What Ought To Be the Elements of Educational

What Ought To Be the Elements of Educational Reform?

Reform Should Include • • Excellence Active learning Authentic Assessment Community School choice Learning to Learn Character Education

Excellence should include • Achievement as measured by criterion tests, not just normative • Achievement by students, not their teachers • Achievement at relevant tasks

Active Learning • Makes use of theories of Piaget, Vygotsky, Bruner • Student-centered • Learners construct meaning • Takes longer but lasts longer

Authentic Assessment • Opposite to “teaching to the test. ” • “Authentic”=real. Like serving a tennis ball instead of taking a test about tennis • Portfolios • Criterion-referenced

Community • Students sometimes feel like “I’m lost here. ” • No ownership, no responsibility • Geographic non-ownership • Schools-Within-Schools

School Choice • Parents as educational consumers • Home schooling • Charter schools • Vouchers • The rise of private and parochial schools • Site-based decision making

Learning to Learn • • More than just learning immediate facts Learning patterns, strategies-“The structure of the discipline. ” Albert Einstein--”Let me look up my phone number for you. ”

Character Education • Krathwohl’s taxonomy --receiving, responding, valuing, organization of values • Is indoctrination totally bad?