VIRGINIA BEACH
After two years of quiet planning, the superintendent of schools has unveiled his vision. Jim Merrill wants to overhaul teaching and focus on critical thinking instead of test preparation.
For the past decade, the state's public schools have adjusted teaching to fit Standards of Learning tests, the yardstick used to measure school performance.
"You could pass SOLs and still fail a kid," Merrill said.
His new direction is the key idea behind a six-year plan. The School Board will consider a draft at its annual retreat this weekend.
To prepare, the board heard a presentation by Tony Wagner, co-director of the Change Leadership Group at Harvard University's Graduate School of Education. He told them that although about three-quarters of students and teachers believe high school graduates have learned the basics, only about a third of employers and college professors agree.
"We need to teach all students to think," Wagner said.
Merrill's vision includes preparing students with 21st-century skills such as writing, innovation, motivation and collaboration.
"This is what teachers want to do, anyway," Merrill said. "I think that's what they're saying when they say they're sick of teaching to the test. We have dampened them a lot with accountability."
That doesn't mean teaching the state standards will go away.
"It's about changing how you do instruction," Merrill said. Principals will hear his ideas in August, and training would be rolled out gradually.
"I think that's fantastic," Gov. Timothy M. Kaine said of Merrill's plan. "I think we should always encourage schools and teachers to be creative." He said he'd support adjusting the SOLs to measure new skills.
Mary Voss, a Beach parent on the strategic planning committee, said technology is changing faster than students can keep up.
"If we teach them how to find the information they need - how to be learners - they'll be capable of handling whatever's thrown at them," she said.
One major way to get students interested in learning, Merrill said, is by making it relevant and hands-on.
A group of teachers at Lloyd C. Bird High School in Chesterfield County plans to start doing just that this fall. A few dozen students will do several design projects, each tied to their core classes.
For example, the students may be assigned to build a catapult in their engineering class, said coordinator Nancy Hoover. In physics, they'll learn about projectile motion and angle. In math, they'll graph angle and range to learn the relationship, she said.
"We don't have to do this the way we've always done it," Principal Beth Teigen said. If the pilot works, the school hopes to expand the concept.
Wagner told the board that Virginia Beach may be unique if it implements its ideas citywide.
"We have an opportunity, collectively, to do something amazing," he said.
The idea of broad-based change excites Virginia Beach board members. Creative, project-based learning is already being done in some schools and programs around the city.
"What we teach students in gifted education, we should be teaching all of our students," board member Sandra Smith-Jones said. "That's what we're missing."
Merrill said it's worth taking the risk that test scores might stagnate or drop in the short term.
"I feel a very strong, compelling motivation for doing what's really right for a change," he said.
Dominic Melito, head of the Virginia Beach Education Association, said teachers will need to feel they can try new approaches without endangering their jobs. If that happens, test results will follow, he said.
"There's no reason we can't be a model for the region, the state and the nation."
Lauren Roth, (757) 222-5133, lauren.roth@pilotonline.com
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How ironic!
I am amused at how many college profs say that high schools are not adequately preparing students for college. The same college profs prescribe differentiated instruction methodologies in secondary schools as part of the college preparation. Ironically, the college freshmen end up in auditoriums with 200+ other students watching a widescreen as a professor's lecture is being simulcast from some remote location. Face it, most college prof's lecture then assess using bubble sheet tests in a testing center located somewhere else on campus. College profs should practice what they preach!
Next time
you need to hire a plumber, electrician or AC&R tech, look closely at your bill. You pay a lot. Knocking a teaching system like Vocational Tech schools is crazy. Talking about hands on education, when you leave even a mediocre tech school you have what you need to be a decent enough plumber, electrician or AC tech, a little experience is all you need to succeed. I pay a small fortune a year just to have an AC guy do semi-anual preventative maintenance. My point is, kids can be taught well using hands on and project methods. Back in the day we actually rebuilt engines and cars in shop class as well as learned the basics without NCLB or SOL's hampering our teachers...
Hey, hey! <smile>
Considering we just got *both* of our A/C units replaced, I don't consider HVAC engineers to be kids who "didn't cut the mustard." I understand what you all are saying--that not everyone will finish (nor even start) college--but we can treat all professions with dignity (and I said "professions" on purpose). My husband and I are degreed professionals but we were helpless in a 90 degree house without our friendly HVAC engineers. Cheers, MGM
Vocational Tech
"Stop making excuses for the kids that don't cut the mustard and ..."
This is truly the only answer. We will always need linemen, masons, plumbers, electricians, HVAC engineers, sewer engineers, medical and nursing assistants, etc ...
This would provide a much more diverse and greater quality entry level workforce. Not everyone can go to college, regardless of what we have been told for years. We were lied to, in the name of feel goodness. Get them out of our high school classes, and give these kids a chance. This continual drivel about higher education for all is setting them up for failure.
Creativity Inside and Out of the Classroom
I think the plan is great...but, I have been around long enough to know that in education, there are many things that have been proposed and look good on paper, but reality comes in the implementation. If we want teachers to encourage students to be creative....those same teachers have to be allowed to use their creativity inside their classrooms. The seeds of creativity do not flourish in an atmosphere of micro-management and recipes for curriculum delivery.
In order for the VBCPS Superintendent's plan to be successful, ALL ideas and voices must be heard and respected. So far, there is very little evidence, at least behind the scenes, that this is truly happening.
Does this mean that Old Donation and many of the academies, which seem to be the templates for this plan, will no longer exist? That will be the true test of this plan.
No, Jasona
You make the same false assumption made by the general public and and ignorant education administrators (most of whom have very minimal teaching experience) that got us into the NCLB/teaching to the test mess in the first place.
Simply being able to respond to SOL material in a multiple choice format is no indication of depth of understanding or mastery of the material. Multiple choice tests do not require the logic or depth of understanding required by research, writing, discussion, and active problem solving. Students are routinely taught strategies for tackling the tests to minimize incorrect answers. These are strategies that can be used on any such test, regardless of the content.
Any 3rd grader in the state can make these associations: Columbus/Spain/New World/riches: Ponce de Leon/Spain/Florida: Cartier/France/Canada: Newport/England/Virginia. Ask them why any of i
To the moon
I wonder, how many of you commenting here are educators? How many of you are parents? Ask yourself this question . . . how do my kids learn best? Then ask a teacher how many times he or she must ask that question for each of the students in each class they teach!
My opinion may not be that of a Harvard professor, but how in the world did America teach the engineers and scientists that put us on the moon? That created the personal computer? That continue to expand the longevity of humans? I don't think the education system of 30 or 40 years ago had a snazzy new name for every new process that came up each year - they practiced effective direct instruction, group and individual practice, and ACCOUNTABILITY FROM THE STUDENT. Stop making excuses for the kids that don't cut the mustard and send them along a Vocational Technology path . . . and then look at the ones responsible - their parents!
Chang is part of education
Teachers should be sick and tired of teaching to the test and welcome a change in philosophy regarding how we approach preparing students for the future. I am not sure that the entire division needs to embark on a 'new way" but rather a pilot of several schools may prove to be more prudent so the divison can use the data to improve upon the original plan since we know no matter how comprehensive the plan is in its current state it will need to be changed over the course of 6 years.
This is Dilbert at its best!
The "Harvard Change Leadership Group" K-12 program was established in 1999. How can the true effectiveness of such a program be measured, when the first students are only freshmen in high school?
If you google "change management", you'll find nearly eleven million entries. Every corporate manager, and most employees, have been exposed to the concepts. Flavor of the day. No basic change normally happens. But...good news....the "experts" make lots of money. Have "Harvard" in your group's name, and the fees quadruple. This is Dilbert at its best!
Sorry for the negativity, but the best thing we could do for the kids is scrap NCLB and the SOL's, eliminate tenure for educators, fire incompetent administrators and teachers, put teachers in the same salary strata as Engineers, and let them teach! They know how to....at least the good ones do.
After 2 years of watching....
Yet another "plan" to change education and turn our students into critical thinkers and in 6 years if this doesn't pan out, we'll find another plan from some other educational expert. It's great that we want critical thinkers but our students still lack a basic foundation in math, English and science. We don't expect a brain surgeon to come up with a new surgery technique with having spent years on the basics of medicine and surgery. Our students cannot become engaged thinkers unless they understand basic math and science concepts. They cannot become creative writers unless they can read at grade level and understand how to compose a sentence using correct grammar. Va. Beach wants to homogenize education for all students but that isn't working. We need to go back to tracking students and placing them in similar groups so that teachers can move beyond the basics with students who need the c
Before the SOL's ...
it was basically "every teacher for his or her own self." While they all had the same textbooks (most of the time), every teacher taught the curriculum their own way. For instance, in Science, if one teacher was very interested and well-versed in ocean life, it got heavy emphasis while plants and trees got short shrift. The 8th grade teacher in Room 501 taught science differently than the 8th grade teacher in Room 502. Teachers in Roanoke taught different science than those in Virginia Beach. SOL's standardized the menu throughout the state. While SOL's seem to demand "lock-step" conformity, they do allow some flexibility. They aren't the end all, be all, but they certainly are an improvement over the past. HOW they are taught depends on the teacher. A good, repeat GOOD, teacher CAN satisfy the SOL's AND make the students THINK while they learn.
Try out the SOLs
There's old SOL tests available on-line. Try to take them yourself. You'll find they are very well designed and require an array of knowledge and skills to pass. The phrase "teaching to the test" is really a nonsensical cliche.
Finally Someone Gets It!
This will be a good change, and it's not a gimmick. It's real life. Think about how we learn outside of school. Think about what kids do outside of school. Most of it is not what we do inside of school. We desperately need the change. Education needs to keep up with the real world, which is moving fast, and the kids are keeping up much better than we adults are.
Thank you, Dr. Merrill!
I'm all for learning beyond
I'm all for learning beyond the SOL's. The SOL's have forced teachers into a very strict curriculum, one that focuses primarily on testing and the test questions. There is no room for thinking out of the box, experiments and hands on activities. Why not appeal to all types of learners (visual, auditory, etc) and better prepare them for college and the real world. College and the real world have little to nothing to do with the SOL's. Accountability is fine but the SOL's have really taken over any "freedom" a teacher had with her classroom. Any change is a welcome one as far as I'm concerned!
I'm not done yet...
I'd be curious to see exactly what type of classroom experience this Tony Wagner has. What are his credentials? Its hard enough that teachers have to find ways reach the low-level learner, high-level learner, the in-between learner, the audio learner, the visual learner, the haptic learner..etc... If any of these programs really worked, they wouldn't be trying to change them every couple of years. Teachers are just puppets on a string. Forced to attend training and implement the "newest" thing in education. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for change and finding ways to reach all students. I do have a problem with teachers being told by an over-paid "Harvard" professor what will work best in their classroom. Of course Mr. Wagner would like to see this implemented city-wide. It means more $ for him. Don't they know that teachers already do "project-based" techniques? There is no new revelati
Finally
Project based learning isn't a new concept, and it is one that has been implemented in Albemarle County, VA with HUGE results, and has the backing of Teachers College at Columbia University. As a teacher who came from that district and currently a VBCPS employee, I am happy about this change. I want to go beyond the SOLs, and now that I know I've got the superintendent on board, I feel more comfortable about applying what I've learned through UVA. I know that several teachers will complain, but that's okay. As long as I get to teach how I want to teach, I'm happy.
Just another gimmick
First of all "hands-on" isn't free. No program is effective unless you have the money to back it. Heck in science dept, they're lucky if they have $6000 to divide amungst 17 teachers in the dept. This also sounds like the next "new" thing. It seems everytime some "education expert" comes up with some new gimmick to "reach" students, the admin pays them out the ying-yang and then requires all teachers to go through some sort of useless training. Let's see, there's Kagan, UBD and another one that lets the students accumulate "free time" to be used at the end of the block. I'm sure the school system will pay Tony Wagner big bucks to come speak. The reason kids fail a course and pass the SOL is because you need a very minimum background of knowledge to pass th SOL. Teacher expectations are higher. The SOL's, esp in Biology, don't cover the in-depth material covered in class. Since when is 26/50 passing in the real world?
Government training schools
Set low expectations, low requirements, and have no moral authority. They pass students that can't read, because they are not allowed to hold them back or kick them out. Politics now utterly controls government schools. Liberal "feel good" politics. Schools today prepare students to be good, mindless, stupid followers of whatever "rock star", charismatic (or not) politician that pops up. As long as the feds control the money, the feds will use the schools to their own advantage. Don't be gullible folks, it won't change. Raise your own kids. Teach your own kids. If you don't, soon enough they will be more the government's kids than yours.
Ah, but that's OK. Pop another beer and watch the evening news. Kids are just too much work.
"Thinkers" have to follow policies and rules, too.
You can't get them as students to follow the rules and policies (e. g., no cell phones in school), yet you want them to be critical thinkers and more effective employees. I guess the new approach will equip them to better figure out how to beat the system, much like their teachers and parents do.
BASICS FIRST
This all sounds good, and I hope it can work. However, I think Merrill & Co. are missing an even bigger piece of the puzzle. The flat-out fact is that most children entering 7th and even 8th grade have not learned their multiplication table, long division, and other basic math skills that would go a long way toward developing future skills. Want proof? Go up to a few 12- or 13-year-old kids and ask them "what's 7 times 6?" I will guarantee you that most of them will guess. One in about six will actually know the answer.
For further proof, next time you're at a fast-food restaurant, ask the cashier to calculate mentally the change for your $10 bill on your $5.74 (or whatever) meal BEFORE she/he punches it into the register. They can't do it. I've done this numerous times -- and have yet to get a right answer.
Useless without core knowledge
Thinking with bad information just leads to false conclusions. It also doesn't do you any good to teach people how to find information if they think they already know it or don't have enough background to develop the context to find it.