Caught up in the middle of the debates and discussions around educational reform over the past few years lies a fundamental difference in how people view education. Is it a system designed for sorting or is it a system designed for learning?
Many of the reforms and innovations that are proposed appear to slot education into the sorting category rather than the learning category. Whether it is an emphasis on high-stakes testing or the expansion of fast-track teacher training programs, both of these education trends appear to be designed to test and label rather than to help them learn and grow.
Both take the presumption that the individual has it (skill, knowledge, and talent) or they don't and both tend to put more emphasis upon ascertaining if the person has the ability or knowledge and less emphasis on how to develop or grow that ability and knowledge. You either have it or you don't and it is the system that will weed out, sort, divide, and determine whether you are up to it or not. Maybe that's not what is intended but it appears to be what is happening.
Take fast-track teacher preparation as an example. The number of fast-track teacher preparation programs