Wednesday, September 3, 2008
Tough Choices or Tough Times is a Tough Sell
This is an incredibly ambitious piece and I was struck by how much it resembled the type of readings we did in a poverty course I recently took with Dr. Osborne. By that I mean, this doesn't really just focus on education, but provides wrap-around recommendations to help get at the root of some inequity issues (specifically steps 8-10). These three steps start to tap into other, almost extraneous topics, although we're all aware how firmly this country's economic success is rooted in education. What's your point Jenna? Ok, I'm not sure I have one but my initial reaction was "These are great ideas - but too radical and not incremental enough to get much traction." Schools give up local control? Yikes!! And how do the state-set standards align with federal mandates (hint, hint: NCLB). And finally, although I assume a comprehensive description is provided in the full text, how exactly does one assess creativity and the "self-discipline" required for project completion (step 4)? I'm sure a bunch of you can enlighten me about this stuff tomorrow! Again, just a few of my (many) gut responses to what are intriguing and ambitious ideas. Going back to my initial comment: maybe what we need to look at more closely is what truly lies at the root of these issues? But a discussion of causation and solutions for poverty is probably best left for a different post.
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4 comments:
Hey Jenna. Is this piece available online?
Hey Joey -
It's on blackboard, under our class, and click on course documents. It's under Week 2 readings
Jenna, I think your right about the challenges TCTT poses to local control. However, I don't think it's impossible to measure regional and national workforce demands that impact localities. If that's done, schools and colleges will be better able to adapt their curriculum to produce graduates ready to meet those demands in the context of a global economy and localities will be better off. (as Step 8-9 of TCTT suggest)
States and localities are contributing to this now via P-16 alignment efforts. Plus, ensuring working adults can afford to grow/remain viable and valuable employees is, I think, a plausible and possible investment for localities and states to stomach.
I think about state standards as an analogy to this process. Localities will follow along if they buy that change is in their best interest but sometimes localities need a nudge in the right direction.
Does that necessarily mean all colleges and local/regional employers can agree on a standard for measuring creativity? That'll probably require creative thinking on their part.
I very much agree with Jenna’s gut reaction to this article. While high expectations and standards are critical to reaching any of the new goals we are setting for academic achievement in the United States, many of the goals/steps outlined here seem far to lofty at this point in the game. States need a more bite-size, step-by-step approach to follow. The article’s radical approach definitely communicates a sense of urgency in addressing the state of our current education system – desperate times do call for desperate measures. But if we want those in charge to start implementing any sort of change, a focused incremental approach is critical.
One seemingly simple place to start but that I feel an especially strong connection with, is the need outlined in the “Alliance for Excellent Education” piece. According to the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS), “teachers must demonstrate that, among many other things, they believe all students can learn and that they are dedicated to making knowledge accessible to all students.” This notion should go hand-in-hand with making rigorous coursework and critical thinking a mandatory component of the curriculum. Students, especially the socio-economically disadvantaged, need constant reinforcement and motivation to know that education is an attainable right, and that college is a real option. Exposure to and mastery of more challenging coursework will encourage students to expect more out of themselves and feel that they are just as capable of pursuing a college education and participating in a competing workforce as their wealthier counterparts.
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