The Fabled Pushme-Pullyou

                                               

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Like the mythical pushme-pullyou of the Doctor Dolittle tale, the Common Core is sending educators scurrying; at times in opposite directions. Arne Duncan has stated that the Federal government won’t stipulate even a “single semicolon” of Common Core curricula. In doing so, he is obliging each state, district, school, and teacher to seek compatible curricula from revenue producing “big curricula”. These unvetted programs are being sold by publishers, test developers, alliances, and others who seek financial gain. Alternatively, it means that 100,000 schools, with over 3 million teachers, prepare to meet the testing needs of 55 million students in the U.S. (www.census.gov/) (http://nces.ed.gov/) by writing their own curriculum. This isn’t exactly raising the bar and leveling the playing field as promised. It seems like another pushme-pullyou; of using limited instructional resources or taking time away from teaching to support Common Core implementation.

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Yin Yang of Education

http://www.thersa.org/events/rsashorts/susan-cain-the-power-of-quiet

“Author Susan Cain shines a spotlight on introverts and reveals how over time our society has come to look to extroverts as leaders. Not suggesting that one is better than the other, Susan argues that the world needs an equal space between introverts and extroverts; that an innovative, creative world wouldn’t be the same without the two coming together.”

But whose ideas are we listening to in education and assessment?

In response to extroverted tabloid headlines, there are quieter and wiser voices at CRESST and American Educational Research Association (for research), National Research Council (for synthesis of research), Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (for global data),  ATC21S (for 21^st century skills) and Ted Talks for insightful analysis.

Déjà Vu All Over Again

To quote Yogi Berra, I had an epiphany this week as I was cleaning out some very old books and came across a curriculum from the 1970's. To my chagrin, each of the units of instruction had clearly stated "performance objectives", student learning outcomes through all levels of Blooms taxonomy, and applied learning activities. Each also included instructional strategies, case studies for students, analysis of readings, and varied assessment strategies. 

Even some of the multiple choice questions required deeper understanding such as this one:

According to Siegler, the critical period, as related to learning, is applied in everyday activities with children because

 A. children will not attempt a given task at another period

 B. frustration results if activities are presented at any other time

 C. Success with development tasks during childhood lays a good foundation for later
      development

 D. These activities are easier to plan and implement

I hope you are smiling along with me at this déjà vu moment as we advance towards writing the new Common Core curriculum.