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School Model Under Construction
Posted by Tim Joy on 1/26/2014
In Reply To:School Model Under Construction Posted by Chad Green on 1/21/2014
Chad:
Thank you very much this comment. My delay in responding comes from not being familiar with the term "educational essentialism," which meant that I had to read a bit about it and then do some thinking about it.
According to Marzano, Schmoker, Lemov and many others, yes, the curriculum is at the core of student achievement. I toss my hat with Hirsch, et al, about what needs to be learned. End of story.
Well, maybe.
Of course, we measure student achievement in a particular way, a way that is now attracting some criticism as too narrow a measure. At our school, we measure frequently at particular process points, but with one ultimate measure: success in college and life. Since our oldest graduates are but 25, the jury is still out. Our process measures are the ACT series (called the EPAS, soon to be reconfigured and renamed ASPIRE). These are relatively traditional, but deeply researched and highly validated scores that are now predictive of success in college, hence the College Readiness Benchmarks that we are in fact calibrating our curriculum for. We also look carefully at college entrance, and college graduation rates.
And yet, these College Readiness Benchmarks are based on data going BACK three decades. Might these data be timeworn? What about going FORWARD? There are skill sets not at all assessed by ACT but that will be (and may already be) critical to success in college and life. The times ahead for us and our children will not at all look like anything we currently know. An interesting thought, perhaps not much more than that.
As to the particulars of the School Change Model, the curriculum is an item of slow change, and perhaps particular to states, districts, and private institutions. To that point, then, yes, the model represents a kind of status quo about what needs to be taught and learned. Others mentioned that there ought to be feedback loops from students, AND from those other agents of change in one's community. Occasionally, there will be national referenda (e.g., STEM) that propel curriculum change.
What it means for me, as I consider this model, is a BOUNDARY THOUGHT: what's in, what's out. For the time being, I'm leaving curriculum alone, and focusing more attention on the learner. There's a lot more volatility there than anywhere in the system.
Tim
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