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Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Atlanta Journal on Wrong Education Assumptions

Why are there so many assumptions masquerading as fact in education? (And why do the “facts” keep changing?)

One of the problems with education is that there are many assumptions passing as fact. Those assumptions are often based on what seems to be common sense.
For example, most of us would assume that smaller classes would lead to higher achievement, yet there’s scant evidence that smaller classes or smaller schools make that much difference for the average student. (They do seem to help low-income students in the early grades.)
Consider the assumptions around block scheduling. The belief was that teachers in block schools would approach 90-minute classes much differently than they had 55 minute classes; they would provide several hands-on activities for their students. But, in fact, teachers taught much the same way despite the longer class periods, meaning that students on block schedules actually lost out because they got nothing more in 90 minutes that their peers received in standard classes.
The New York Times has an interesting column about other assumptions embraced as fact, such as children needing a dedicated and quiet space for homework and students bringing unique learning styles to the classroom.
The column also notes that testing serves a very good purpose that is often ignored in today’s emotional debates about testing — tests reinforce learning. While there’s frequent condemnation of testing on this blog, I interviewed someone a few weeks ago who said that it was standardized testing that first suggested to him that he was smart and could be a good student. Until he saw his test scores — which placed him well above average in intelligence — he never considered the possibility that he could excel in school and go to college. He went on to get a doctorate and credits testing with his awakening to his own potential.

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