A new day at Taylor Schools

Superintendent Steve Dishon leads move to project-based learning

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Steve Dishon had no idea that he would one day be a school superintendent. He was an English teacher at Taylor High School, fully engaged and excited about the school’s direction.

Ten years ago, his career path changed. From athletic director to assistant principal to principal, and now superintendent of Taylor Community School Corp., Dishon went from leading one classroom to leading them all. And the excitement he had for education and Taylor Schools a decade ago came with him.

“I never knew that I was going to try to climb any ladder, but as you go through, you learn every job and want to go on and learn the next one,” said Dishon. “And now I get to mentor and advise and evaluate the staff and help them to do the job.

“I think I have a think a pretty good perspective on what they're going through. It's not I’m like a teacher or administrator removed from the classroom 20 years, trying to tell teachers how to run their classrooms. I’ve been out of the classroom 10 years, which is still a lot. But I try to get into classrooms all the time just to see what's going on. I still do clubs and work with kids all the time. I don't want to be in a job that I can't be around the kids. That's the whole reason I'm in education.”

Dishon intends to be a very involved superintendent, and he wants to lead the school to more interactive, project-based learning. Taylor already is positioned well in that regard. It’s time for the next step.

“The number-one priority is always learning,” said Dishon. “That's why we're there. Everything else falls under that and supports learning. We are a Professional Learning Community. Our teachers work together across subjects and departments to teach the same thing, or the same skills, or the same content.

“And we base our whole school on four questions: What do we want the kids to learn? How are we going to know if they learned it? What do we do if they don't learn? What do we do if they learn?”

Dishon explained that Taylor has focused on the first three questions over the past few years. Every class and department has curriculum maps and assessment calendars, so that any teacher could step into the job and know exactly what to do in that course.

The school has formative and summative assessments to identify what the students know or don't know. And they created interventions. If a student doesn't know how to do something, they can get help 30 minutes a day during school to close the gap.

The area Dishon believes the school needs to expand is enrichment; the answer to the fourth question.

“The kids who understand everything; maybe you call them your honors kids,” said Dishon. “I want to make sure we're offering them an opportunity to grow.”

To that end, Taylor is offering Advanced College Program (ACP) classes. These allow students to essentially take full-credit college courses from Indiana University, taught by Taylor teachers. The students get college credits, and the teachers can work toward their Master’s degrees in the process.

“The whole curriculum is approved by IU,” said Dishon. “We're teaching U.S. History. We have a Literature course, a Writing course, Chemistry. Hopefully, we’ll soon have Biology and Pre-Calculus Math. All the kids in those courses will automatically get college credit if they pass the course. It's a college class.”

At the elementary level, Taylor is transitioning to a more experiential learning model. While the infusion of technology into education has been a great asset, it also leans toward more screen time. The school is seeking another approach.

“I'm really pushing for more hands-on learning,” said Dishon. “Let's put the iPads down. We're going to start a garden at the elementary. We're going to have our older kids mentor the little kids on running a garden. Go out and get in the dirt.

“We also have a planetarium at the high school level that we’re going to open to our elementary kids. Technology is great. But our kids use technology way too much when they're young. They're not learning basic skills and things they need for life. They're losing that fascination with what happens in science. There are a lot of things I think they miss when they just get on an iPad and do apps.”

Dishon knows that Taylor has a history of being overlooked among the Howard County schools. But that’s only because people don’t know what the school offers that differs from their peers.

“When you come to Taylor, you're getting an experience that is more like actual life,” said Dishon. “You're not isolated in a singular group of people. We are 78 percent poverty. We are 40 percent minority; probably the highest percentage minority in the city.

“But we are also creative. Two of the strongest areas of study in our school system are Band and Art. Our band program has grown to the point that we have 90 kids participating out of a school population of 350. And those band kids are also playing basketball and football. They can do both. And our arts program has always been really strong. We have a 100-percent pass rate on AP testing.”

Hands-on learning and project-based learning aren’t new for Taylor. These methods were a part of the “New Tech” philosophy the school adopted more than a decade ago. Though the “new tech” focus faded, Dishon hopes to recapture some of its features.

“It was all-inclusive, project-based, and it was the best thing in my teaching career we've ever done,” said Dishon. “So, we're going to refocus on project-based learning as a way to deliver content to kids. Rather than telling a kid to write a paper on something, you have them complete a project.

“They have to pull information from different places, and then they have synthesize and make a new product. I think it's important because that's what they're going to do in the real world. We know they're going to have to solve problems.”

Taylor also is adopting a hybrid educational model which allows students to learn from home. Borne out of the COVID crisis, many kids have transitioned into a homeschool setting or seek to learn online remotely.

Dishon explained that students may take a full slate of courses from home through Taylor. Because the learning will take place at a different pace than in a traditional classroom, students must commit to remote or in-person learning a semester at a time. There is no switching back and forth, with limited exceptions.

Since Art and Music are best taught in person, students would be allowed to attend those classes in person while studying remotely the rest of the time.

“And you can still play sports or participate in extracurriculars as long as you're in our program, and you're taking the required number of classes,” said Dishon. “This option allows students to stay at home and get the same education, but not miss out on the entire school experience.”

For more information about Taylor Schools, visit their website at www.taylor.k12.in.us.