Independent Education Supplement
21st-Century Schools Do Things Differently
The following three articles and an exhaustive online listing of Santa Barbara County’s public and private schools (available at independent.com/school-survey) form this year’s Independent Education Supplement, our annual look at how Santa Barbara’s schools are finding solutions to the challenges posed by learning in the new century. From bell schedules to field trips to report cards, it seems like everything in the 21st-century school is a potential target for fundamental change. Tyler Hayden surveys three of the most innovative school travel programs in his piece on experiential learning. Kelsey Brugger catches up with the report card, which has gone digital and real time. And Charles Donelan profiles a new peer teaching program that grew out of a major schedule change at Dos Pueblos High School. While it may be too soon to tell which of these innovations will stick, there’s no doubt about one thing—schools are more interested in adaptation than ever these days; the goal in education is to be better at getting better.
