Anyone who has ever grown fruit trees knows that you HAVE to prune branches that have borne fruit several years in a row to make new growth available that will produce at higher levels than tired old branches...
The same is with the reform movement...
It appears that a small branch budding out from the fiasco of corporate driven reform may take American education up to the next level of learning... It just poked out its head this year, and is causing a stir among those in the top of the corporate movement who are frustrated their investments have gone sour....
It looks promising, but with that we should also take note that when Common Core was rolled out, it too looked promising.... And still would, if it hadn't been hijacked by others with not-so-hot agendas.....
But IF handled right, and IF teachers are given the entire responsibility of driving the educational process, this new technological advancement could indeed revolutionize the results of educational success......
It is called "individualized learning"....
I have at times previously mentioned that is what we truly need in classes was an 11:1 student teacher ratio... guaranteeing individualized attention to each and every student across America. Just make sure each teacher and student have an educational relationship, one that will drive learning across all topics... Because, face it, individual attention pays off.... We all thrive under individual attention, even as adults.
What the fiasco of Common Core and the two national tests have done, is drive broadband into all schools... This will be the prime achievement of Common Core when viewed backwards from the future... All those fiber-optics laid, those pieces of hardware purchased, even if for the wrong agendas, are still there and can be now used, for "individualized" or "personalized learning"... The lessons are catered and based on the progress of each individual student..... Smarter students can pass the bars quickly and move on; students challenged by poverty can get individualized instructions on the individual pieces missing, and meet those standards set for them.... Teachers have computers track all so they don't waste their personal time grading sheafs of papers... All testing will be done electronically... spitting out grades, printed results, rankings, and custom needs each student could use....
I should mention that this movement is being fueled from the ground up; not like Common Core from the Exec's down.... Educators and entrepreneurs are applying their teaching experience into making this next generation of products, which in turn will be bought by individual districts across this country....
In the end, it will be teachers who transform learning... student by student.....
Today's reality is that we are in the "early days." Things are confusing. Marketers are hawking but no
Consumer Reports type ranking has yet tested and rated these wares upon their effectiveness.... But if we can indeed move ourselves in this direction, America can truly be pioneers in education....
But it really isn't hard with today's testing, and the right answer could come from AIR, or Pearson, or someone we've never heard of who comes up with the right feedback system.... But today we can see which questions are being missed, and if we can program our software to know which pieces of knowledge that question covered, we can quickly see with a key stroke what is missing in that child's development....
Likewise any gifted child, as soon as he has met his standard, can advance up into the next level quickly mastering that and moving forwards... With such a wealth of knowledge detailing the educational needs and abilities of each child, the necessity of going to an 11:1 student teacher ratio is now even more acute....
As with any Big 10 Football Program concerned with achieving the National Championship.... we simply have to disassociate ourselves from concern over cost.
Instead we, like them, need to focus on results.... With football it is measured in ... wins. In eduction.... it will also be measured in.... wins....