Are you tired yet of working to the lowest common denominator? Think about it. Every problem under discussion in public education boils down to it. Funding. Staffing. Standards. What's the least, the minimum we can expect everyone to accept?
To make it sound reasonable, we reference "milestones" and "benchmarks" to suggest that anyone can go beyond these minimum expectations, but the reality is the lowest common denominator becomes the de facto goal. Bars are lowered. Expectations settle. Learning is minimized, meted out, and measured. But what if we changed the formula so that minimum measures of learning become the variable and student learning becomes the constant for success?
ASCD's Whole Child Initiative refutes the phenomenon of the lowest common denominator. It raises the dialog beyond seat hours and test scores. Learning is the internalization of new human experience; there is more in play than student attendance and making the grade. The whole child approach is based on the premise thatall children can learn. If you disagree with this assumption, stop reading now and start looking for work in a
A Whole Child Education Transformation
Everyone freeze! Stop right where you are and look around. Survey the landscape. With all the clamoring and commotion in education, have you stopped to notice? Education transformation is already well under way. I know, I know. With all the posturing and politicking going on from your local school board to the state house to the White House, there's a public perception that it's business as usual. Voices of self-interest continue to tout the status quo. Advocates for the public interest continue to toe the bottom line. Amidst all the noise and distractions, education in 2013 can look and feel like more of the same.
As an institution, education is susceptible to the pitfalls and pratfalls of change: inertia, resistance, and gridlock. For many educators, the focus on standardization and accountability feels like roadblocks. For others, forces of globalization and techno-constructivism feel like progress. And all the while, budget cuts and reform backlashes tighten the vise grips on agri-industrial education. After decades of lip service about retrofitting reforms on the existing model, nothing short of a societal sea change is raising it from its sedentary, sedimentary, seemingly cemented place at the core of civilization.
How? Families now run the gamut in how they look and operate. Information is now free and available everywhere. Learning and learner interests are developed long before children enter a classroom. Graduates are struggling to meaningfully plug into the workforce. And successful twentysomethings are demonstrating a set of
As an institution, education is susceptible to the pitfalls and pratfalls of change: inertia, resistance, and gridlock. For many educators, the focus on standardization and accountability feels like roadblocks. For others, forces of globalization and techno-constructivism feel like progress. And all the while, budget cuts and reform backlashes tighten the vise grips on agri-industrial education. After decades of lip service about retrofitting reforms on the existing model, nothing short of a societal sea change is raising it from its sedentary, sedimentary, seemingly cemented place at the core of civilization.
How? Families now run the gamut in how they look and operate. Information is now free and available everywhere. Learning and learner interests are developed long before children enter a classroom. Graduates are struggling to meaningfully plug into the workforce. And successful twentysomethings are demonstrating a set of