Rethink Education: The Case for Reform

The Case for Reform

By Richard Beatty

In previous posts, I have made the case for adopting a new Vision and Mission. Now I am going to attempt to create a case for reform to achieve the Vision and Mission. I have identified the following four components of emerging and widespread educational movements as essential to moving forward toward student success.

21st Century Learning
Formative Assessment
Digital Badges
PLCs

21st Century Learning	What the students needs to learn.
Formative Assessment	How the students need to learn.
Digital Badges	How we should recognize student accomplishments.
PLCs	How we make it all work.

21st Century Learning

The first thing that needs to be done is adopt 21st Century Learning as the area of focus. This incorporates Common Core with modern knowledge and skills students need to succeed. We start here because this is our ultimate goal. Equipping our students with 21st Century Skills will enable them to succeed in life, society, college, and career in the modern world, and the world yet to come.

Formative Assessment

Formative Assessment is another word for meta-cognition, or thinking about thinking. In this case, we are thinking about thinking, thinking about learning, and learning about learning. Formative Assessment done well is used by both teacher and students. Student formative assessment is affects learning greater than teacher formative assessment. Though both are more powerful than other types of teaching practices. Formative assessment is the active process of analyzing what you think you know about the topic or skill you are currently working on. It is about monitoring and adjusting in real time, where real effects of adjustments can be realized. It is categorically different than Summative Assessment in that Summative happens at the end of learning and does not influence learning. Formative happens during learning and has a great impact on learning. Formative Assessment is the best “teaching technique” that can be implemented to maximize student learning.

Digital Badges

Digital Badges are a way of grading, or certifying learning. Badges are more informative than traditional grading, and more powerful and motivating for the learner. Badges provide a greater opportunity for learners to display their accomplishments and for observers to get a truer understanding of what learning has actually occurred. Badges help make learning visible. Badge systems are more transparent than grade averages or other forms of certification. The metadata and links to learning artifacts “show” what learning occurred. Badges can link to videos showing the student at work, to audio of a student demonstrating capabilities, rubrics from teachers, reflections from students describing what they have learned to earned the badge, evaluations from peers, and on and on. Badges are modular, meaning they can be rearranged to demonstrate various learning outcomes. For example, badges earned in Math where students work in groups to solve problems and share their findings with the class can also be used in Language where informative presentations are a requirement. It is essential that schools develop badge systems that can be used as Summative Assessments that can be easily translated into grades, report cards, and other traditional certifications.

PLCs

Teachers are the essential component in any educational system. Teachers make or break the learning process and learning outcomes that every educational system exists to accomplish. There are many ways to ensure quality teachers. One is through the hiring process, the other is by retaining high quality teachers in the system. But, this isn’t enough in most systems. This isn’t enough to guarantee an effective educational system. A quality Professional Learning Community is required. In a quality Professional Learning Community, teachers are valued for for their expertise. Teachers are engaged in an environment where “learning” is the prime focus. And to step it up a notch higher, we need a 21st Century Professional Learning Community where Formative Assessment and Badges are also at play for the teachers. Teachers need to be engaged in learning that is that same or similar to what they to provide for their students. Teachers shouldn’t have to translate what they “learned” in the Professional Development to what they are going to “teach” in class. The transfer should be natural. The teachers’ Professional Learning Community should be set up as a quality learning community, just as classrooms should be set up as quality learning communities. A quality learning community is a quality learning community, it should matter if it is happening in the classroom or in Professional Development.

Conclusion

The process of changing a school system is hard work. The are many moving parts to consider. The proposals I have identified here is not intended to be a mandate. They are recommendations based on what I have learned so far in my research. To actually make these or other changes successful, a collaborative approach needs to be taken. I wrote this out as my proposal. Counter proposals, criticisms, or refinements are not only welcomed, but encouraged. This is what 21st Century Learning is. It is utilizing the best resources to make the best decisions possible to maximize the learning process in an effort to affect learner outcomes. I look forward to your feedback.

v. 2016-04-30 Sources

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Saturday, April 30, 2016