WORDS: JOANNA BANKS
As the visiting team from Partnership for 21st Century Learning (P21) passed through the front office of Downey High, a tour guide pointed out two guitars on display. Both belonged to Downey graduates and icons of the music industry: Metallica front man James Hetfield and George Pajon Jr. of the Black Eyed Peas. “We may be in school, but we can still rock out,” quipped Phil Davis, Downey Unified’s director of CTE, STEM and Support Programs. Rock star status isn’t far fetched.
On June 1st, the P21 team toured two Downey high schools, two middle schools and an elementary campus to see if the district’s educational programs were really as good as they looked on paper. Downey Unified school District had applied for P21 “exemplar” status earlier this year in hopes of sharing successes with others and becoming a role model in education. Five administrators from the Los Angeles County Office of Education, National Council for the Social Studies, educational leader Goddard Systems, Inc., and Hanson Consulting Group got a firsthand look at the district’s college and career focus. The visit is part of a nationwide search to find the best — to crown those creating truly globally competitive 21st Century learners.
It’s hard not to be impressed by the mechanical engineering and physics pod at Downey High, where an $80,000 wind tunnel for aerodynamic testing sits next to a new HAAS Automation digital manufacturing machine. In the school’s re-envisioned “auto shop,” five donated Mitsubishi cars are aloft garage machinery for students to inspect. They key in notes about oil changes and systems inspections on giant touch screen pads nearby. An English teacher uses UC Curriculum Integration (UCCI) to blend students’ academic subject preparation with a practical career application of scriptwriting and video production.
Throughout the day, it was clear that classroom lectures were nearly obsolete, and hands on Project Lead the Way kits took over. Students coded, programmed, collaborated, drew, measured, built – even cooked – their way through the day. Chromebook lockers, HD projectors, robots, big, networked screens, moveable furniture and hi tech student conference rooms filled the campuses. “It’s kind of like being at summer camp and having a great time, but not knowing that you’re learning,” Davis said. Warren High’s culinary students made turkey and Brie sandwiches, cauliflower soup with mascarpone, fried taro root, and a nectarine and mixed green salad for the dozens of visitors and city officials who came to support Downey’s future.
At Sussman Middle School, 7th grade “femineers” talked about how a Cal Poly Pomona engineering program that aims to engage more girls in engineering programs had inspired their work in a 7/8 manufacturing class. At Stauffer Middle School, one teacher outlined robotics competition schedules on the wall, and had students making “balloon cars” out of straws, plastic water bottles and empty raisin boxes. Fourth graders at Old River Elementary spent the afternoon designing paper airplanes and launching them through targets hanging from doorways. The project exemplified exciting learning spurred by the leadership of 15 teachers promoting Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Mathematics (STEAM) in TK-5 classrooms.
These experiences embody what’s possible when we invest in creative approaches to education. Is learning fun? At the Bayha Group, we think yes. DUSD is dynamic proof that we’re not the only ones who think so.
