NYC Schools May Be Leading Us Back to Real Education Policy
To mw what follows is a fabulous example of trying to do the right thing under very constricted laws that need changing.
I know there will be those of you ready to comment negatively on this report. Some of you will argue that Farina goes too far and some that she doesn’t go far enough, but what I saw in this first paragraph is the the kind of leadership in NYC schools we haven’t seen in decades.
“New York City is overhauling its system for evaluating schools, de-emphasizing test scores in favor of measures like the strength of the curriculum and the school environment, and doing away with an overall A-through-F grade for each school, the schools chancellor, Carmen Fariña, said on Tuesday.”
I have often written and emphasized that when I was a student in NYC public Schools during the 1950’s and mid 1960’s and a teacher there from 1970-1986, I was part of a system that allowed for the respect of creativity in the creation of curricula and innovation in teaching methodology that emphasized student engagement and learning though authentic assessments and evaluations. In fact my book, Doing the Right Thing: A Teacher Speaks is based on those sets of experiences as well as others.
For example, in 1941, the NYC Association for the Teaching of Social Studies published this book , A Handbook for the teaching of social studies, which was used as the guide for new social studies teachers in NYC and elsewhere for decades. Its second printing was as late as 1985. It was my student teaching handbook and my textbook for my Social Studies methodology class when I attended Fordham University. This book along with observing its practices used during the student teaching experience taught us how to use student centered developmental lessons which were based on the use of a few essential questions (pivotal questions) and mostly class discussion led, not controlled, by the teacher . Yes, It was written in 1941.
It is only one example of the student centered spirit of education that existed in NYC schools (if of course you were in a building with a positive environment for teaching…determined by the Principal [teacher] in each school). That much has not changed, except that in NYC over the past few decades the role of a Principal has become less about teaching and more about managing.
The Di Blasio – Farina team have hopefully set us back on the right track. Even though they are forced to work within the guidelines set up by the NYC Schools May Be Leading Us Back to Real Education Policy | DCGEducator: Doing The Right Thing:
