I’ve been in education since 1994. I came to Kentucky at that time because of their educational reform plans that were being implemented. They were cutting edge at the time and, while we may still score lower than some states, our reforms are still leading the way in many arenas. I can go through a lengthy discussion that can help put in perspective some of the discrepancies in ACT scores and the like at some point in the future (and it would be a discussion worth having).
I have a recently expired National Board certificate. I no longer teach high school Physics at my school (I am pleased to announce that my son teaches those courses), the course for which I was certified with the National Board, so I was content to let those letters after my name expire. I do teach college physics at a local university, high school chemistry, aerospace engineering, math, woodshop……there is a long list of courses I teach and for which I am certified. Yes, I am tooting my own horn, but I do so only to state that I have expertise in the Education, reforms in education, and I have a long track record of great success with students seeing many (first generation included) moving into college and completing various majors.
I am writing at a time now where we are struggling to figure out how to make school fair, engaging, and meaningful in the midst of a pandemic. This experience has demonstrated many of the flaws in our current model of doing school and has begun to illustrate the need for rethinking what we do and how we do it. We seem to be flailing as we fall from our ivory towers as the programs we have implemented before blow up in our faces.
Have we done anything well? Yes. We have most certainly made some great strides in generating equity in education. We have sought ways (here in KY) to balance the funding for students based on the students rather than their location and school system. We have shifted focus from completing worksheets to generating quality work that demonstrates 21st century skills and reflects an application of content knowledge. We have created a paradigm shift in our teachers that has seen many move from traditional paper and pencil assessments to more of a project based approach to instruction and assessment. In all of these great improvements we still find areas where we lack the proper implementation of philosophy of the approach, but the transition is in process and progress is being made.
We are moving more and more towards an individualized instruction plan for each student. I believe it will be a wonderful thing when we have a record for each student that teachers take into account as they devise and instructional plan for that student. It will be a great tool to have all of the students data from standardized tests, samples of student work, anecdotal records from parents and teacher that have worked with the students through the years and a student generated list of long and short term goals. It would be much like having a medical record that travels with the patient from doctor to doctor such that the doctors, independent as they are, work as a team in treating the patient. Teachers would be working as a team to help the student reach the goals set as they achieve the standards they must demonstrate for graduation. That kind of plan is coming together, whether every sees it as such yet or not.
We are not quite there yet. Right now, far too much of our focus is on getting kids through a “year” of instruction. Some schools have determined to teach less and accept anything that students submit with the intention of “passing” them on to the next course or year. Instead of looking at an individual, we are thinking of the horrendous circumstances that all of our students have had to endure as we get through our courses. This year has had many hurdles and hinderances, true, and we are teaching in far less than ideal circumstances. As such, some feel it is just to excuse our students from the normal expectations set for courses taught. Some have reduced the work, standards, project completion, and have accepted garbage work treating it as though it were quality work. All of this to get through a “year” without harming the student.
These good intentions actually serve to harm the student. Our elementary schools are intending to teach light this year, then cram more into next year. For example, I have heard that one local school is teaching half of 3rd grade this year and “pass” the students into 4th grade . Next year, the 4th graders will be starting with the second half of third grade and then they will cram all of 4th grade into the year, so they say. I predict that next year, the teachers and students won’t be able to cram a year and a half of instruction into one resulting in our kids simply remaining behind where we say they actually are. I remind you that the transcript would indicate that they completed third grade, which will be a lie.
In high school the circumstances of such a lie can prove to be a little more problematic. Consider the work we’ve put forth to try to standardize what is taught in a particular course. We have pursued and approved national standards and common core concepts in an attempt to certify that a students who has completed a particular curriculum has actually demonstrated mastery of those standards. If I teach half a chemistry course and yet award the student a full credit then I am finished working with the student and have no mechanism by which to teach them those “left behind” standards. The student will be ill prepared for the next course in the sequence (because we all are supposed to have aligned curricula) in the school, the school will be misrepresenting student performance on transcripts painting a false picture of the students to future colleges, employers, certification programs and the students will have a false sense of self and their relative competencies in school (and when that false sense of self is confronted, all kinds of negative occurrences tend to occur in the life of the student).
There are certainly more problems and concerns in education today and not just because of a pandemic. We teachers could fill volumes and volumes with anecdotal records of our failings in the classroom and how we have contributed to problems in students. We can do likewise railing against program forced upon us and the kids. We can find fault in parenting skills, economics, social programs, and on and on. If you get a group of teachers together and get them started, they could complain for hours upon hours.
Enough of that. we can continue to identify problems or we can look for solutions. I propose a program with the following schema:
· Students sign up for the courses they need to take
· Students complete the prescribed work, demonstrating mastery of content and implementing and mastering 21st
century job skills
· Students complete the work a earn credit with a grade (because we are still stuck with them) that reflects
their level of mastery
That sounds easy.
Why isn’t it easy? Well, we as teachers need to plan well in advance for each kid who comes to us. We as teachers need to individualize instruction for each kid. We need to work with kids and promote and develop healthy habits with them. We need to mentor kids and make time to work with them on things that are beyond the classroom. We need students to initiate the work and complete the work without being spoon fed every detail. We need our students to work independently. We need to be prepared for students to complete work early and be ready to say things like “ that needs more work on this topic….try this concept….expand here…” as we return it them to rework.
Here is a proposed vision of this in action.
Imagine freshmen signs up for English 1, Biology, Algebra, World Civilization, Health and PE, Art 1, and Band. Of all of these courses, there is only a set “period” for band and Health and PE. The student will meet with all of their teachers and learn what is expected of them for each course. The students will receive from their instructors a calendar that outlines when they will be teaching on particular
concepts and working on particular projects. The student begins meeting with an assigned mentor and establishes goals
of what will be completed and when it will be completed and set their schedule accordingly. The student will go through
the program that they design with a mentor and get the work completed in the time they design.
Imagine this student has a flair for English and art. They may complete English 1 by December and then move on to English 2 at that time. They may complete Art 1 in 6 weeks and then move on to Art 2. They may find Algebra 1 more challenging. It may be that they don’t even complete Algebra 1 until the following December before moving into Geometry.
Why not? Is it more important that they complete and master the work of that they spend a specific amount of time in a class? Is it more important that the student be at a particular point in a curriculum at a particular time, or that they master the content as they go? Is it fair to make a student slow down in a class while they wait for others to catch up? Is it fair to make a kid repeat the beginning of a course the following year because they didn’t understand the end of the course the preceding year?
Let’s allow our students the opportunity to complete a course to mastery in the time the need to do so.
I have many more ideas to go with this, but I invite you to enter the discussion with me.