Initially obliged to unlearn many commonly used practices of the day, M-T eliminated from this public secondary high school the use of: bells to signal the start and finish of classes, boys and girls rooms, desks in rows, tracking, grading, fights and acts of violence, vandalism, graffiti, teenage suicide, security guards, cuts, hall passes, public address announcements, dropouts, suspensions, detention, substitute teaching, the need for teacher “mental health days” and student “mental health visits” to the nurse’s office, Superintendent Hearings, and where initial levels of poor self-worth of some applicants were manifest they were replaced by a creative, multi-talented group of self-actualizing young people on the cusp of a rapidly changing, information rich, digitized world of the 21st Century.
The educational innovations Maslow-Toffler offered or introduced in Brentwood, 40 years ago this year (2014), include:
the idea of advancing a Mission Statement
Action Learning
Experiential Activities
Common men’s and women’s rooms with mirrors
an Intergenerational Third Place
Group Process
Virtual Learning
Guided Imagery
Pre-tested, staff-authenticated and systematically consistent lesson plans
Explicit Learning Objectives
an Attendance Policy
specific behavior expectations
parental participation and choice
Site-Based Management
minimum class size
Circles
Brain-Compatible Education
Hemispheric Dominance
Communities of Compassionate Concern
weekly Community Meetings
Growth Stages
Mentoring
Journaling
Team Teaching
Conflict Resolution
Mediation
Mainstreaming
Mastery-Based Learning
encouraging creative risk-taking
Rewarding Success
Shared Decision-Making
Acknowledging Professional Responsibility
Performance Accountability
Authentic Assessment
portfolios
types of intelligence
Learning Styles
Industry-Education Partnerships
School-Community Collaboration
local government community service
Regional Higher Education Exchange Programs
tuition-paying students
Cooperative Learning
Problem-Solving
Community Resource Accessibility
Modular Scheduling
Performing Arts Center (PAC)
Self-Esteem Building Strategies
Personal and Professional Empowerment
an extended (42 week) school year
90-minute class periods
Federally Funded Preparation for Parenthood
supportive in-school day care
an in-house Teen Pregnancy Program
a four-day student class week
Individualized Flex-time Student Scheduling
Crisis Intervention Strategies
Substance Abuse Prevention
Second Chance Families
Career Workshops
student evaluation of teachers
staff /student interviews for new teacher selection
teacher participation in administrative selection
a negotiated grade policy, when required
Inclusion
College Transfer Credit
building principal taught one course per semester
field trip insurance umbrella of $1,000,000
170 different State of New York and Brentwood School District-sanctioned curriculum innovations taught during some or all of 9/10 years of M-T’s existence -- ie. co-ed physical education (prior to Title 9)
Death and Dying
Semantics
Women’s Literature
How the Brain Works
Game Theory
Loving
Kirilian Photography
Psychology
Philosophy
Listening
Communication
Visual Literacy
Children’s Readers Theater
Team Building
Supportive Confrontation
a Process Equals Content paradigm where students (1) learned HOW to learn; (2) learned HOW to choose; and they (3) learned HOW to relate.
Content selections were made by students, parents and teachers within State and local mandates, in compliance with the Brentwood Teacher Association curriculum guidelines and with Board of Evaluation approval. A biological metaphor was applied at M-T ten or fifteen years before the country had abandoned its anachronistic physics metaphor to describe institutional learning models.
