Originally posted by B. de Corbin
View Post
Totally off topic, but I'm not adverse to standardized testing if a) the test is fair and equitable and b) the results are used properly. Used properly, of course, means that teachers aren't fired and schools don't loose funding, but rather that the testing is done to let future teachers know where an individual child or group of children needs more assistance, that lets a teacher know areas where their methods might not have been optimally effective, and lets schools know what children, subject areas, and teachers might benefit from assistance (whether it be training for teachers, new text books or teaching materials, or tutoring or specialized assistance for some children). But for schools, teachers, and parents to get something from the test, it needs to be relevant to the students taking it (and there have been plenty of studies on testing bias, which totally explain why and how this impacts test scores). How standardized testing is used today though, is a waste of money and instruction time.
If I had a shit ton of money, I'd open my own school. It would be year round, with 11 weeks of instruction followed by a 2 week break (and there would be optional day camps centered on different themes or activities on the 2 week breaks). Regular "classes" would go from 8-11 and 1-4, with the school open from 6-6 (8-4 being "mandatory"). For every 40-45 minutes of instruction, there would be 15-20 minutes of outdoor or free play time. A lengthy lunch would be coupled with a lengthy outdoor time and time for student collaboration on projects or study. Breakfast would be served at 7:30 and dinner at 5 for those students that need to stay late and/or come early because of parents work and commuting schedules. There would be monthly "field trips" and alternating "nature study" and volunteering afternoons (or mornings) each week for all ages. The school (and students) would do homesteading for some of its foods. Art or music (on alternating days) and PE or Home Ec (on alternating days) would happen daily, as would a foreign language and social studies (alternating...and yes, world religions would be taught as part of social studies), math, science, and "language arts" (reading and writing and literature and drama). It would be as close to the beach as possible, and swimming (as well as kayaking, etc) would be part of the PE curriculum (and fishing and wildcrafting part of Home ec). Wherever possible, teachers would be encouraged to collaborate--a lesson in the physics principles of acoustics in music class, or experimentally determining the caloric energy of a food in home ex, or putting on a scene from Shakespeare in a unit on Elizabethan history. Before school, there would be free play, a story time, and yoga; after school, gardening, tutoring, and clubs for different interests. Students would be grouped by a combination of age and maturity level for non-instructional time (and some classes)--2 1/2-4/5, 4/5-7/8, 7/8-11/12, 11/12-13/14, and 13/14-17/18 and every class would have at least a teacher and a teacher's assistant. Teachers just for foreign language, art, music, PE, and outdoor/environmental education, as well as reading, math, and science specialists would teach (or coordinate) those classes...and I'd try to staff the afterschool and beforeschool programs with college education majors. Parents would be required, as part of staying enrolled to spend one day each "quarter" volunteering at the school in some way. Price would be income based.
I don't know if it would work or not, but if I had shit tons of money, I'd try it.
Comment