Are we perpetuating the problem?
In his youtube video "Reframing the Education Revolution K-12" Steve Hargadon compares educational reform movements to the USDA and charges both with perpetuating the problems they are created to fix. (Hargadon,2013)
As an educator for the past 25 years I don't want to agree with him, but sadly, with some reservation, I do. I didn't go to a teacher prep program, at least not at first. I came at this profession from the back door, but doing so gave me a breadth of experience in different types of schools and philosophies of education public and private that leads me to believe that although Hargadon may be right about the sinister motives of those in power and the results of their misguided and often lobbied for policies, rank and file educators are working hard to work around the problems bad policy and snazzy buzz words create.
Hargadon argues that although data driven reformers and "progressive"reformers are at odds with each other, both offer a top down approach whereas true revolutionary reform should strive for self-directed learning, presumably with the learner and inquiry leading the charge. I agree, everything I have observed in education over the last 25 years shows that deeper thinking comes from true engagement with engaging questions and researchers agree (Larmer & Mergendoller, 2015) but guiding that inquiry takes caring talented professionals to set up the conditions in which that inquiry can take place (Marzano Research, 2017) .
Data driven reformers have always been in love with standardized testing because of the easy data it provides. One criticism that I have of many other well-intentioned and affective reform movements that have come down the pike over these past 25 years is that many say they reject the importance of standardized texting while simultaneously touting the effect their movement has to raise test scores. That has always seemed disingenuous to me, and after listening to Hargadon it makes me worry that it is more than disingenuous, it's downright dangerous; it accepts the premise of the test scores as the thing of value . Haragdon posits that the food pyramid and other recommendations on healthy eating actually lead to bad health because they are overly influenced by food lobbyists. His comparison to education makes me wonder if the government's data-driven reform may be influenced by the lucrative testing companies and when "progressive" reformers tout their affect on test scores they are just playing the test maker's game.
As an educator for the past 25 years I don't want to agree with him, but sadly, with some reservation, I do. I didn't go to a teacher prep program, at least not at first. I came at this profession from the back door, but doing so gave me a breadth of experience in different types of schools and philosophies of education public and private that leads me to believe that although Hargadon may be right about the sinister motives of those in power and the results of their misguided and often lobbied for policies, rank and file educators are working hard to work around the problems bad policy and snazzy buzz words create.
Hargadon argues that although data driven reformers and "progressive"reformers are at odds with each other, both offer a top down approach whereas true revolutionary reform should strive for self-directed learning, presumably with the learner and inquiry leading the charge. I agree, everything I have observed in education over the last 25 years shows that deeper thinking comes from true engagement with engaging questions and researchers agree (Larmer & Mergendoller, 2015) but guiding that inquiry takes caring talented professionals to set up the conditions in which that inquiry can take place (Marzano Research, 2017) .
Data driven reformers have always been in love with standardized testing because of the easy data it provides. One criticism that I have of many other well-intentioned and affective reform movements that have come down the pike over these past 25 years is that many say they reject the importance of standardized texting while simultaneously touting the effect their movement has to raise test scores. That has always seemed disingenuous to me, and after listening to Hargadon it makes me worry that it is more than disingenuous, it's downright dangerous; it accepts the premise of the test scores as the thing of value . Haragdon posits that the food pyramid and other recommendations on healthy eating actually lead to bad health because they are overly influenced by food lobbyists. His comparison to education makes me wonder if the government's data-driven reform may be influenced by the lucrative testing companies and when "progressive" reformers tout their affect on test scores they are just playing the test maker's game.
My school is a high performing district on standardized tests and our admin looks at standardized tests as a necessary evil. Doing well on them continues to keep the state and federal heat off of us and allows us the freedom to do pretty much what we want to do. I had always appreciated this in the past, but now I wonder if maybe we are making a mistake by accepting test-driven education as necessary at all. I want to quit playing by those rules.
References
Hargadon, Steve (2013) "Reframing the Education Revolution K-12"Youtube video. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=vPCzebP4zO4
Lergan & Mergendoller (2015) "Gold Standard PLB: Essential Project Design Elements". PBL Blog. Buck Institute for Education. https://www.bie.org/blog/gold_standard_pbl_essential_project_design_elements
Marzano Research (2017) "Meta-analysis database of instructional strategies " Marzano Research. Retrieved from https://www.marzanoresearch.com/research/database
Lergan & Mergendoller (2015) "Gold Standard PLB: Essential Project Design Elements". PBL Blog. Buck Institute for Education. https://www.bie.org/blog/gold_standard_pbl_essential_project_design_elements
Marzano Research (2017) "Meta-analysis database of instructional strategies " Marzano Research. Retrieved from https://www.marzanoresearch.com/research/database
Christina, you are preaching to this choir! 8-) My PhD dissertation, turned in to my defense panel yesterday morning at precisely 8:20 am is titled "The Lived Experience of Middle School Students Engaged in Student Driven Inquiry". As it happens there is loads of quantitative research data on the positive academic and personal effects of inquiry based learning. Within IBL there is a range of frameworks from more teacher driven to more student driven, as you might imagine. In my opinion there are good reasons for using the progression of IBL models for building student independence and self-regulated learning. There is an indisputable rationale for always giving students supported experience in doing SDI. Why in heavens to we want all children to do the same learning all the time! We are not factory farming people, or at least we shouldn't be!
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that the testing engine fuels much of what happens in many schools and those that do well on those tests are the lucky ones that can run rogue and do more interesting and humane work with students. It's heartbreaking. Because the testing monster seems invincible districts and schools go along to get along. They feel impotent in the face of the monster. I know charter schools who are busting the mold and doing their own thing.
Now we have DeVos, so what is ahead???