According to Linda Darling-Hammond, the educational system in America today is broken since we do not not take the education of ALL children seriously. We have failed to create educational policies and systems that are equitable to ALL children, therefore hundreds of thousands of children (especially the poor) have been shooed to the wayside to struggle alone in a world that they cannot navigate. Our schools have graduated too many young people without the necessary tools to help them cultivate rich, fulfilling lives. Linda Darling-Hammond has dedicated her career to revealing where the failures lie. Fortunately, she also has a plan to help change the current policy.
She writes that we must create educational systems that do two important things: "create systems of curriculum and assessment that point to 21st Century skills, and produce a steady supply of well-prepared, well-supported teachers." (Darling-Hammond, 279) Ms. Darling-Hammond includes five key elements of her policy changing ideas for reform: 1. Meaningful learning goals. 2. Intelligent, reciprocal accountability systems 3. Equitable and adequate resources 4. Strong professional standards and support for all educators 5. Schools organized for student and teacher learning. Our educational system is broken as it stands. Teachers are stretched to the breaking point. They are instructed to run through chapters without giving students enough time to process information for full comprehension. Students are subjected to test after test after test. Except to generate colorful pie graphs and bar graphs of data, nobody really knows how that data is being used to help improve student work. Linda Darling-Hammond provides an alternative to today's system. Education policymakers would create learning goals that address our changing world, plus provide equitable resources, such as federal funding. Students would be taught the essential skills they need in order to be successful out in the world once they graduate from high school. Students would use critical thinking skills, creativity, communication and collaboration with other students as well as their teacher. They would learn as a community. Veteran and new teachers would receive support, such as time to collaborate with other teachers and work alone prepping for their individual classes. Teachers would also be provided with time to learn from other teachers and education professionals. Teachers would take on roles such as mentor, curriculum specialists and leaders within the school. Yes, our current educational system is broken. But it can be fixed. We just have to get everybody (or at least 60%) on board.
5 Comments
10/6/2018 11:41:20 pm
Hi Tess
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Caitlin Mitchell
10/7/2018 10:36:30 am
Hi Tess!
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Brandon DeJesus
10/7/2018 10:43:26 am
Growing up in Vallejo we used to often think about what it would be like to go to school in Napa where we thought schools would be overflowing with resources for their students. Now that I teach in Napa I can see that even in more affluent areas there is still a huge lack of funding for schools. When you speak of adequately educating ALL children in your blog I cant help but think about all the ways we are limited from doing so because of fiscal policy that does not prioritize education in this country.
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Jona Sandau
10/7/2018 11:31:38 am
Tess, your post explained Hammond really well. I also loved the quotes you included. Your example of teachers running through chapters without giving students the time to process is spot on. And that's what Darling-Hammond said that successful countries fix--they have fewer standards and they go deeper into those. I thought that's what CCSS was supposed to accomplish, but I'm not sure about that. There's no time to THINK when you're constantly just covering the surface!
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JP
10/8/2018 11:58:40 pm
It is amazing how all the things that are wrong with the current educational system that are being pointed out - I sadly see this in my own hometown. Teachers are not being supported in the way that they should be, and therefore students are made to suffer because of this. So much ego gets in the way, and again our most vulnerable get the short end of the stick.
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Tess Giner
This is my 25th year as a public school teacher. I've taught every grade between Kindergarten and 12th grade. I hope to encourage my students to love writing and reading as much as I do. Archives
July 2019
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