even if it should be done.
But what turned this from a harebrained
idea into something the school valued, was
that the industry professionals were so ef-
fusive in their praise of the students. We
recorded the judges on video praising the
work to take back to the entire staff and the
students and teachers felt validated and in-
vigorated to continue. In our experience
the industry professionals were the biggest
cheerleaders of the students.
While the final result of the first year was
better than expected, the process had many
holes. Buoyed by the overwhelmingly posi-
tive response from the judges we decided
to continue the project, modifying and im-