Theme of Week Two: School Innovation Programs:
Enlivening Total Knowledge Within the Student
Lesson 6
Organizing Schools for Success:
Knowledge Is the Basis of Action, Achievement, and Fulfillment
WHOLENESS OF THE LESSON
The National Education Longitudinal Study (NELS) found that schools that restructured to personalize education, develop collaborative learning structures, and foster a better school climate produced higher gains in academic achievement that were also more equitably distributed.
(Maharishi Science of Consciousness) Knowledge is the basis of action, achievement, and fulfillment; for complete fulfillment complete knowledge is necessary.
MAIN POINTS
1. School practices found in the NELS study to produce higher academic achievement gains included:
Creating smaller units within schools,
Keeping students together over multiple years,
Forming teaching teams that share students and plan together,
Having common planning time for teachers,
Involving staff in school-wide problem solving,
Involving parents in their children’s education, and
Fostering cooperative learning.
(Maharishi Science of Consciousness) Consciousness-Based education does not involve reorganization of the school or extensive curriculum changes. It can be implemented into any school structure.
2. Students in schools with high levels of authentic instruction—active learning for higher- order, extended writing, and school projects that resemble how knowledge is used in the real world—tend to experience greater achievement gains.
(Maharishi Science of Consciousness) Intellectual knowledge and direct experience of pure consciousness, the unified field of Natural Law, develops the ability to fulfill desires without causing suffering to others.
3. Policymakers must insure the compatibility of school innovation programs with school accountability to equity and access, development of citizenship, and progress in learning.
(Maharishi Science of Consciousness) Implementation of Consciousness-based education enriches the academic and personal development of all students, irrespective of academic- performance level, socio-economic status, or ethnicity and race.
Connecting the Parts of Knowledge
With the Wholeness of Knowledge
School Organization
1. School organization focuses on the personnel needed to run effective schools, from the district superintendent to the school principal.
2. School organization focuses on fostering a more positive school climate and greater collaboration among teachers to ensure better student learning.
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3. Transcendental Consciousness is the source of all coherence and creative intelligence in the life of the student and social organizations.
4. Impulses within the transcendental field: The sounds of the Veda and Vedic Literature, the impulses of Natural Law, are responsible for structuring order, intelligence, and creativity in every physical and social system.
5. Wholeness moving within itself: A fully successful school organization and administration contributes to students developing unity consciousness, the highest level of human development in which the outer and inner world of the student is experienced as expressions of one’s own Self.
Lesson 7
School Choice
Enlivening Pure Consciousness, the Field of All Possibilities
WHOLENESS OF THE LESSON
The general rationale by educators and policy-makers behind school choice is to make
schools more accountable and attentive to student needs and the interests and expectations of
families.
(Maharishi Science of Consciousness) Pure consciousness, the unified field of Natural Law,
is a field of all possibilities, and is the basis for fulfilling the needs and desires of all students
and families.
MAIN POINTS
1. A portfolio of schools strategy, e.g., in New York City, attempts to ensure a supply of
quality school options that reflects a community’s needs, interests, and assets so that every
student has access to high-quality schools that prepare them for learning, work, and
citizenship.
(Maharishi Science of Consciousness) Pure consciousness, the unified field of Natural
Law—the field of all possibilities—can be experienced on a regular basis, resulting in the
fulfillment of the needs and desires of all students and families.
2. School choice, including charter schools, have not always produced gains in academic
achievement. For example, a study of 16 states, covering about 70% of all charter schools,
found that only 17% of charters produced academic gains significantly better than
traditional public schools serving demographically similar students, 37% were found to
perform worse, and 46% showed no difference from district-run schools.
(Maharishi Science of Consciousness) To fulfill the goals of education, it is necessary to
provide for the holistic development of every student through the development of higher
states of consciousness.
Connecting the Parts of Knowledge with the Wholeness of Knowledge
School Choice
1. Policy-makers believed that if parents were given a choice of the school their children
attended that this would improve academic performance levels.
2. Policy-makers felt that school choice would provide for more local control of schools,
reducing the degree of centralized control of education.
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3. Transcendental Consciousness is a field of all possibilities.
4. Impulses within the transcendental field: The sounds of the Veda and Vedic Literature,
the impulses of Natural Law, are responsible for structuring the entire manifest creation,
resulting in progress and growth.
5. Wholeness moving within itself: In unity consciousness, the highest level of human
development, one lives all possibilities in life as all of creation is experienced as the play and
display of one’s own unbounded self-referral consciousness.
Lesson 8
Teacher Preparation, Professional Development, and Evaluation
Enlivening Total Knowledge in Every Student
WHOLENESS OF THE LESSON
Teachers need comprehensive preparation with high-standards, continued support and
professional development, and widespread societal recognition.
(Maharishi Science of Consciousness) Teachers need a systematic technology of
consciousness to enliven Total Knowledge within themselves and consciousness-based
teaching strategies to enliven Total Knowledge within their students.
MAIN POINTS
1. Darling-Hammond emphasizes the need for fully subsidized, high quality teacher
preparation, mentoring, and professional development throughout the career, with rewards
and supports for teachers who devote their careers to serving high-need students.
(Maharishi Science of Consciousness) Teacher preparation and professional development
should include practice of the Transcendental Meditation program so that teachers can
maintain a high degree of mental and physical health and develop their own inner creative
potential so that they are of the maximum benefit to every student.
2. The United States spends more of its personnel budget on a variety of administrative staff
and instructional aides rather than on fulltime teachers directly. In 2003, only 51% of
school-district employees were fulltime teachers engaged in classroom instruction
compared to fulltime teachers comprising 70-80% of all education staff in most European
and Asian nations.
(Maharishi Science of Consciousness) Implementation of the Transcendental Meditation
program would be cost effective into terms of teachers’ long-term mental and physical
health and the enlivenment of their own inner creative intelligence.
Connecting the Parts of Knowledge With the Wholeness of Knowledge
Teacher Preparation and Development
1. Teacher preparation should follow the minimum state requirements for certification.
2. Teacher preparation should be of the highest quality and require student teaching in
multiple school settings; it should be subsidized by the state and federal government, with the
goal of attracting the very best students to this noble profession.
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3. Transcendental Consciousness is a pure field of creative intelligence.
4. Impulses within the transcendental field: The sounds of the Veda and Vedic Literature,
the impulses of Natural Law, are the impulses of creative intelligence responsible for all
teaching and learning.
5. Wholeness moving within itself: In unity consciousness, the teacher lives the full value of
their human potential, experiencing the entire teaching/learning process as creative
expressions of their own unbounded consciousness.
