Posted by Ian Jukes on
“Mike Fisher writes in the following article for SmartBlog on Education that, "... the system and the institution are methodically destroying learning." He points to the methodology of testing and assessment that serves to 'quantify' everything from the effectiveness of learning to teacher performance, and more. He also asks us to consider who standardized tests are really designed for—the system or the student. Some real food for thought here, so I encourage you to read on.”
via SmartBlog on Education
This past weekend, I worked with Steve Hargadon of Classroom 2.0 at an educational conference in Jacksonville, Fla.
In the car on the way to the conference recently, Steve and
I were discussing the “institution” of school and the “system” of
school. The largest part of our conversation centered around the fact
that we have, collectively as a nation, created a massive operation for
educating children that does not work.
The “institution” is the bureaucratic, policy side of
public education that demands that “each get some.” The “system” is the
mechanism for delivering the “some” to all. The good ideas that created
the system and thus the institution around it are lost in the shuffle.
Doing what’s best for kids and doing what’s fair for all have each
become a separate megalopolis each on a separate continent.
Education has become so institutionalized that the act of
“doing” something equates to readiness for the next checked off item on
the “to do” list of instructional practice. The ebb and flow of “doing”
becomes the barometer for success as measured by standardized high
stakes tests that, in one moment, assess a students ability to “do
school,” measure a teacher’s effectiveness, and be a checks and balances
sheet to maintain the system as directed by the institution.
Note that in the previous paragraph, the word “learning” was not used. In a Huffington Post article from last March,
Connie Yowell describes education as what institutions do and learning
as what people do. What’s happening, though, is the system and the
institution are methodically destroying learning. I think it’s high time
we refocus on the learner.
The system and the institution would have you believe that
it is possible to well quantify the learning with one high-stakes
assessment that serves as a good indicator of year to year growth, how
well a teacher teaches, and whether or not the school as a whole is an
effective system. The problem is with the variables. In science, we draw
conclusions based on the experimentation of one variable at a time, a
process approach that helps winnow the possible outcomes of comparative
observation. In our current model, the system and the institution are on
a multi-variable train that not only amounts to bad science but, in
turn, leads to bad practices.
Case in point: Students in New York recently took the
first version of the new common core-aligned tests. They were asked
questions that were more rigorous than ever before in an attempt to
measure the learning of the common core standards. The stories that came
out of the woodwork over the course of the week involved students
walking out of the test, kids crying, kids unable to finish, kids just
giving up, etc. The test was designed to measure the degree to which the
students met the common core standards. The test does not allow for
variations in home environment, parental support, socioeconomic status,
etc.
The test was designed to evaluate the system and perpetuate
the institution. The tests in other states that are being designed to
evaluate the “learning” are all heading in the same direction.
Do we want our students ready for college and careers?Absolutely.
Do we want them ready to meet the challenges of the world they will graduate into? You betcha.
Do we need assessment? Of course.
Do we want them suffering through assessments that were
designed with the institution/system rather than the child in mind? Not
at all.
Assessment is not bad. In a previous blog post,
I wrote about why in the world we would practice for a game we never
played or rehearse for a performance we never give. I also don’t
disagree with checks and balances in the system, but the system must
have integrity. That means that we must not only find ways to more
rationally assess students without causing complete psychological
breakdowns on test days but also that we address some of the other
variables that the system and the institution keep in the periphery,
primarily poverty and family/environmental support.
Instead of the grimness of the dark and scary hell week of
assessments, perhaps we start looking at what can be embedded in
instruction. Perhaps we look at leveraging opportunities for choice and
differentiated products through performance tasks and problem-based
scenarios that not only generate a product but also are a launching pad
for the next learning moment.
There are no easy answers here, I know that. But I also
know that there are still kids at the heart of all of this. The
institution and the system need to refocus on that. We have an
unbelievable challenge and a massive obligation to get this right.
______________________________________________________
Mike Fisher (@fisher1000)
has more than a decade of classroom and professional-development
experience. He is a full-time educational consultant and instructional
coach and works primarily with school districts to integrate the Common
Core State Standards, make data-informed instructional decisions,
sustain their curriculum mapping initiatives and immerse instructional
technology. Learn more at The Digigogy Collaborative or on his blog.
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