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Saturday, September 29, 2012

Engaged Pedagogy « Cooperative Catalyst

Engaged Pedagogy « Cooperative Catalyst:


Engaged Pedagogy

There’s one heck of a problem in American education today.  There seems to be absolute consensus on this point.  After all, student test scores are woeful in comparison to those of other industrialized nations.  And the test scores of students of color reveal a gap that exposes a culture of privileging the already privileged, that shows little sign of change.  Hands are wringing and policy makers and administrators scramble to increase standards and heighten the stakes of measurable achievement.  We must close failing schools, rest control away from lackadaisical districts and place it firmly into the hands of the DOE.  We must weed out underperforming teachers and cajole, threaten and reward students into “success.”
The problem as I see it, however, is not low test scores.  Rather low test scores are a symptom or maybe even in some indirect ways a cause of the problem.  The problem is lack of engagement.  The problem is