Goals of education

I'm watching Randi Weingarten give her Chautauqua speech (access from "Chautauqua" post) and she's made some really interesting points about how our goals for education have changed a lot more than our structure has.  She relates the 45 minute class, 3 minute turnover, and bubble filling tests to a time when we were training our students for factories.  Now, our job is to prepare all kids for a knowledge economy. 

This part of the speech relates to the guy I studied for my Education Hall of Fame project - John Goodlad.  John Goodlad is behind the biggest educational study we've ever had.  With the help of over 27,000 people he observed classrooms across the United States and found some similarities across the board.  One of his observations was that our education system had no formal or united goals for our students.  He outlined four goals for American students.  1. Academic, they should be knowledgeable and intellectual.  2. Vocation, they should be prepared to work and contribute to economy.  3. Social/Civic, they should be prepared to be a part of a democratic society.  4. Personal, they should develop individuality and creativity.  John Goodlad published A Place Called School about his observations throughout the study in 1983. I've ordered it because, after researching him, I believe that a lot of what he writes about is especially relevant to today's educational system.

Google Books, A Place Called School: http://books.google.com-a_place/

Last post today - "Promise Neighborhoods"

I'm not really in the mood to keep up on news today so I didn't really do too much searching.  There is one more article I'll post only because it reminded me of one of the schools we visited on Friday.  The article is on WCCO, you don't need to bother reading it because it doesn't say much more than many communities want funding to become Promise Neighborhoods and that it was based on the Harlem Children's Zone, but works with a much smaller budget.  It doesn't articulate what a Promise Neighborhood* is or what the Harlem Children's Zone** is.  (Article here/ )

The school that came to mind while reading the article was John A. Johnson elementary school, which is an "Achievement Plus" school - a school that integrates the families, the community, and public and private resources.  It seemed like a pretty noble organization.  98% of the school students are on free and reduced lunch; with such a high percentage, we can assume that the families are in need.  The school is home to the traditional elementary education program, but also houses East Side Family Center, East Side Learning Center, East Side YMCA, Goodwill Easter Seals, Children's Dental Clinic, Wilder Therapist, and St. Mary's Medical Clinic.  While we were there we saw fliers for a community baby shower and brochures on how to find work.  The school provides opportunities for families to get their needs met, and if the families needs are met, the children are better able to focus on school.  To add a less important note - I couldn't believe how quiet the school was!  I think it is more quiet than a normal school because of the space, but after spending a year working in big room housing 3 teachers, 5 paras and 90 kindergartners, the silence was almost eerie.

While we were there Principal Melissa Lehmann told us about an AFT article that praised John A. Johnson.  In it AFT president Randi Weingarten is quoted saying: “Johnson Elementary gets it—schools must be the centers of our communities, a safe haven where children can receive the services they need to mitigate the adverse effects of poverty on academic achievement. The Achievement Plus model is an example of how effective schools can be when these services are provided in conjunction with efforts to improve teaching and learning.”

The article can be found here: http://www.aft.org/newspubs/press/2010/051910.cfm  - it's about the Pink Hearts not Pink Slips campaign.


* The Promise Neighborhood grant awards non-profits funding to create a cradle-to-career education system in "distressed" neighborhoods. More information here.html

** Harlem Children's Zone is similar in it's approach to education, the website for the Harlem Children's Zone is http://www.hcz.org/