Schools Helping Schools

In the spring of 2007, educators from London and New York had the opportunity to visit one another's schools through a twinning project. Five schools from each city were chosen, and schools were matched based on similarities in student populations. The project's primary purpose was to provide an opportunity for an exchange of best practices in literacy and the Accelerated Reader program. The educators involved in the project did just that, and they also learned much more about the strengths and weaknesses of each other's schooling systems.

Teachers in London traveled to New York in March. They were struck by many of the differences between the two countries' education systems. The London educators noted how fewer topics were taught to American students than to English students. Perhaps as a result of this narrower breadth of study, New York schools provide more time in the day for reading instruction and practice. New York schools also have libraries with librarians and thousands of titles. Students visit their school library on a regular basis for access to many more books than are housed in their classroom libraries. London schools, in contrast, tend to have neither the space nor resources for libraries, meaning that students do not have access to nearly as many books. London teachers also noted that New York teachers are given more time each day for planning than London teachers are given. London teachers were especially impressed with the enthusiasm of particular New York teachers. Many London teachers came home with a list of books they wanted to share with their students after having observed class discussions led by passionate teachers in New York.

London teachers felt that their school system has a better focus on writing than the New York schools. They felt that perhaps reading was being overemphasized at the expense of other crucial areas of instruction, such as writing. London teachers were also disheartened to see New York's system of instruction for its special education students. London educators were extremely surprised to see students separated out from mainstream classrooms, and they felt that the children in these self-contained special education classes could have done better academically and socially had they been schooled side by side with their general education peers. London teachers also found the technology in New York schools to be 'appalling.' They were surprised that New York schools had computers of such low quality.

In April, New York educators traveled to London to visit the schools there. The New York educators, primarily school principals, were tremendously impressed by the school system in London. They were excited to learn about the national curriculum and thought that this sort of standardized instruction would be very helpful to their own teachers and schools. Furthermore, they were impressed by the emphasis that England's national curriculum places on teaching the whole child both academic and social skills. New York educators were very interested to observe how London teachers were so successfully differentiating instruction for all ranges of ability within a classroom. They were also struck by the level of order and discipline they saw in most schools they visited. Finally, New York educators were amazed by the quantity of useful data that London schools maintained on their students. If students transferred to different schools, their data went with them so that the teachers at the new school would be able to make well-informed decisions regarding the new students' instruction.

The educators involved in the twinning project expressed heartily their desire to continue the relationships forged through the exchange. They are interested both in providing their students with opportunities to get to know one another and explore their cultural differences and similarities, and they themselves would like to continue learning from their fellow educators 'across the pond.' At a final meeting in London, educators from New York and London schools were asked to explore some ways in which they might continue the work they began through the exchange. They had ideas to create online communities both for students and teachers, begin multimedia conferencing, and maintain email correspondence with schools to share particularly valuable best practices. All felt that the twinning project was a great success, and most importantly, the educators involved are looking to continue traveling to their partner schools to learn and share more in person. One New York principal, on returning to his school, wrote a glowing letter to his staff, reflecting on the wonderful practices he had observed and hoped to implement in his own community.