These activities isolated my thinking from colleagues except for a like-thinking principal, a distinguished professor, and a support group, mostly national because local parochial views for age-grade classes prevailed. My teaching changed to student-teacher planning, competency-based outcomes, and student-managed learning. It was then I rebooted my focus from teaching to learning based on experiential thinking (though we didn’t use the term then). Though there were strident calls for reform little change occurred beyond rhetoric. Studies tell us students do like school because they enjoy seeing their friends and sometimes like an individual teacher or subject. Students did not seem to like school very much. Some students were demoralized because of failures. Students forgot most of the subject matter from previous years. Rethinking Assumptions about Schoolįrom my earliest days as a teacher, the need for change was evident. Reform is not enough.Ĭould a transformation have done better? In this article, we’ll explore transformation: what it is, its rationale, and its effects. Tinkering with the conventional school model, despite the funding for activities like staff training, different curricula, greater attention to special needs, tutoring, and a longer school day and year have fallen short of anticipated results. The gigantic sums of money produced dismal results. Learning shortcomings have led to massive grants for such cities as Miami ($100 million), Philadelphia ($150 million), and Newark ($200 million) to increase learning as measured by test scores. Reforms do not suffer lack of determination nor lack of money. These days, we again hear persistent cries for school reform from study commissions, books, parents, pundits, and educators, some within the school establishment. Transformed school models, though not perfect, represent a substantial contrast between the conventional schools we all attended and new approaches to learning beyond textbooks, classrooms, and a pre-determined curriculum. Both changes support a means of travel but differ significantly for propulsion power. School transformation is like replacing the internal combustion engine for electric-drive cars. School reform is like adding an automobile accessory like a backup camera. Any experiential change of a school faces complex issues-resistance, deeply established practices, teacher and administrator entrenched rules, and parental preference for traditional schooling as in “school is school.” The concept, school transformation, warrants an examination of conventional views and practices for their effectiveness in preparing elementary and secondary students for essential roles of citizen, career participant, lifelong learner, and in the growth of personal interests.
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