Reading Chapter 4 of Curriculum 21 by Heidi Hayes Jacobs really got me thinking about our current "school program structure" and how it would benefit our learners to reinvent and reunite what is currently in place. There was one particular section of this chapter that really stuck with me. This is the section about schedules. To be more specific, the sub-section, "Against Graduation as We Know It." This information left me feeling both inspired and perplexed.
The structure that we currently have in place says that once a student has completed kindergarten through 12th grade, they have "graduated." While there are some exceptions (like retention), students are expected to complete a precise 13 years of schooling. HH Jacobs suggests that perhaps there shouldn't be a set number of years. She says, "We need to give our learners the time that they need to grow and to be ready for launch" (pg. 64). This would seem to benefit any type of student. Students that need a little more time can easily be given an extra year or more to work toward a diploma. On the other hand, for those students that are ready (but have to wait) to move on to higher education, they will be given that opportunity to move on when they are ready. This was what I found to be so inspiring. Now that I have read about this idea, I'm interested in knowing what's next.
I suppose this would be where the "perplexed" feeling comes in. I'm perplexed because I want to know: why (if this makes as much sense as I think it does) are we not moving toward a structure more similar to the one that HH Jacobs describes? What needs to happen for a structure like this to be put in place? I know this isn't just something that can happen overnight, but something needs to change, right?
In some ways I think we are moving towards this structure with standards based curriculum. If students are proving that they're mastering all of the standards then they can move on. Students who don't meet the standards will have to keep attempting until the standard is mastered. I'm sure it will take a long to get to a point where students can graduate once all standards are mastered - but I think that is the direction we're headed in.
ReplyDeleteJ is right...we are moving in that direction...but one of the biggest problems with public schools and making improvements is the terrifically SLOW pace of change. Think about it...every other aspect of our society is moving at lightning speed. If we waited for medical research to work on a school model...we would still be using leeches and blood letting!
ReplyDeleteAnd this gets much more complicated when you think about why this is so. It isn't just the people in schools slowing things down. The general public must like that schools still look much like they did 100 years ago. How else could we explain this?
The type of flexible structure that Jacobs refers to makes perfect sense...and that is the problem. It is rational, but not intuitive.
This is something that we discussed in our team meeting this morning. We talked about how implementing this and many other ideas that Jacobs refers to would be ideal but it is unless you have everyone on board and the means in which to execute this plan, that is all it is - ideal.
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