Don’t let the inspiration fade away. That was the message of a Merced High School student at the conclusion of a one-day Positive Deviance Workshop sponsored by the CTA Institute for Teaching. Several Merced students, teachers, and administrators were among those attending the event earlier this month, which was designed to explore how positive deviance can help reduce the dropout rate.
The Positive Deviance approach suggests that it is possible to find successful solutions to problems right now before all of the underlying causes are addressed and that the best solutions to community problems come from the within the community meaning the best solutions to school reform come from within the school, rather than from the top down or the outside in. There must be real ownership of the solutions rather than merely buy-in. The group of 14 from Merced as well as local association leaders from San Jose, Pomona, San Juan, Sacramento, Coachella Valley, Moreno Valley, Elk Grove, and Rancho Cucamonga worked to design solutions unique to their own communities. Positive Deviance works to allow teachers to emphasize talents over weaknesses to create a learning environment that supports and encourages every student to do their best.
