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What students learn can boost their GPA's.
What students learn can boost their GPA's.
Can it also change their lives?
Can it also change their lives?
Standards-based education focuses on what can be learned in a nine-month time frame. The goal of the Summative Assessment is to evaluate student learning at the end of the year by comparing it against the Standards for that course. Summative assessments are often high stakes, which means that they have a high point value. Teachers can access by computer a vast quantity of statistical analysis, breaking down mountains of data by subject, sub-subject, and individual student. There are lots of informative charts and graphs one can call up– and print for the teacher's permanent records. A more valuable tool to improve student achievement could not be imagined. Of course, it may be too late to fix the flaws for THIS year’s students learning, but, one hopes, the teacher will take to heart what Final Test analyses say about their shortcomings, for the benefit of next year’s students. It is hard to imagine a better system to lead to a Cycle of Continuous Improvement raising ever higher test scores demonstrating student mastery of The Standards. Or is it?
Standards-based education focuses on what can be learned in a nine-month time frame. The goal of the Summative Assessment is to evaluate student learning at the end of the year by comparing it against the Standards for that course. Summative assessments are often high stakes, which means that they have a high point value. Teachers can access by computer a vast quantity of statistical analysis, breaking down mountains of data by subject, sub-subject, and individual student. There are lots of informative charts and graphs one can call up– and print for the teacher's permanent records. A more valuable tool to improve student achievement could not be imagined. Of course, it may be too late to fix the flaws for THIS year’s students learning, but, one hopes, the teacher will take to heart what Final Test analyses say about their shortcomings, for the benefit of next year’s students. It is hard to imagine a better system to lead to a Cycle of Continuous Improvement raising ever higher test scores demonstrating student mastery of The Standards. Or is it?
N.B.: There is no test in the ensuing years (how could there be?) to determine if anything learned in class has lasting value.
N.B.: There is no test in the ensuing years (how could there be?) to determine if anything learned in class has lasting value.
For thirty years I’ve not only imagined, but employed a far more valuable tool: a written class evaluation, asked of each student, with a prompt so vague as to allow students to discuss whatever suits their fancy about the class. Consider Samples A-E, responses to “What did you learn this year in physics (or chemistry)?”
For thirty years I’ve not only imagined, but employed a far more valuable tool: a written class evaluation, asked of each student, with a prompt so vague as to allow students to discuss whatever suits their fancy about the class. Consider Samples A-E, responses to “What did you learn this year in physics (or chemistry)?”
A I’m not going to lie right now. This is the first physics paper I’ve EVER been excited to write, partially because it has nothing to do with physics. A large majority of my acquired knowledge had absolutely nothing to do with physics. . . –Connie Hicks
A I’m not going to lie right now. This is the first physics paper I’ve EVER been excited to write, partially because it has nothing to do with physics. A large majority of my acquired knowledge had absolutely nothing to do with physics. . . –Connie Hicks
B I learned very little physics in this class but who cares? When in life will I see a car going down hill and have to find it’s momentum and velocity to save the church full of kittens? Never. Kittens don’t go to church. . . –Geoffrey Ramirez
B I learned very little physics in this class but who cares? When in life will I see a car going down hill and have to find it’s momentum and velocity to save the church full of kittens? Never. Kittens don’t go to church. . . –Geoffrey Ramirez
C I can’t say I remember much. I can honestly say that I don’t think chemistry is important. The only thing that I learned that has to do with chemistry is balancing equations and I don’t know how I am going to benefit in the future knowing how to do this. I kind of made myself think that I knew what you were teaching because I did not want to admit that I was completely lost. I did not learn much of chemistry. . . –Jessica Pacheco
C I can’t say I remember much. I can honestly say that I don’t think chemistry is important. The only thing that I learned that has to do with chemistry is balancing equations and I don’t know how I am going to benefit in the future knowing how to do this. I kind of made myself think that I knew what you were teaching because I did not want to admit that I was completely lost. I did not learn much of chemistry. . . –Jessica Pacheco
D What I learned in this class that I will still remember in 10 or 20 years has nothing to do with physics. . . –Brittney Moon
D What I learned in this class that I will still remember in 10 or 20 years has nothing to do with physics. . . –Brittney Moon
E I’m not sure if it’s a good sign or a bad sign that the most important lesson I learned in a chemistry class has nothing to do with chemistry. . . –Jeff Kennedy
E I’m not sure if it’s a good sign or a bad sign that the most important lesson I learned in a chemistry class has nothing to do with chemistry. . . –Jeff Kennedy
Samples A-E would give pause to any parent considering enrolling a child in my physics or chemistry class. The focus of a physics class should be_______(DUH) Shouldn’t students coming out of an honors chemistry class know some chemistry, for Avogadro’s sake? Future chemists and physicists would be ill served by an introductory class that did not teach them the basics.
Samples A-E would give pause to any parent considering enrolling a child in my physics or chemistry class. The focus of a physics class should be_______(DUH) Shouldn’t students coming out of an honors chemistry class know some chemistry, for Avogadro’s sake? Future chemists and physicists would be ill served by an introductory class that did not teach them the basics.
I’ll take my chances letting them down. According to the Federal Bureau of Labor Statistics, in 2012, there were 17,820 Americans employed as physicists. With 300,000,000 Americans, that works out to about. . . one physicist for every 15,000 Americans. Since I teach about 150 students a year, when I’ve taught for 100 years I will have taught 15,000 Americans. At that point, odds are that one future physicist will have come under my tutelage, and been disserviced by my irresponsible disregard for The Physics Standards.
I’ll take my chances letting them down. According to the Federal Bureau of Labor Statistics, in 2012, there were 17,820 Americans employed as physicists. With 300,000,000 Americans, that works out to about. . . one physicist for every 15,000 Americans. Since I teach about 150 students a year, when I’ve taught for 100 years I will have taught 15,000 Americans. At that point, odds are that one future physicist will have come under my tutelage, and been disserviced by my irresponsible disregard for The Physics Standards.
Standards true believers would object to this mathematical sophistry. It is a poor justification for not providing my students with such a firm foundation in physics (or chemistry) that, given a prompt like, “What chemistry did you learn this year in Chemistry ?”, they would gush like the popular Elephant’s Toothpaste demonstration. Of course, many of my students do gush about the physics and chemistry they’ve learned. But in many cases, they don’t stop there. You see, I cut off Connie, Geoffrey, Jessica, Brittney, and Jeff (A-E above) just when it was starting to get good. They continue:
Standards true believers would object to this mathematical sophistry. It is a poor justification for not providing my students with such a firm foundation in physics (or chemistry) that, given a prompt like, “What chemistry did you learn this year in Chemistry ?”, they would gush like the popular Elephant’s Toothpaste demonstration. Of course, many of my students do gush about the physics and chemistry they’ve learned. But in many cases, they don’t stop there. You see, I cut off Connie, Geoffrey, Jessica, Brittney, and Jeff (A-E above) just when it was starting to get good. They continue:
A . . . Over the past ten (ish) months, I have grown an unbelievable amount in this class. I have watched the other students around me grow tremendously, as well. I’ve learned more than I ever thought I would in a physics class.
A . . . Over the past ten (ish) months, I have grown an unbelievable amount in this class. I have watched the other students around me grow tremendously, as well. I’ve learned more than I ever thought I would in a physics class.
B . . .We learned about how to see the world without having other people see it for you. We also learned how to read, think, search, and vote. I believe I learned more this year than in any of the years I have spent in school. And I’m proud of it.
B . . .We learned about how to see the world without having other people see it for you. We also learned how to read, think, search, and vote. I believe I learned more this year than in any of the years I have spent in school. And I’m proud of it.
C . . .but I did learn a lot more things that I can benefit from in the future. You taught us to pay attention to the world. You made us think about the war, oil, politics, and how the government is. You never told us what was right or what was wrong or to change our beliefs, but just to research and make sure we knew what we were standing for. You basically emphasized that voting is important and when we get the chance to do it, we better do it. Out of all the teachers that I had you weren’t just concerned with teaching us about the subject we were supposed to be learning, you were also trying to teach us about how life is. I think that learning all this stuff is way more important than any subject.
C . . .but I did learn a lot more things that I can benefit from in the future. You taught us to pay attention to the world. You made us think about the war, oil, politics, and how the government is. You never told us what was right or what was wrong or to change our beliefs, but just to research and make sure we knew what we were standing for. You basically emphasized that voting is important and when we get the chance to do it, we better do it. Out of all the teachers that I had you weren’t just concerned with teaching us about the subject we were supposed to be learning, you were also trying to teach us about how life is. I think that learning all this stuff is way more important than any subject.
D . . .It’s not an equation we learned or a project we did, it’s not even the students I met. What I learned that will stay with me for a very long time is that there are actually teachers who become teachers because they love the students.
D . . .It’s not an equation we learned or a project we did, it’s not even the students I met. What I learned that will stay with me for a very long time is that there are actually teachers who become teachers because they love the students.
E . . .Mr. Ratcliffe, thank you for being what I’m sure most other students would call a “bad teacher.” Where other teachers challenged me with dates to memorize and facts to analyze, you were the only one to not only ask me questions that I had no idea how to even begin to answer, but who welcomed/prepared me for the “real world”. Not everything that’s worth knowing is going to be in a book right in front of you, or taught to a certain curriculum, and you proved that to the entire class plenty of times. At the end of the journey that is your chemistry class, I feel not only utterly confused, but glad to have been a part of it. You effectively stripped me of most of my academic self-confidence, but yet left me wanting to fail if that meant learning an essential lesson. The most important thing I learned in your class is that life is definitely not fair, and that it will kick you to the ground no matter who you are. . . if you’re not ready. Even though teaching life lessons may not be a crowd pleaser to a class full of grade-dependent, caffeine-addicted college-bound students who have never seen a B before entering your class, I think that the lessons taught in this class will stay with me much longer than those of any of my other classes; and as sad as I am for getting a B, I’d like to believe that what I’m taking away from your class is worth more than any A.
E . . .Mr. Ratcliffe, thank you for being what I’m sure most other students would call a “bad teacher.” Where other teachers challenged me with dates to memorize and facts to analyze, you were the only one to not only ask me questions that I had no idea how to even begin to answer, but who welcomed/prepared me for the “real world”. Not everything that’s worth knowing is going to be in a book right in front of you, or taught to a certain curriculum, and you proved that to the entire class plenty of times. At the end of the journey that is your chemistry class, I feel not only utterly confused, but glad to have been a part of it. You effectively stripped me of most of my academic self-confidence, but yet left me wanting to fail if that meant learning an essential lesson. The most important thing I learned in your class is that life is definitely not fair, and that it will kick you to the ground no matter who you are. . . if you’re not ready. Even though teaching life lessons may not be a crowd pleaser to a class full of grade-dependent, caffeine-addicted college-bound students who have never seen a B before entering your class, I think that the lessons taught in this class will stay with me much longer than those of any of my other classes; and as sad as I am for getting a B, I’d like to believe that what I’m taking away from your class is worth more than any A.
Amidst the frantic rush by teachers to cover all the Critical Standards the elephant in the room is rarely noticed: Most students don’t give a rat’s ass about Standards. True, some care about their score on the test of those Standards. But I’ve yet to hear a student explain to me why they want to get a high CAASPP score besides the tautological “because I want to get high scores.”) Most students, if they do study, feel compelled to do so (extrinsic motivation), rather than driven to do so by the magic of intrinsic motivation. As Exhibits A-E above make clear, the problem is not that students lack motivation to learn. It is when each student chooses what he/she finds most compelling (which may have nothing to do with physics–“who cares”?) that they learn the Important Stuff. When each student is excited to come to class because of the Important Stuff they are learning, they are far more receptive to learning the subject matter of the course as well. It doesn’t matter that each student’s Important Stuff is different. Each student is different. Mass production works on cars, not kids. Forty eight years of class evaluations have proven to me that the greatest strides in education of the person occur when each student chooses which challenges to work on. Though that growth eludes quantification, it is nevertheless the most important Value Added to each student. Can that value be quantified? The more relevant question might be: What do we sacrifice by believing the answer is "Yes"?
Amidst the frantic rush by teachers to cover all the Critical Standards the elephant in the room is rarely noticed: Most students don’t give a rat’s ass about Standards. True, some care about their score on the test of those Standards. But I’ve yet to hear a student explain to me why they want to get a high CAASPP score besides the tautological “because I want to get high scores.”) Most students, if they do study, feel compelled to do so (extrinsic motivation), rather than driven to do so by the magic of intrinsic motivation. As Exhibits A-E above make clear, the problem is not that students lack motivation to learn. It is when each student chooses what he/she finds most compelling (which may have nothing to do with physics–“who cares”?) that they learn the Important Stuff. When each student is excited to come to class because of the Important Stuff they are learning, they are far more receptive to learning the subject matter of the course as well. It doesn’t matter that each student’s Important Stuff is different. Each student is different. Mass production works on cars, not kids. Forty eight years of class evaluations have proven to me that the greatest strides in education of the person occur when each student chooses which challenges to work on. Though that growth eludes quantification, it is nevertheless the most important Value Added to each student. Can that value be quantified? The more relevant question might be: What do we sacrifice by believing the answer is "Yes"?
The following Chapter dives into what can be learned when we realize that nine months is far too short a time frame to know the long term results of what goes on in our classrooms.
The following Chapter dives into what can be learned when we realize that nine months is far too short a time frame to know the long term results of what goes on in our classrooms.
The findings may be worth N.B.-ing.
The findings may be worth N.B.-ing.
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