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Sunday, April 12, 2015

Saving Students From A Shattered System: Brainstorming Choice

Saving Students From A Shattered System: Brainstorming Choice:

Brainstorming Choice

There have been many arguments for and against parental choice. It really comes down to one issue. It is the belief that when your child is in a school where the students have low test scores, your child will make smaller gains in academics.  When your child is in a school with students who have higher test scores, your child will be more likely to make greater gains.

Let us take a deeper look at this issue:

First, test scores are not a sole indicator of academic achievement. They are, at best, 2nd class achievement.  Whole child learning, where a child demonstrates what they are able to do, is 1st class achievement. However, the problem is the mandated test drives the curriculum of the school. And teach to the test becomes the curriculum leaving the perception that kids in higher scoring schools end up being taught to the test better than those with kids in lower scoring schools based on those test results. This may or may not be the case but perceptions are real to those who have them. The reality is that the segregation of classes and in many cases races are in full force.

Second, with every child having the same singular standard it becomes essential to seek out the school that will enhance your child's standard the most. whether the standards are 1st or 2nd class, their is still a rush to find the school that will support you child the most.

Most schools make every effort to see that your child will achieve at the highest level. The reality is the current system of education forces "artificial choice" to become an issue. The current system is based on a poorly designed race that takes kids who are successful in the narrow scope of education to college and those who aren't to struggle for survival.  And the lack of survival puts kids on the streets.

What if we had an individual pathway to success for every child, an action plan to support learning for all? What if the system and philosophy of a school system was allowed to innovate away from Saving Students From A Shattered System: Brainstorming Choice: