Education - high stakes testing
Originally posted by Pat Buoncristiani
As an educator I am deeply disturbed by the grip that high stakes testing has taken on American schools. I watched the breadth and depth of curriculum and learning shrink as the focus was more and more relentlessly on the raising of test scores. This was particularly true in so called low achieving, low socio-economic schools. I am presently in Australia and fear a similar trend is developing here. Learning how to think takes time. How do we protect thinking time and creativity in our schools when our teachers are anxious and fearful about the next round of test scores? We work with schools introducing and implementing Habits of Mind and I am conscious that the schools that seek our help are typically schools with middle class populations, where parent involvement is acceptable, where there are books at home and time for conversation. How do we ensure that the teaching of thinking is central in the schools where most of the kids come from single parent families, where the breadwinner holds down two (and sometimes three) different jobs, where there are few or no books and where fatigue makes conversation a chore rather than a pleasure. These schools struggle with test scores and the pressures on teachers are huge. Communities of generational poverty will perpetuate if we cannot break the cycle and help them become thought filled, creative communities.
As an educator I am deeply disturbed by the grip that high stakes testing has taken on American schools. I watched the breadth and depth of curriculum and learning shrink as the focus was more and more relentlessly on the raising of test scores. This was particularly true in so called low achieving, low socio-economic schools. I am presently in Australia and fear a similar trend is developing here. Learning how to think takes time. How do we protect thinking time and creativity in our schools when our teachers are anxious and fearful about the next round of test scores? We work with schools introducing and implementing Habits of Mind and I am conscious that the schools that seek our help are typically schools with middle class populations, where parent involvement is acceptable, where there are books at home and time for conversation. How do we ensure that the teaching of thinking is central in the schools where most of the kids come from single parent families, where the breadwinner holds down two (and sometimes three) different jobs, where there are few or no books and where fatigue makes conversation a chore rather than a pleasure. These schools struggle with test scores and the pressures on teachers are huge. Communities of generational poverty will perpetuate if we cannot break the cycle and help them become thought filled, creative communities.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Bhuvaneshwar Joshi on -
Your point is well taken.The problem,in my view,is even more serious because the teaching of 'creative Thinking' is taken up as routine teaching and expected to be evaluated in rutine way. The fact of the matter is that 'evaluation" is a critical thinking process and before using it against creative thinking performance one needs to develop standard norms for performance,particularly for the low socio economic schools. This is a major task which should be udertaken by the governments across countries that have introduced creative thinking courses.
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Permalink Reply by Graeme Allan on
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First I'm keen to learn what 'creative thinking' might be. OK, I can find a dictionary definition, but what do teachers in your experience actually do when they claim to teach 'creative thinking?'
'Routine' presupposes formality - teaching creative thinking formally. Does this happen in your experience? If so, where?
No, 'evaluation' need not be a critical thinking process, if the teacher organizing the evaluation is operating in the parallel thinking mode. Students sometimes ask, at the end of such a session: So what is the answer? There may be no 'answer'. Life is like that. Schools are not necessarily reflections of the real world. There's the pity.
I'm also keen to learn what governments have introduced 'creative thinking courses'. Is this a formal part of a national/regional curiculum or a speculation?
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Permalink Reply by Bhuvaneshwar Joshi on
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No, I am not aware of any schools teaching Creative Thinking here in my city but graduate students are taught some of the techniques. You are right that skill learning can be tested after the training is over but by evaluation I was referring to Impact of creative thinking which is over a period of time andneed to be evaluated differently. By 'routine 'teaching of creative thinking I mechanistic way of teaching-so typical in the critical mode.It distroys the very essence of creative thinking.
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Nope, to my mind, and on this site we are permitted to have our personal view, you and me, 'evaluation' 'reflection', even metacognition is Blue Hat thinking.
There is some difference between the general interpretation of evaluation and Blue Hat thinking. Two elements are worth mentioning. First, reflection/evaluation - I dislike semantics - need not be undertaken at the end of a thinking session. Blue Hat thinking is used often, at the beginning of an exploration: What do we want here? How should we go about it...? Depending on the situation, the Blue hat can be used 'mid-course': Where are we going now? Do we need to change direction? When used at the 'end' - there may never be an end to an exploration - the focus with the Blue Hat is on the next step, not summing up, not concluding.
The power of the Blue Hat is its ability to maintain a thinking 'path' with a focus on a decision that leads to action. Note, I have not used the word, conclusion. This is the de Bono principle of operacy - the skill of doing. If the Blue Hat is used often and effectively, it doesn't replace evaluation, it enhances the process by being on-going, available at any time.
If you check out the curent discussion about the Australian curriculum, you will find most making their points of view known. If I were to use critical thinking on those comments, I would become tied up with 'right', 'wrong', 'off the point'...What we are seeing on that forum is parallel thinking, a style de Bono Thinkers use without criticism or judgement. In every way, that style broadens the view of the situation. For edample, a viewpoint I may think, initially is silly, after some contemplation may be a point of view that I had missed or forgotten.
My thinking is that soon, we will need a Blue Hat session to decided, in parallel, where the discussion is headed. To this point, I feel this particular discussion is one of the most open and productive seen on this site. I'm sure critical thinkers would feel slightly disorientated in that setting.
All the best from Kaunas
Bhuvaneshwar Joshi said:Your point is well taken.The problem,in my view,is even more serious because the teaching of 'creative Thinking' is taken up as routine teaching and expected to be evaluated in rutine way. The fact of the matter is that 'evaluation" is a critical thinking process and before using it against creative thinking performance one needs to develop standard norms for performance,particularly for the low socio economic schools. This is a major task which should be udertaken by the governments across countries that have introduced creative thinking courses.
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Permalink Reply by Raymund Kwok on -
I found "think"and "hard working"should co-exist in the education systems. We need students to work hard to achieve certain goals while teaching them to think. Similarly, we need our teachers to work hard to teach students to achieve the goals while at the same time help students to think.
I agree we need to help the weaker part of the population. So, work harder and thick smarter to help them. Why we want the better part of the population to use a less effective route?
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Raymund,
I agree."Think" and 'hard work' are admirable goals.
Three points:
First:
The thinking person, the new sort of person Maslow wrote about in the 50's - skilled, independent, democratic, forward looking, courageous and unafraid, innovative, a listener, a doer rather than a talker - these are some of the attributes needed for this millennium. Do schools develop and build this new sort of person?
Second:
'Hard work' is very much a cultural construct. When working in New Zealand schools, 08:30-16:00 was regarded by most as 'hard work'. When working in Beijing, on three different occasions, 07:30-19:30 was 'normal'. In this country, 'a long day' begins after 11-12 hours or 'normal work'.
My question to you, with apologies for being a nuisance, is this: Hard work at what?
This is not a facetious or cynical question. I am thinking about the draft Australian curriculum and asking myself, often: Is this subject focus and almost apologetic reference to fundamental competencies - the general skills - capable of producing the new sort of person the Australian government and other Western states, want in students/citizens?
Third:
I'm drawn to a single statement that encapsulates 'educational value' and the worth of 'hard work' with activities that have a distinct outcome: Here is the quote, from Wing-Tsit Chan, whose translation is regarded by contemporary commentators as the best:
Confucius said, "Is it not a pleasure to learn and to repeat or practice from time to time what has been learned?
To my mind, this is the essence of quality education - the pleasure to be gained from learning and the need to choose 'learning' that has practical value. I suggest this is the essential difference between Western education and the style I observed in China. In that country, the focus is on knowledge that can be used, that has some practical value. In the Western World, the so called 'knowledge society' has as its focus, knowledge and the search for 'truth'. Nothing much has changed since Greek times. Take a look at the Australian curriculum draft and see what I mean.
I'm guessing that the real reason why Western governments want 'creative people' is to at least compete with China and the other Asian Tigers. From what I see in the New Zealand curriculum and the Australian draft, there is very little chance of that.
Cheers from Kaunas!
Raymund Kwok said:I found "think"and "hard working"should co-exist in the education systems. We need students to work hard to achieve certain goals while teaching them to think. Similarly, we need our teachers to work hard to teach students to achieve the goals while at the same time help students to think.
I agree we need to help the weaker part of the population. So, work harder and thick smarter to help them. Why we want the better part of the population to use a less effective route?
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