Ask the Expert High School Innovation

Tony Habit

Photograph of Tony Habit
Tony Habit
President
The North Carolina New Schools Project

With more than 20 years experience in public school innovation and reform, Tony Habit began his educational career as a middle and high school counselor for special needs students. Tony was tapped to head the North Carolina New Schools Project in November 2003. Previously, Tony was president of the Wake Education Partnership in Raleigh, and he was the founding executive director of the Durham Public Education Network.

In 2000, Tony was named an Eisenhower Fellow and traveled to New Zealand and Australia to study market competition in public education and the use of technology in the classroom. The Public School Forum of North Carolina presented Tony with its inaugural Lever Award in recognition of his leadership for private-public partnerships for innovation in the public schools in 2002. He serves on many boards and committees including the State Board of Education Leadership for Innovation Committee, High Five, the Research Triangle regional high school reform partnership.

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Question 4: How did you develop the Five Design Principles of a highly effective school (how did this come about), on your Web site (http://newschoolsproject.org) Do you think these would change at all as a result of Race to the Top and other ARRA opportunities?

The North Carolina New School Project's school development team created the organization's set of design principles by asking two guiding questions:

- First, as we observe the practices of the most successful schools we visit around the country, what do they have in common?

- Second, what evidence and indicators help an educator recognize these practices in action?

We find that effective schools share these five key elements, which form our design principles:

· Ready for College: Innovative high schools have a pervasive, transparent and consistent understanding that each school exists for preparing all students for college, careers and life. They maintain a common set of high standards for every graduate to eliminate the harmful consequences of tracking and sorting students.

· Require Powerful Teaching and Learning: Innovative high schools have common standards for high quality teaching. Teachers design rigorous instruction that ensures the development of critical thinking, application, and problem-solving skills often neglected in traditional settings.

· Personalization: Educators in innovative high schools understand that knowing students well is essential to helping them achieve academically.

· Redefine Professionalism: The responsibility to the shared vision of an innovative high school is evident in the collaborative, creative, and leadership roles of all staff in the school. Staff members take responsibility for the success of every student, hold themselves accountable to their colleagues, and are reflective about their roles.

· Purposeful Design: Innovative high schools are designed deliberately to create the conditions that ensure the other four Design Principles. The organization of time and space and the allocation of resources ensures that best practices become common practice.

- What evidence and indicators help an educator recognize these practices in action? We have identified what we have found to be a reliable set of indicators that reflect the above design principles. The comprehensive list can be found here.

We believe the design principles for high school innovation coincide clearly with the goals being promoted by Education Secretary Arne Duncan through the Race to the Top grants and other national initiatives. We will continue to deepen our focus on the evidence and indicators for our design principles and support ongoing research and evaluation to better measure their effectiveness.

We have revisited and refined the Design Principles over time and will continue to do so.