Date: May 27, 1994 From: Peter E. Pflaum, Social Sciences
PFLAUMP@prodigy.net
To: FORM: Basic issues in Education Research and Outcomes:
PROBLEM: 10% or less High School graduates ready for college
(N.A.E.P. 1). It is clear we have an educational problem on our
hands involving all students. As Jack Bowsher, the former
educational
director at IBM said;
if 25% of production is broken during manufacture and if 90%
don't work 80% of the time (72% defect rate) the company would
have to rethink the entire production process.. (2)
This is the 30-40% "drop-outs" and the disfunctional
(less than 5th grade) reading and math skills of the public high
schools.
The way we see the problem is the problem (See Stephen
Covey in Seven Habits of Effective People). We have created a
group of young people 14 -18 without effective alternatives. Many
could benefit from apprenticeships, co-op education, or just drop
the leaving age to 14 as the traditional age of becoming a young
adult. Social creations such as the comprehensive high-school
become social problems, then new social creations such as Youth
Services and Corrections are developed to take care of the
problem
caused by the original institution.
The AWDA (Disabilities Act)
has vastly expanded the learning disables, ADD, etc because the
children that haven't learned then become the problem not the
system that help create them. (Association for Direct
Instruction).
It also pays.
In "Systems of Control and the Serious Youth
Offender"
Jerome G. Miller in Reforming Corrections for Juvenile Offenders,
Alternatives and Strategies - Lexington Books by Bakal, Yitzhak
and Polsky, Howard W. (1979) and Shichor, David and Kelly Delos
H. Critical Issues in Juvenile Delinquency Lexington Books (1980)
This story of social and political reform applies to any
institution
which has become "closed".
The lack of a clear
technology
and conflict in goals (reform and punish) apply especially well
to the public schools system. Jerome G. Miller's action in
closing
the State Training Schools in Massachusetts reflect on the
function
of professions, bureaucrats, politicos and reform groups.
Our students lack cognitive skills and practical thinking
abilities.
They have not been asked or put in situations where they think
in extended ways (3).
The educational process needs to change
as much as General Motors did in the creation of the SATURN
plant.
The message is largely in the process and methods. If we expect
Z type students we must create a new system. (William G. Ouchi,
Theory Z How American Business can meet the Japanese Challenge)
1981. Students are workers not the raw material in the
educational
system.
The role of teacher is leadership. Active learning
requires
a moral learning community not the old factory model. (Charles
Handy, (6))
The survival of the nation as a competitive culture
is seriously questioned. For example a recent want-ad for a
production
worker at Motorola uses the following job description; (Fortune,
Dec 17, 1990)
The worker is expected to understand the process
involved in production. (What is going on here)
Think of alternatives -collect information
Design and conduct experiments;
Analyze data from small scale research -
try changes - check for consequences - (Deming p 4)
We need stable group over a longer time period and hours per
day.
The factory system represented by the Carnegie unit credit
dices the student into intellectual pieces where nothing relates
to anything else. You wouldn't expect that your office staff
should
shift rooms several times a day, have several supervisors with
different goals and styles, and expect them to be highly
productive.
(Handy 6)
" On most days fewer than 10 students will be working
hard, the rest do little more that sit there (if they bother to
come). If you ask the idle students why they are not working,
they will tell you that work is boring, they don't need it, and
no one cares what they think. (5)
A century of educational research and practice has shown that
Teamwork - interdisciplinary - project orientated techniques are
clearly superior to the current piecework curriculum and
methods.
* Better results need large blocks of time (Carroll 10 )
*
The work product rather than tests is a better method of
evaluation. * Group effort with little interpersonal competition
but more teamwork have better interest and motivation
(8). * Everyone should read: (Anton S. Makarenko
The Road to
Life, An Epic in Education Oriole Edition.) and Sizer's model:
(Essential Schools)
SMALL SCHOOLS, EFFECTIVE SCHOOLS Teachers in one-room
schoolhouses
almost never lectured.
These teachers knew that there wasn't much
they could say simultaneously to a roomful of kids of different
ages and stages of learning. So teachers moved from one group
of two or three students to another. Because they couldn't spend
much time with any group, they usually assigned some work to
each,
making sure that the group had a pretty good idea of how to
proceed.
Periodically the teacher would return to each group to make sure
the work was being done correctly and to offer more help where
it was needed. And teachers frequently asked students who'd
mastered
a particular task to help those who were still struggling to
learn
it. What one-room teachers did out of necessity -- avoid teacher
talk and get kids to learn on their own or in small groups --
is actually a superior way of getting them to learn (Shanker in
Fiske, 1991, p. 90). (Goodlad, 1984) offers an in-depth
examination
of 38 elementary, junior high, and high schools. Goodlad and his
associates determined that these schools were representative of
contemporary American education.
The author details findings and
offers restructuring plans. A major aspect of these plans is the
multiage nongraded approach.
Many administrative and organizational problems exist in
implementing
a nongraded educational structure. Often these problems stem from
our history of gradedness. With standardized tests, textbooks,
and other materials relying on the graded educational structure,
break with tradition becomes more difficult. In addition,
educators
and parents are familiar with gradedness, most having been
schooled
that way themselves. Connel doubts customary age segregation in
schools. "Segregating children by sex, race, ethnic, or
socioeconomic
differences is against the law. Is it right to segregate by
age?"
(Connel, 1987 in Webb, 1992, p. 90). Self-Esteem
Research strongly indicates retention impacts negatively on
children's self-esteem and further achievement (Shepard &
Smith, 1990 & Katz, 1988 in Webb, 1992; Goodlad &
Anderson,
1987). Elimination of nonpromotion is indicated through much
literature.
Along this vein, Goodlad and Anderson suggest need to also
eliminate
promotion (Goodlad & Anderson, 1987). Questions of whether
to promote or not to promote individual students can be removed
through an idea of continuous progress. Each student proceeds
through material which is often the same; the difference is time.
Nongradedness lends itself to this concept. Lack of readiness
in kindergarten follows the child through later school years.
Frustration because of lack of readiness to master expectations
of adults results in low self-esteem. Fetzer and Ponder see the
system of designating a child's class according to birth date
alone as "antiquated" (Fetzer & Ponder, 1988, p.
192).
A recent report published by the National Association of
Elementary
School Principals identified 163 indicators of school quality.
Suggestions include: maximum class size of 20, or fewer in the
primary grades; grouping by needs, not by age and grade only.
School effectiveness is enhanced by the idea that all students
can learn (Raze, 1985).
The idea also enhances student
self-esteem.
Grouping
Debate over grouping according to ability and achievement
measures
has continued since 1920. Sputnik (1957) heightened interest in
identifying and encouraging children of high aptitude to enter
scientific fields. Ability grouping often results in tracking
where both students and teachers in low classes easily can become
discouraged. Hall and Findley (1971) suggest one defect of this
system is the small percentage of teachers who prefer to teach
the low achieving groups. Goodlad (1984) views tracking as a
repulsive
practice that often begins in primary school. Evidence shows
"higher-achieving
students do not do better when together, and lower-achieving
students
do much worse when together. Tracking clearly discriminates and
clearly perpetuates inequities among students . . ."
(Glickman,
1991, p. 5).
Recommended alternatives are groups of various sizes formed
for special purposes and dissolved when the specified purpose
has been accomplished. Goodlad reminds us of how much we learn
by teaching others. Cooperative learning, peer tutoring, and
student
leadership are just some advantages of students helping each
other.
Leadership can change and rotate according to need.
These
practices
are inherent to the structure of one-room and other small
schools.
Anton S. Makarenko devised such a plan in the Gorky Colony,
a multiage school for wayward youth established in the Ukraine
in the 1920's. After much trial and error, Makarenko successfully
arranged a system of mixed detachments where all colonists except
"the most glaringly unsuitable" (Makarenko, 1973, p.
356) served as leaders. Depending on the project, mixed
detachments
were scheduled and organized according to the job at hand. Upon
completion of a task, the group was dissolved. Mixed detachment
leaders were responsible for organization and quality control.
A leader in one group served as a follower in others. Each
colonist
also belonged to a permanent detachment with a permanent
commander.
Permanent detachments formed a "nucleus for the colony"
(Makarenko, 1973, p. 355). Standardized Testing Today In an
opinion
paper on reorganizing American education, Leona Tyler sees
inadequate
attention to individual differences; an excess of compulsion.
Age grouping "is perhaps the worst possible strategy for
maximizing the learning of individuals" (Tyler, 1985, p.
1). "A Proposal for Reorganizing American Public
Education"
cautions against focusing on averages of standardized test scores
rather than on the spread of scores. This author criticizes
reporters
for lack of realization of a naturally occurring situation.
They
continue to be shocked at the finding that half of any group
tested
is below the average of the group. Human beings differ inherently
in how much they learn and how rapidly they learn it. Yet we go
on categorizing them by age and treating them all alike. What
sense does it make to assign the same tasks to all members of
an age group and expect them all to succeed equally well? (Tyler,
1985, p. 2).
Implications for Change
Literature on nongraded multiage instruction is plentiful.
Although empirical research is lacking in many specific areas,
review of writings on nongraded multiage grouping shows much
support
by many well-respected educators. Findings on academic
achievement
of graded and nongraded classes are inconclusive.
There does,
however, seem to be evidence of positive social and self-esteem
advantages in a nongraded approach. Another thread running
through
much of the literature concerns belief that all children can
learn
-- the varying factor is time. Some students require a longer
period to master the same tasks. Multiage nongraded groupings
can vary in size depending on purposes. Advantages of teaching
as a method of enhancing one's own learning is a device well
known
to educators.
Implications exist here for peer tutoring, cooperative
learning,
and valuable leadership and followship experiences. Teacher
cycling,
a common practice in small schools, is mentioned in the
literature.
Advantages of teaching the same students for several years
include
greater opportunity to know those students well; possibilities
for determining and designing effective individual learning
programs
can be increased. Critics of teacher cycling sometimes cite lack
of exposure of students to teachers of different talents. Here
supporters often suggest team teaching where educators can draw
on the strengths of each other. Discussion Total Quality
In 1950 W. Edwards Deming, an industrial engineer, introduced
to Japan a method of statistical quality control. Over the last
several decades Deming's approach has become well-known as
quality
control circles. An analysis of Deming shows there is a basic
misunderstanding of evaluation in manufacturing. Similar
confusion
is shown by belief that objective testing is likely to improve
educational quality. A central point in this discussion is the
difference between standards and quality. Multiage grouping in
schools can achieve quality when people of various ages work
together
to achieve results of distinction.
"
The Total Quality Classroom" (Bonstingl, 1992)
applies
to education Deming's 14 principles for Total Quality Management
(TQM). John Jay Bonstingl sees relevant similarities of business
organizations and schools. Alan M. Blankstein (1992) explains
how five of Deming's principles translate into school terms.
Principals
and superintendents are management or leadership; teachers are
employees, leaders, and managers; students are employees; student
knowledge is the product; parents and society are customers;
legislators
are the board of directors. Lewis A. Rhodes explores TQM concepts
concerning values. He points to importance of the totality of
educational organizations. Work processes encompass a unified
system.
Synergy
"In a school, everything important touches everything
else of importance," notes
Theodore Sizer recognizing
"the
synergistic character of a school" (Sizer, 1991, p. 32).
"No Pain, No Gain" suggests restructuring often
involves
painful break with tradition. Effective change demands attention
to all parts of a school. "
The Quality School"
(Glasser,
1990) is an adaptation of the book by the same name where
psychiatrist
William Glasser, M.D., examines educational application of TQM.
In analysis of control theory, motivation theory, and non-
coercive management employed by "lead-managers,"
Glasser
recognizes naturally resulting high- quality educational
outcomes.
Our system must encourage lead-management in teachers and
principals.
It must discourage "boss- management," a scientific
management approach employing fear, coercion, and intimidation.
Because of district office bureaucratic power struggles, Glasser
feels lead- management usually must be initiated at the building
level. He sees teachers and principals as leaders who can make
a real difference in producing high quality American schools.
Quality Versus Standards Can quality be defined, or is it more
accurate to view quality as a recognizable characteristic?
Quality isn't something you lay on top of subjects and objects
like tinsel on a Christmas tree. Real Quality must be the source
of the subjects and objects, the cone from which the tree must
start. To arrive at this Quality requires a somewhat different
procedure from . . . . "Step 1, Step 2, Step 3"
instructions
. . . (Pirsig, 1974, p. 262).
"Quality can be defined only in terms of the agent. Who
is the judge of quality?" (Deming, 1986, p. 168). Deming
sees determination of quality as involving three agents,
including
workers and managers as well as customers.
Multiage nongraded grouping in American education offers a
framework where quality can be found through development of
uniquely
appropriate strategies. Quality is realizing the potential within
an environment. Choice in District 4
Quality was the concern in Community School District 4, East
Harlem, New York. Choice developed as a way to improve education
of inner-city students. Almost all students are members of
minority
groups.
There is a high poverty level. Test scores of District
4 in the early 1970's were lowest or almost the lowest of all
32 school districts of New York City. Superintendent Anthony
Alvarado
gave teachers and administrators opportunities and authority to
improve education in their classes by devising their own
programs.
They then received resources to "turn their ideas into
little
schools" (Fiske, 1991, p. 181). Students and parents who
shared their vision could choose to attend a particular
school.
In 1974 Deborah Meier with 100 children opened Central Park
East Elementary School.
The school served grades K-2 only.
Children
who attended came because their parents chose the school. Central
Park East uses child-centered approaches to learning and stresses
content, thinking, experimenting, discussion, research, and
writing.
Dramatic success of the school gave rise to two others, Central
Park East II and River East. Central Park East Secondary School,
part of Ted Sizer's Coalition of Essential Schools, opened in
1985.
The 50 District 4 schools include alternative, bilingual,
and theme schools. All began as small schools. Rather than grow
larger, popular schools were copied in new locations. "Less
is Better" is the district belief. "Fewer students per
school and classroom, less bureaucracy, and less top-down
management
make up their reform formula. [Says Mrs. Meier,] `Small schools
are not the answer, but without them none of the proposed answers
stands a chance'" (Fiske, 1991, p. 184). Holweide
Comprehensive
School
Located in Cologne, West Germany, Holweide Comprehensive
School
is a contemporary example of quality education.
The school began
as an experiment in the mid- 1970's and serves the equivalent
of American grades 5 through 11. Culturally diverse students
include
children of foreign guest workers and children from single-parent
or poor German families. Almost all pupils are considered non-
college bound.
Teams of teachers remain with the same students for the entire
six years of Holweide schooling. School administration is
composed
of only one teaching principal and two assistants who also teach.
Students are not tracked according to assessed ability. Teacher
teams determine how to group students and how to organize the
school day. Readjustments are made as needed. Because of this
structure, authentic accountability is possible. Since teachers
have the same students for six years, former instructors cannot
be blamed for pupil deficiencies. Teachers cannot pass problem
students along to others. Teacher teamwork increases chances of
defining appropriate ways to improve schooling of individual
pupils.
"Holweide's approach thus turns the usual bureaucratic,
assembly-line
processing of children into a teaching and learning enterprise,
a moral community" (Shanker, 1990, p. 351).
The School and
Society
In reading early twentieth century Dewey and in reading
Goodlad's
recent book (Goodlad, 1984), one is struck by recurrent themes
and by apparent inability of the American educational system to
adapt to changing circumstances. Schools are part of a complex
web of life.
The social change of which Dewey was an early
prophet
continues to evolve.
The philosopher's concern with the exigency
of learning to learn permeates his 1920 thinking. Dewey notes
rapid progress of his times. Advances in industrialization,
transportation,
and communication dictated need to adapt to a continuously and
quickly changing environment. Experience and thinking involve
connection of relationships. This connection is essential for
reasoning to occur. While all thinking results in knowledge,
ultimately
the value of knowledge is subordinate to its use in thinking.
For we live not in a settled and finished world, but in one which
is going on, and where our main task is prospective, and where
retrospect -- and all knowledge as distinct from thought is
retrospect
-- is of value in the solidity, security and fertility it affords
our dealings with the future (Dewey, 1920, pp. 177-178).
Implications
of such thought exist today in our post- industrial information
age.
The core of Dewey's educational theory was encouragement of
flexibility, creativity, and practicality in individual thinking.
His argument suggests these qualities are required of a broadly
democratic society as he defined it. Public schools were
originally
designed for students who would settle well into industrial
discipline.
Waves of immigrants arriving in the mid-nineteenth century were
socialized to American ways through the public schools.
As a segment of society, early public schooling saw as part
of its role this preparation of factory workers. Assembly lines
were largely staffed by immigrants from foreign countries and
rural America. Factory-like compartmentalization was reflected
in physical traits of schools (rows of nailed down desks) as well
as in curriculum with its segmented structure. Subjects were and
often are separated from other subjects and from life itself.
Dewey is a prophet of contemporary critics of our educational
system.
The American school system is not working. Goodlad (1984)
sees necessity for change even in our best schools.
The system
designed to produce factory workers is no longer relevant. Rather
than factory mentality, we need reason -- reason derived from
thinking and knowledge. As technology rushes forward, it is
imperative
for citizens to have learned how to learn.
Dewey saw schools as small communities where students grasp
larger concepts through smaller concepts relevant to their own
worlds. Individual discovery of findings established centuries
earlier, are new in the sense of unique interpretation. As a
child
uncovers wonders of nature, the individual's revelation is as
fresh as an initial discovery. Goodlad (1984) sees the role of
schools as communities for changing society, not as mere
reflections.
Sadly, what we often see inside of our schools is a mirror image
of what is wrong outside.
Dewey the philosopher and social theorist based much of his
thought on the social sciences and psychology. He spoke of
organizations
as the organic whole. As industry changes from production lines
to cooperative work groups, X
Theory becomes
Theory Z.
Traditional schools espouse X
Theory (individuals are
inherently
unmotivated, needing coercion to work or learn). Dewey's school
is based on
Theory Z (learning occurs naturally through
relevance).
Organizational structure of small schools lends itself to Type-Z
application.
The nongraded multiage approach is an attempt to
break out of the industrial mold and teach the child as an
individual
being, rather than as a product to be processed. Age segregation
is as unnatural as subject matter segregation. Retention shatters
self-esteem into small bits. Goodlad proposes teacher cycling,
schools within schools, and multiage nongraded grouping in an
effort to bring continuity to schooling.
Summary Factors impacting on nineteenth century enthusiasm
for gradedness include teacher training through normal schools,
growing popularity of textbooks, population movement from rural
to urban areas, industrialization, and consolidation. According
to Dewey, most features of our American educational system were
instituted between 1837 and 1850. Gradedness is part of this
American
tradition.
Proponents of multiage grouping see it as a natural order of
society. Studies of simple societies and early American history
reflect such grouping. Small colonial schools featured variations
of multiage groupings.
These practices are seen today in many
small schools. Demand for community and calm focus in schools
is particularly essential today because of deteriorating family
conditions. Many respected educators of the twentieth century
vigorously uphold concepts of multiage nongraded educational
organization;
many suggest problems with implementation. Benefits of multiage
grouping advanced by advocates include individualized self-paced
instruction, opportunity for increased self-esteem, leadership
and followship experiences, peer tutoring, and cooperative
learning.
Multiage nongraded schooling, an inherent aspect of small school
structure, lends itself to a child-centered learning approach
where creativity and individuality are respected and enhanced.
Organizational features of one-room and small schools make
multiage nongraded grouping natural.
The FDOE defines twelve
characteristics
to be considered in improving schools. General areas for
attention
include goals, focus, leadership, expectations, instruction,
collaboration,
development, order, time, involvement, incentives, and evaluation
(FDOE, 1990). Conclusion Small schools seem to be happy schools.
They tend to have high levels of participation, cooperation, and
coordination. Students in small schools are likely to spend time
on task, learn good study habits, and become self- reliant.
Structure
of the school requires high levels of participation by all
students.
Standardized test scores appear to be at least equal to larger
schools, holding SES constant.
Small school structure offers greater opportunity for
educational
quality. Some reasons are discussed below. Quality in Education
Deming's philosophy represents a conceptual shift in how we view
organizations. Quality does not result from inspection.
Inspection
and standards reduce rather than promote excellence. Quotas,
inspections,
and slogans exhorting persons to work harder and faster do not
motivate.
They merely defeat the purpose.
We must pay attention to process, but effective process cannot
be prescribed. It is developed through attention to guiding
principles.
Process in any organization is unique. Harmonious relations
should
bloom spontaneously as flowers do. It is a poor workshop where
operators and foremen are considered to be part of the machinery
and required to do a job specified by set standards. What
constitutes
a human being is the ability to think. A workshop [and a school]
should become . . . place[s] where people can think and use their
wisdom (Ouchi, 1981, p. 228).
Inspection of schooling through instruments such as
standardized
tests does not improve quality. Emphasis on teamwork rather than
on individual competition enhances productivity. Grades and
similar
assessment measures do not promote excellence.
They defeat it.
Some leaders forget an important mathematical theorem that if
20 people are engaged on a job, 2 will fall at the bottom 10 per
cent, no matter what . . . .
The important problem is not the
bottom 10 per cent, but who is statistically out of line and in
need of help (Deming, 1986, p. 56). Asking teachers and schools
to rework mistakes following years of system failure is not a
feasible path to improved educational outcomes. Parents and
communities
must work with teachers and administrators in developing and
adapting
a process capable of yielding educated, skilled, value-driven
youth.
Adapting Deming to schools involves restructuring our
educational
organizations as dramatically as the Japanese restructured their
business organizations. Dewey's presence can be seen in efforts
to adapt Deming to education. Thinking and Doing Schools must,
as Dewey advised, reconnect thinking and doing. Group and
teamwork,
projects, integrated curriculum, peer tutoring, and teacher as
facilitator reflect views of both Dewey and Deming. Multiage
nongraded
grouping is a logical framework where such educational approaches
can work. In education as in industry "defects are not free.
Somebody makes them, and gets paid for making them" (Deming,
1986, p. 11).
Rework of defective goods is not free; it is expensive.
The
product of schools is student knowledge. When student knowledge
is defective, it must be reworked, compounding time and
expense.
Members of the educational community who define quality --
students, teachers, administrators, and society must have input
into our system of education. As organizations mature and grow
in size, they tend to become more structured and bureaucratic.
Bureaucracy separates thinking from doing (teacher-proof
curriculum,
textbooks, etc.). Under scientific management the doer merely
follows instructions. Doers are often placed in difficult and
unmotivating circumstances.
There may be fool-proof systems, but
often the fools are too clever. This results in more inspections,
more layers of management, more bureaucracy.
Years after publication of A Nation at Risk (1983), American
Federation of Teachers president Albert Shanker notes
implementation
of numerous and various school reforms throughout our country.
Largely, these attempts have not positively affected student
learning
(Shanker, 1990). Often in education sound ideas are found
"ineffective"
following poor implementation. Sometimes implementors fail to
follow guidelines closely enough. Consolidation of One-Room
Schools
Public schools grew up with the factory system. Scientific
managerial practice suggested division of labor into separate
units; division of time marked by bells. Rows of desks were
attached
to floors. Textbooks were divided into units. Teachers, standing
before the class, covered material in specified segments of time.
Students, seated in fixed desks, all "learned" in
standard
fashion.
The advent of school busses -- "with comfortable
seats, heaters, windows, and front and rear doors" (Covert,
1928, p. 2) -- and paved roads encouraged consolidation of small
schools into larger factory-like buildings. Scientific management
encouraged standardized testing as an accurate measure of
educational
effectiveness.
Because of lack of documentation, we will never know if or
how effective one- room nongraded schools were. During the early
part of the twentieth century a prejudice evolved-- one-room
schools
lacked the latest in fashion and the latest in facilities.
There
was much local control of one-room schools. Consolidation
reflected
political power as well as educational and managerial theory of
the times. Education concerns character and thinking. Many
educators
have long been uncomfortable with the factory system of schooling
and its large impersonal bureaucratic organization. Education
is personal and moral. With the economy moving away from
factories
into information processing, old style industry is disappearing.
Eighty percent of employment today is in small business and
information
processing. Schooling has always followed the leading economic
institutions of the period.
Education now is dealing with down-sizing, decentralizing,
school-based management, and other ideas currently fashionable
in the industrial world. As Dewey was the prophet of
post-industrial
management styles, he was keenly aware of human and moral
dimensions
of education.
The connection of thinking with doing, of learning
with practice is critical in modern information- processing
businesses.
It is equally critical in education.
Small is beautiful.
Less is more.
Fix the System not the blame
American schooling faces a serious systems problem.
Deming urges business and industrial management to fix the
system, not the blame. Students must be viewed as workers, not
products to be processed. "
The traditional model of
schooling
is . . . incompatible with the idea that students are workers,
that learning must be active, and that children learn in
different
ways and at different rates" (Shanker, 1990, p. 350).
Too many American schools today remain based on the factory
model where employees produce piecework and scientific managerial
principles are administrative guidelines.
Small Schools and Educational
Quality In a small school quality is easier to accomplish.
With fewer students and fewer disruptions, teachers can focus
on children. With teacher cycling and multiage nongraded grouping
a learning community evolves. Students cannot merely lean on
their
shovels.
They must be involved in their own learning. Good or
great education can happen anywhere.
Smaller school size is not the entire answer to America's
present
educational dilemma, but it is a viable place to start. For size
to help significantly, schools must become small enough for
people
to know each other well. Small schools offer opportunities for
development of stable, caring learning communities.
Today America has about 8500 small nonpublic schools and about
1000 one-room public schools. Evidence suggests these schools
are interesting and worthy of further study. Small schools and
small sailboats are reminders of our simpler past.
Small schools involve a human connection of teachers and
children.
Small sailboats involve a spiritual connection of sailors and
surroundings. Supertankers on autopilot involve a disconnection
of thinking and doing. Edward B. Fiske argues . . . the time for
tinkering with the current system of public education is over.
After a decade of trying to make the system work better by such
means as more testing, higher salaries, and tighter curriculums,
we must now face up to the fact that anything short of
fundamental
structural change is futile. . . . .
American public schools grew up around an early industrial
model that has outlived its usefulness in education as well as
in the industry that created it.
The renewal of public education
in this country requires nothing less than a frontal assault on
every aspect of schooling -- the way we run districts, organize
classrooms, use time, measure achievement, assign students,
relate
schools to their surroundings, and hold people accountable.
Trying
to get more learning out of the current system is like trying
to get the Pony Express to compete with the telegraph by breeding
faster ponies (Fiske, 1991, p. 14-15).
A major helpful educational reform is simply making schools
smaller --
MUCH smaller.
NOTES:
1.) Crossroads in American Education: A Summary of Findings,
Arthur N. Applebee, Judith A. Langer, and Ina V.S. Mullis (
Princeton,
N.J.:National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) and
Educational
Testing Service, 1989, p. 51
2.) Albert Shanker, Reshaping our Schools, Phi Delta Kappan
January 1990
3.) Bloom's taxonomy and more recently Frames of Mind:
The
Theory of Multiple Intelligences (New York, Basic Books, 1985),
Howard Gardner: and Robert Sternberg,
The Triarchic Mind: A new
theory of Human Intelligence (New York, Penguin, 1988)
4.) W. Edwards Deming, Out of Crisis (Cambridge, MIT Center
for Advanced Engineering Study) 1982
5.) William Glasser,
The Quality School, Phi Delta Kappan
February,
1990 p 433
6.) Charles B. Handy
The Age of Unreason (Boston, Mass.
Harvard
Business School Press) 1989
7.) Bruce R. Joyce Models of Teaching (Englewood Cliffs, N.J.
Prentice-Hall) 1986