Kamar Samuels on The Journey to Transformative Education

District Superintendent for District Three in Manhattan Shares Firsthand Experiences Transforming Public Schools with Interdisciplinary Education

NEW YORK, NY, UNITED STATES, December 12, 2024 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Superintendent Kamar Samuels issued the following to share his firsthand experiences transforming New York City’s public schools through inquiry-based, interdisciplinary education, highlighting the challenges and successes of implementing critical thinking curricula and empowering educators to drive meaningful change in one of the world’s most diverse learning environments:

Transformative education is a goal best achieved through collaboration. I know because I’ve helped lead this journey in New York City. As a teacher, principal, and superintendent since 2019, I've seen education from all sides, working in both Brooklyn and Manhattan. I have seen firsthand how education can change the course of young people’s lives.

In my experience, curricular frameworks that emphasize critical thinking, inquiry based learning and creative problem solving are most impactful and effective in transforming educational outcomes. However, the greatest challenge to implementing these necessary changes is convincing educational leaders to invest in these new pathways to learning.

Historically in New York City there have been educational programs that center creating a global community of learners through interdisciplinary and inquiry-based learning. However, these programs often flourished in private schools, but increasingly public schools are embracing these types of curricula, too.

The value of an internationally minded education is vital to young learners and particularly important in New York City. We are impacted by globalization daily, living in a global microcosm where more than 800 languages are spoken by students of more than 200 nationalities.

Through my teaching and leadership experience, I developed a vision for education to offer quality, interdisciplinary, project-based, and student-centered experiences. At New York City Public Schools, I have wholeheartedly promoted building teaching environments in our schools that mirrored these values.

I first heard about the International Baccalaureate’s (IB) programs at home in Jamaica. In New York City, I encountered IB program again and recognized that they serve as an example and archetype for an inquiry-based and flexible curricular model to best serve students, educators, school communities, and districts.

One of the biggest challenges of enacting transformational education is accessibility. In New York City, deep disparities exist among learners, and not all are structural inequalities. There are instructional inequalities, as well. For instance, I ask myself which students are given the opportunity to take risks and engage in inquiry-based learning and level of disparity between individual students of different backgrounds becomes apparent.

As a superintendent, I perceive these challenges and questions as opportunities for schools to level up. School leaders have the opportunity to support and even equalize the playing field to ensure all students have access to high quality education, to best prepare them for the future.

As a leader, I aim to invest in my people. Superintendents are well-positioned to invest in educators and equip them with the tools to provide a transformative educational experience for all students. It’s not enough to adopt the vision of holistic, international learning. We must ensure that all programs are accessible to teachers who are shepherding students through their personal learning experience. Furthermore, educators must be exposed to high quality professional learning experiences on an ongoing basis. This will ensure that these practices that explore inquiry-based learning, critical thinking, multi-lingualism, problem solving, multi-cultural dialogue, conflict resolution become sustainable and are embedded in the culture of our schools and classrooms.

Building buy-in for a new curriculum starts with a superintendent taking a stance. Educational leaders must tease out the “why” of it all before approaching teachers and principals with a suggested change model. School communities are central to any successful process of transformation. We have established a model for that in our city with the implementation of NYC Reads.

They might ask: “Why a transdisciplinary approach to the curricula program? Why now? Why our kids?”

By preparing to answer these questions in advance of announcing curricular changes, we’ve been able to successfully explain our goals for educational transformation in a way that empowers school leaders and teachers as co-collaborators in the process of change. We created opportunities for educators across the district to come together to see for themselves the importance of curricular updates for our district.

An investment in new approaches to teaching and learning is also an investment in their own professional learning. Yes, districts need financial funding to achieve their goals, but more importantly leaders need to build capacity and cultivate commitment from the whole school community to realize outcomes to the fullest.

Buy-in happens when teachers and principals get together and realize the benefits transformation will have – both in their own professional careers and for their students. My team and I aim to create those moments to share, showcase and validate successes to give way to new learning opportunities.

For educational leaders considering adopting a more inquiry-based, holistic educational framework, I understand fully that change is hard.

People don’t typically fear change. They fear loss. A student-centered approach may seem destabilizing for some teachers who fear losing control of their classrooms. On the contrary, it can be empowering to give teachers room to be creative and build their own lessons within a flexible curricular framework, such as that of the IB.

Teachers and principals deserve grace during the process, time to adapt, and a forum for airing frustrations.

The net result is one that no teacher or principal will look back on with regret. As leaders, we must allow growing pains during the process. Educational leaders must commit in earnest at the start, and remain compassionate throughout the process, trusting their choices to embrace a new framework districtwide.

Change is good. Perceived loss is actually a gain. And in the end, students benefit by receiving a transformative educational experience enabling them to become the future leaders the world most needs – to change for the better.

Dan Rene
Dan Rene Communications
+1 202-329-8357
dan@danrene.com