Week 8 - Curriculum, Standards and Testing

Focus Questions [as from Sadker and Sadker, et. al, 8th edition]

1. What is the formal curriculum taught in schools?
2. How does the invisible curriculum influence learning?
3. What is the place of the extracurriculum in school life?
4. What forces shape the school curriculum?
5. How has technology affected the curriculum?
6. How do textbook publishers and state adoption committees "drive" the curriculum?
7. What is standards-based education?
8. What are the provisions and criticisms of No Child Left Behind?
9. What problems are created by high stakes testing, and what are the testing alternatives?
10. How are cultural and political conflicts reflected in the school curriculum?
11. How can we rethink tomorrow's curriculum?

=================================================

1. What problems are created by high-stakes testing, and what are the testing alternatives?
   High-stakes tests are believed to contribute to increases in the number of dropouts and the increase in teacher and student stress. High scores on such tests do not necessarily reflect greater learning, and teachers who teach to the test eliminate other important topics from the curriculum. One testing alternative, authentic assessment, evaluates students by asking them to synthesize what they have learned in a final product or "exhibit."         
   
2. What is the formal curriculum taught in schools?
   The formal or visible curriculum is the school's official curriculum, but it is far from static. In colonial America, reading and religion were central. During the early part of the twentieth century, progressive ideas led to a curriculum that emphasized creative expression, social skills, and an integrated study of subject areas. By the 1980s and 1990s, spurred by poor standardized test scores, a back-to-basics curriculum with highstakes testing dominated.
3. How does the invisible curriculum influence learning?
   Schools teach an invisible curriculum that has two components. The hidden or implicit curriculum offers lessons that are not always intended, but emerge as students are shaped by the school culture, including the attitudes and behaviors of teachers. Topics considered unimportant or too controversial, inappropriate or not worth the time, and therefore not taught comprise the null curriculum.
4. What is the place of the extracurriculum in school life?
   Most students participate in the extracurriculum, a voluntary curriculum that includes sports, clubs, student government, and school publications. While some see these activities as part of a rich cocurriculum, others discount their value.
5. What forces shape the school curriculum?
   Many groups influence the content of the curriculum. In recent years, the federal government and specially appointed education commissions have been two groups promoting a standards-based, high-stakes testing curriculum.
   
6. How has technology affected the curriculum?
   Exciting virtual field trips that take students around the world or the online activities that create fascinating learning communities illustrate the technology's promise of rich learning activities. But American fascination with technology in the past has been overly optimistic, and that may also be true today. The jury is still out on technology's impact on learning. The presence of the digital divide reminds us that technology's potential benefits are shared by all, that wealth and geography play a role.
   
7. How do textbook publishers and state adoption committees "drive" the curriculum?
   More than 20 states, mainly located in the South and West, are textbook adoption states. Local school districts in these states must select their texts from an official, stateapproved list. The most populous of these states exert considerable influence in the development of textbooks.
8. What is standards-based education?
   The pressure to improve test scores led to standards-based education, a process of focusing the curriculum on specified topics and skills, followed by continuous testing to see if these standards have been learned.
9. What are the provisions and criticisms of No Child Left Behind?
   One of the most far-reaching federal education plans, No Child Left Behind, includes annual testing, identification of underperforming schools, employing only "highly qualified" teachers, and providing additional learning options to students attending underperforming schools. Lack of funding and reliance on a single test to measure learning are just two of the criticisms leveled at the law.
10. How are cultural and political conflicts reflected in the school curriculum?
    Opposing the theory of evolution, some support intelligent design, an alternative explanation for the origin of humans. Cultural and political differences over what should be taught have led to book banning and censorship. Proponents of a core curriculum and cultural literacy argue with multiculturalists who advocate the greater inclusion of the roles, experiences, and contributions of women and people of color.
11. How can we rethink tomorrow's curriculum?
    Because of the knowledge explosion, some educators believe that we should focus less on content and more on process, including critical thinking skills, metacognition, and critical pedagogy. The reader is invited to consider a new approach to the current curriculum, and the authors suggest a four-tier curriculum that promotes self-understanding, human relations, and greater individualization. The Saber-Tooth Curriculum teaches us that a curriculum should preserve the past, but not be limited by it.     Reference:  Sadker & Sadker, 8th edition

================================================================Alternative Readings/Websites:
           1.  The Hidden Curriculum
           2.   Curriculum Types
================================================================
Return to COURSECOMPASS MEDG551'S DISCUSSION BOARD AND POST THE FOLLOWING:
Read "The Saber-Tooth Curriculum" at:
http://nerds.unl.edu/pages/preser/sec/articles/sabertooth.html .
Add a new discussion thread responding to the following questions:
 What is the main message of this excerpt from 'The Saber-Tooth Curriculum' in relation today's education?  What, if any, in the current traditional education program would you equate with fish-grabbing-with-the-bare-hands?  Why?  What changes would you suggest making to the current traditional education program to avoid creating our own saber-tooth experience?  Why?  How do you suggest teachers avoid a curriculum programmed for obsolescence (Sadker, et al)?

Dr. Herring

Week 7 - School, Law and Ethics

Southern Poverty Law Center

 School Law and Ethics

Readings:  Chapter 10, Teachers, Schools and Society, eighth edition pp. 381 - 417. 

Focus Questions:

1.     What legal rights and responsibilities do you have as a teacher?

2.     What legal rights and responsibilities do students have?

---

Much amazed at the growth in legal responsibilities teachers much shoulder in the classroom today.  Not much recall of the rights and responsibilities of teachers being addressed as much when I went through a teacher education program.  Only after working on a principal certification did the education program at my alma mater include a course on school law and ethics.  It was in this course that we had a full discussion and responsibility to know the law as it pertains to school issues, as well as the state's education code.  In today's world  it has become important for teachers to at least be familiar with scenarios that play out in schools every day that involve legal decisions.  It is much easier to circumvent situations that could bring you face to face with courtroom proceedings if you are aware of the consequences of such. 

The text does an excellent job of painting eighteen scenarios invoking teacher vs. student rights.  As noted in the text, Title IX (1972) and Title VII (1964) are federal laws that prohibit many illegal practices as proposed in the situations below.  There are state laws in place that direct the legalities of these situations as well.  Important cases (links for those are provided in the situations below as well as summaries are on pages 404- 405)) have set precedents, making it even more easier for teachers to head off such situations in advance. 

In my own experiences in schools, I have first hand knowledge of teachers who have suffered from similar situations.  For example, two male colleagues were faced with court cases involving accusations from female students in a private high school.  One of the teachers was 'let go' by the school until his case was heard as it involved a rape charge; he maintained his innocence throughout.  His case was heard and he was exonerated, but he was devastated from the entire situation.  He does teach school again in a public high school.  The other teacher was implicated by not reporting his knowledge of an abusive home situation:  a female student confided in him that she was being raped by her father:  what should she do?  He should have shared this information with the administration, as well as call Child Protective Services, but did not.  When this case went to court, he had to go as well.  He eventually left the school, but does teach in another private school last I heard. 

Because we now live in a litigious society with people subject to lawsuits for numerous reasons, it is worth the time to read each of these situations in the text as they do represent classic opportunities for court cases.

Teacher Rights and Responsibilities

      1.  Situation 1 - Applying for a position

      2.  Situation 2 - Sexual harassment

      3.  Situation 3 - Personal lifestyle [ Thompson v. Southwest School District ]

      4.  Situation 4 - Teachers' academic freedom [ Pickering v. Board of Education]

      5.  Situation 5 - Legal liability (negligence)

      6.  Situation 6 - Teacher's freedom of speech

      7.  Situation 7 - Copying published material [ Copyright Act ]

      8.  Situation 8 - Labor rights

      9.  Situation 9 - Sex-segregated classes

Student Rights and Responsibilities

     10.  Situation 10 - Student Records  [ Buckley Amendment  - FERPA ]

     11.  Situation 11 - Distribution of scholarships

     12.  Situation 12 - Suspension and discipline [ Ingraham v. Wright ]

     13.  Situation 13 - Freedom of speech [ Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District ]

     14.  Situation 14 - School Prayer

     15.  Situation 15 - Search and Seizure

     16.  Situation 16 - Freedom of the Press [ Hazelwood School District v. Kuhlmeir ]

     17.  Situation 17 - HIV-infected students

     18. Situation 18 - Sexual harassment [ Franklin v. Gwinnett ]

Sexual harassment cases are especially on the rise.  Bullying issues have increased as well, with teachers caught up in the middle.  Know your rights as well as students, but do not let this information get in the way of being a caring, empathetic educator.  Begin to think about each of these scenarios.  How you would respond in each situation? Is your response goign to be a conflictive one?   If so, it is not too soon to seek out other successful teachers and ask how they are handling these issues, taking note and drawing up a responsive plan of your own. 

To be forewarned is to forearmed.
======================================================================
Alternative Readings/Websites:
1.    Title VII of the Civil Rights Act - http://www.eeoc.gov/policy/vii.html 
2.  Title IX of the Education Amendments - http://www.dol.gov/oasam/regs/statutes/titleix.htm
==============================================================
Go back to CourseCompass MEDG 551 NO POSTING FOR WEEK 7.

Week 6 - Financing and Governing Schools

Why do you need to know about finance and governance?  Isn''t it just enough to be able to handle your content area, get students to successfully learn your material while juggling other duties as a teacher in the school? 

 In another developed country, another world, perhaps this would be a mute discussion.  However, given the history of schools as they developed in this country as locally controlled entities, perhapss the forefathers did not have the insight as to how schools would evolve as they have today.  How could they predict that so many people from the federal level on down to the local level would be interested in the business of education?  Then, it was not even a thought of inclusion in federal laws, not something that the creators of the constitution thought would be a national concern.  Then, it was decided that education should be a local concern, a concern of families' rights to say how their children would be reared.  Education and religion were almost one and the same in the founding days of this country.  Local people saw the education of their children as being reared according to their religious beliefs and therefore provided the financial support in their communities to do so.  For example, the early public schools in Baltimore were financed by tuition.  Schools were also financed by local property taxes.
Nowadays, schools continue to be financed by local control, mainly local property taxes, along with state funds and minimal federal funds, however without much input from teachers. Teachers are not a part of the input on how schools should operate, although more and more they are left with the burden of implementing program after program to make students state test stars, for example.  At least in the early days, even though the local communities set up their own schools and financed them as well, these families participated in the selection of who their childrens' teachers would be.  Today, local communities bear the responsibility of funding schools, but with very little input as to who is teaching the children.  That is usually left up to school superintendents. 
Have we outlived our funding measures?  What about local communities whose property tax is not enough to support what schools needs in order to stay competitive with the rich property district next door?  Is it fair or equitable for students who are from poor property families to have to mandatorily attend [all states have compulsory school attendance laws] schools that are run down, old and antiquated, without uptodate resources, textbooks as opposed to those who are born to middle to upper class families who attend well-lit, well-built, updated 21st century schools?
Currently, states are grappling with trying to equalize financing schools, but not nearly it seems at a pace of urgency that this phenomenon demands.  Some argue that money would not make a difference in whether students would increase learning, especially demonstrating that by successfully passing state tests.  However, what about the flip side of this argument?  Would the schools that are updated, resource-ready be willing to trade places, that is, down-date?  Oprah Winfrey brought light to the disparities that exist between districts in Illiinois when two schools, one from a property-poor district and the other a wealthy suburb, allowed cameras to follow students from each school who traded for a day or so, attending each others' schools.  The students from the wealthy suburb were not impressed, at all.  The primary source of local school funding in the state of Louisiana is the Minimum Foundation Program.

What about the Federal government's role in leveling these disparities?  The government has been involved with the issuance of categorical grants especially designed to target poor schools, poor children, but now the pendulum has swung in the direction of awarding block grants instead, which give states more say-so in how and where this money is spent.  Will the states put the money in the poor district schools?
Current trends in education such as choice school programs (voucher, charter bearing schools) are slowly taking hold as one solution.  Perhaps introducing competition among schools for students' attendance.  Perhaps allowing parents once again to have more control over where their children attend schools, to choose the best schools with the monies already allocated to each child by the state and local funds.  Perhaps allowing teachers more say, control over the curriculum and selction of other teachers for their school.  Perhaps paying teachers according to their knowledge, input in providing the best education for students.  Perhaps catching up with new paradigms in financing [and governance] for 21st century education.

Alternative Readings:
Serrano v. Priest – Key California case in school funding. The case helped to develop equality in educational funding. http://library.findlaw.com/1999/Dec/1/129939.html#Scene_1  
The break-down of school funding among states. http://www.pbs.org/newshour/backgrounders/school_funding.html
 America’s Newest Class War discusses the problems of funding discrepancies in schools. http://www.motherjones.com/news/feature/1999/09/goodman.html

==============================================================
Go back to CourseCompass MEDG 551 and post to the Discussion Board as outlined below:

Is Financing Schools an Equity or Disparity?  Is it desirable to equalize educational spending among school districts within a state or across the nation?
Which position are you supporting? 
Position 1:  For Justice in Educational Finance.  Position 2:  Against Centralization in Educational Finance  
Read the positions below, chapter nine and the alternative readings websites in Course Documents for Week 6 to find out what are the benefits, drawbacks, concerns for each of these positions. 
Post a 400 word response in favor of position 1 or 2 by Saturday, March 12, 2011.

------------------------------------------------------
Position 1: For justice in educational finance. Position 1 is focused on the inequalities of school financing, how lower income areas that have lower income property taxes suffer because there is not an equal allocation of funds. Because higher income areas have higher property taxes and their money is going into their schools, their schools continue to improve and provide better resources for their students while lower income schools continue to suffer and lack important resources. Position 1 suggests that all funding should be equally allocated from a state or federal level to ensure that all schools and students are equally financed. With approximately 50% of school funding coming from property taxes it comes as no surprise that funding through the state or federal level would ensure a more equal distribution of funds. (Custer, 2006)

Position 2: Against centralization in educational financing. Position 2 argues that regardless of funding in the schools lower income students will continue to perform poorly, while the schools in higher income areas will be punished because they have been successful. Position 2 also argues that most federal and state funding is somehow ‘corrupt’ and the funds are rarely equally distributed due to kickbacks and politically undermined placement. (Custer, 2006)


Dr. Herring