El Paso, Ysleta ISDs look to build 21st-century learning environments
The El Paso Independent School District and the Ysleta ISD are both figuring out ways to reinvest in their facilities.But not only do the districts have old schools, which average around 50 years old, the style of the classrooms is literally, “old-school.” Now the goal is to rebuild them as 21st-century learning environments.
Open educational resources (OER’s) are textbooks in the public domain. OER’s though, can only be accessed through computers, inside classrooms with W-Fi.
“We have a lot of schools that were built in the ’20s, ’30s, ’40s,” said YISD Superintendent Xavier De La Torre. “And so what you find is the traditional classroom that’s meant to accommodate 30 desks in nice, neat, little rows.”
Linear classrooms, like the ones most adults are used to, are a thing of the past.
“The classroom space has really changed for 21st-century learning,” De La Toree said. “It isn’t about these nice, neat little rows and classroom management. It really is about collaboration, student collaborating with one another, communicating with one another, small group instruction, project-based learning. It requires technology is the classroom.”
Both EPISD and YISD encourage B.Y.O.D., bring your own device, allowing students to connect with WiFi for academic purposes. Ideally, both districts want to transition to paperless classrooms, where students are issued tablets or laptops and do everything, from their in-class work, to studying to homework online.
“That’s the way we need to think,” De La Torre said.
“You look at the Socorro district,” said EPISD spokeswoman Melissa Martinez. “They have the benefit of smart growth now. And it’s nothing that EPISD did wrong. It’s just our campuses were built 50 years ago. So they’re using newer education models.”
“I’m a back-in-the-day person,” said EPISD parent Yajaira Stopani. “I used to like sitting in a row. Now maybe having more brain-storming would work. Whatever works is the best for the kids.”
That is a good question.
To break down walls, combine classrooms for space, and install wireless routers and Internet infrastructure in every classroom, at every level, is going to cost hundreds of millions. It’s why both EPISD and YISD are counting on bond elections to move their districts into the 21st century.
