 | MESPA Home > Press Room | | Delineation of a new policy direction
6/2/2011 11:51 AM(May 31, 2011 -- St. Paul, MN) I want to outline
concerns and propose a new policy direction based on leading educational
thought regarding public education in the United States. My belief as a current elementary
principal and the Minnesota Elementary School Principals' Association (MESPA)
President-Elect is by narrowing our educational focus to a tight band of
test-bound subjects we are subjugating and relegating our aspirational focus to
19th century and not 21st century policies and
outcomes. The trope that has been
turbo-charged with the introduction of No Child Left Behind has taken away
critical elements of motivation for our teachers and more importantly our
students.
The need
for intelligent and creative solutions to multi-faceted problems has never been
at more of a premium, but in pursuit of global competition we have gone mostly
backwards in our policy approach.
The reason is that multiple-choice tests in the areas of reading, math,
and science measure only small parts of student potential and are certainly not
motivating to students across the U.S.
There is
systems research work done by Dr. Michael Fullan who identifies the critical
need for trusted alignment from national to state to local school districts in
order to create the conditions for an ‘All Systems Go’ approach. His work cites that of Ontario and
Finland, two of the highest performing providences’ and countries according to
OECD’s and PISA benchmarks and assessments. Ironically, these two countries have far less amounts
of standardized multiple-choice or drill and kill testing structures than the
U.S., but outperform us even when sub-categorization is applied.
To create
this system of all-systems-go reform, according to Michael Fullan we need to
align and focus on seven core areas which are (Fullan
2010):- All children can learn
- Commit to small number of key priorities
- Resolute leadership/stay on message
- Collective capacity
- Strategies with precision
- Intelligent accountability
- All means all
To
highlight several of these key core areas we need to start with the notion that
all students can learn, not through a narrow window of testing, but through
higher-order thinking, reasoning and problem-solving skills-linking them to
whole-child development, emotional well-being, music, dance, and the arts. We also need to pursue high-quality
literacy and numeracy into high schools and related higher education and career
choices (Fullan 2010).
According
to research out of the University of London, they found a very interesting
motivation for teachers and why one system succeeds while another
flounders. What they found was
that in Finland, for example, there is a high correlation in predictable
policies from the state to local districts and that teachers and administrators
report having a fairly high confidence level in their Department of
Education. What the research found
was that because of this the policies that were established by the federal
government had a high degree of fidelity in implementation. Compare that with the United States and
more locally Minnesota. We have a
fragmented, low trust system, which in the end does not have a strong
correlation between policy enactment and classroom changes. This is due in large part to the
distrust and often the myriad of educational changes milled through political
parties and their agenda’s. We
must have a more purposely focused agenda that is predictable and competent for
educators to ‘buy-in’ to the changes.
We must go slow to go fast.
Malcolm
Gladwell in the recent edition of The New Yorker had an interesting
article about the power of borrowed ideas. In the article he describes the situation where
Steve Jobs, Apple Founder, had an important meeting with Xerox back in
1979. From this meeting and
observation of Xerox working on their idea of a mouse and multiple platform
application for the computer, Mr. Jobs came away with a new way of thinking
about the mouse and the computer, which helped propel his Apple Company
forward. Now this was not an
original idea, rather an idea that morphed off of the original. My point is we have great examples of
countries set up for educational success that we can borrow and improve
upon. The countries I have
illustrated do not drill and kill students and teachers with tests; rather they
look for core ideas, get alignment, and see the students as unique and whole
beings.
Alan
November, researcher and educator once asked a Finland educational
representative about their high school dropout rate. The official had to think for a minute, because they have
virtually no dropout rate, so the question was a bit foreign, pun intended, to
her. She collected herself and
then replied, “our teachers simply figure out why a student may not find school
fun and then develop a plan to help the child have more fun at school, because
that is critical to student motivation and growth.”
To codify
my argument I would point to the thoughts of Dr. Diane Ravitch (2010, p.13) “we
must make sure that our schools have a strong, coherent, explicit curriculum
that is grounded in the liberal arts and sciences, with plenty of opportunity
for children to engage in activities and projects that make learning
lively.” Now Dr. Ravitch in her
best educational judgment supported the implementation of NCLB, but upon
implementation and observation now feels she was grossly mistaken and that this
mandate in 2002 and now with reauthorization looming under President Obama has
set the U.S. on a course of leaving more children behind. What started as a standards movement is
now basically a testing movement.
And as an active principal I currently see more costs than benefits in
this policy. The saying goes, what
we measure is what we value and I don’t like how we are valuing education
currently.
The United
States has been a leader for a very long time because of its creative freedom
and willingness to take risks in the pursuit that anyone can have
opportunity. I am concerned with
NCLB and now the Blue Print for reform plans, we are going backwards, not
forward.
When was
the last time you were motivated to take a multiple choice test? When was the last time you felt that a
multiple choice test was able to encapsulate your brilliance? Our country needs a new
focus on higher-level, capacity building policies and curriculum. And in the words of Sir Ken Robinson,
we can’t afford to leave anyone behind-so we need to figure out how to access
everyone’s talents for 21st century societal and global economic
success.
Policy
Matters. Please consider a new,
smart, predictable direction for our students and their educators. Together we can create an
‘all-systems-go’ education system.
Sincerely,
Matt Dorschner, principal
Chanhassen Elementary School, District 112
Minnesota Elementary School Principals' Association, president-elect
2011 Brock International Prize in Education, nominee
University of MN, doctoral candidate
|
| |
| To: | U.S. Secretary of Education
Arne Duncan
U.S. Senator
Al Franken
MN Commissioner of Education
Brenda Cassellius
(On the occasion of the School Leadership Forum held at Dayton's Bluff Elementary in St. Paul, MN)
|
| Bibliography | Fullan, Michael. "All
Systems Go." 107. Thousand Oaks: Corwin Publishing, 2010.
Fullan, Michael.
"Leadership and Sustainability: System Thinkers in Action." 99.
Thousand Oaks: Corwin Press, 2005.
Gladwell, Malcolm. "The
Power Of Borrowed Ideas." The New Yorker. New York City: Advanced
Magazine Publishers, Inc, May 16, 2011.
Ravitch, Diane. "The Death
and Life of the Great American School System." 243. New York: Basic Books,
2010.
Robinson, Ken. "Out of our
Minds." 325. Chichester: Capstone Publishing, 2001; 2011.
|
|
|
