Set A: The author argues that NCLB and standardized policies have pushed our schools to focus on ranking human potential, not developing it. What should the balance be? What is the balance at your school? How can you better help your students to develop their distinctive potential?
Set B: What is your view of education reform policies that push for higher test scores and more high-school graduates going to four-year college? Do you agree with Arne Duncan’s defense? Or more with these teachers? What has been gained and lost with this focus? Do you agree with the author that this reform-agenda focus threatens our democracy?
Sometimes I feel like a rancher holding a cattle prod, using it when students veer out of the predestined educational path set before them by the state. I have been teaching 25 years, and have said two things consistently throughout my career. One, a healthy family unit is the secret to societal success, and teachers can only fill in some of the void left by dysfunction. And two, not all students are meant to go to college, for many reasons. I think Arne Duncan isn’t taking into account the ease at which many students get to the finish line these days. Recouping hours missed from class (credit recovery) is as easy as sitting in the hallway during the school day outside of the AP’s office. And making up a failed credit as easy as 3 weeks in front of computer in Learning Lab. I don’t think we are doing our students justice by lowering our expectations. I completely agree with allowing teachers to be autonomous, although some teachers take that to new low levels without accountability. I don’t know that I agree that the reform-agenda focus threatens our democracy, but I certainly don’t think it’s been beneficial for many of our students.
What is your view of education reform policies that push for higher test scores and more high-school graduates going to four-year college? Do you agree with Arne Duncan’s defense? Or more with these teachers? What has been gained and lost with this focus? Do you agree with the author that this reform-agenda focus threatens our democracy?
Pushing for an educational reform that will result in higher test scores and more graduates headed to college is a worthy pursuit. I think that teachers and students should be held accountable. I believe having a goal in front of you helps you guide your learning. Best case scenario, those things are done within a framework that allows teachers to guide the process to reach the outcome. Worst case scenario, the test drives instruction every day in every class room. I feel that we are lucky to be in a district that adheres to the idea that teachers are able to determine the best course to reach the desired goal – student learning. I agree with Arne Duncan when he says that politicians address the issue of education in whichever light best supports their agenda. His statistical results show that reform is working. However, Dintersmith has conflicting data. His anecdotal information that suggests accountability and government reforms are not working. Putting the flexible statistics aside, Arne backs that up when he points out, “Nevertheless, the facts are clear: Our efforts to improve schools have worked well where people have led with courage. To say otherwise is wrong.” This dovetailing of anecdotal support is where I think the key to reforms land. Where people are trying new and brave things, results are evident. We may see better test scores and more college bound students, but it is not because of a test centered curriculum, it’s because of innovation and trying new things. In our district, that is supported. The teachers in the video ask for more trust and more respect. This is the key to innovation. I felt for the one teacher who was almost in tears when he spoke about having his creativity stifled due to not being trusted. When you have people begging to do their job, the accountability is being considered above learning.
I don’t believe that the reform agenda threatens our democracy when done so with a focus on equality in student opportunities. That is missing though. When the focus is promoting the wealthiest of students into “schools of choice” and then onto top colleges that will produce more of the same cycle, we are no longer a democracy. Students from lower economic levels deserve the same “choices” and the same educational opportunities as the wealthy. Accountability and reform is designed to combat that practice, but it has to be in the right hands to do so. Arne is absolutely right about treating education as a political practice. It should not be a pawn because then our children are pawns. If the goal of education is to create the ruling class, then let’s politicize it. If the goal of education is to create thinking, participating citizens, let’s humanize it. My problem with not promoting the goal of a 4 year college degree to all students is the pitfall of becoming the filter through which students see their potential. If I can first make clear that vocational training, the military, and working in the real world are equal to college degrees, I can offer my opinion without fearing the impact it might have on students. If we tout the path to college – AP courses, dual credit, and GT classes as elevated areas of learning and “weighted” – and at the same time relay that some students aren’t a good fit for this path, we are judging their potential. Maybe if vocational classes were weighted and considered advanced, I would be more comfortable with the idea that some students aren’t a fit for college. In that scenario, they would be fit from some other course of education equal to, but different than, college. I don’t ever want a student whose secret desire is college to believe that they cannot achieve that dream. I don’t want a student whose secret dream is to pursue a military career to feel that they cannot pursue their dream because it isn’t as valued as attending college.
Good stuff! I do think we are going to be focusing more on “future-ready” as opposed to college-ready across the board. There is so much more I can say, but you pretty much said it all!
I am answering set B. In my view, education reform policies that push for higher test scores and more graduates going to a 4-year college are detrimental to our students. Education has become a factory where students are all expected to become the cookie cutter output in a system where “no child can be left behind” Some students are better suited for trade school and apprenticeships. I support the teachers in the video because they argue that teachers should be respected enough to know their students and how they best learn the subject matter. Higher test schools do not really show any learning at all. Having state standardized tests are forcing teachers to teach to that test. I would much prefer a system where teachers drive the content of the course to the students’ interests versus a specific TEK that might be covered on an end of the year test.
I love that our leadership is not waiting for the state to come around to this. We still have to operate within the system, but they are leading the way in the coming paradigm shift. Every year I see them moving farther and farther away from the mainstream.