Research Based Curricular Reform

By Jason A. Haap

Board Members can influence the kind of curricular reform that really influences the experiences our kids have in CPS schools.

I believe in the educational principles outlined by groups like the Coalition of Essential Schools. They have a reform theory developed around ten "common principles." Here they are, but follow the link above for more details:

The Common Principles

1. Learning to use one's mind well
2. Less is More, depth over coverage
3. Goals apply to all students
4. Personalization
5. Student-as-worker, teacher-as-coach
6. Demonstration of mastery
7. A tone of decency and trust
8. Commitment to the entire school
9. Resources dedicated to teaching and learning
10. Democracy and equity

I believe in these principles as outlined by the Coalition of Essential Schools, so many decisions for which I'd advocate will fall in line with this philosophy.

Here is a real-life example...

Let's say one of our schools wants to purchase a package for struggling readers. These are often known as "scripted reading programs," and they often have an enormous price tag. They can include a selection of books, and accompanying interactive computer software activities. These packages push things like rote reading skills - the mechanical aspects of reading (word recognition, word sounds, and so forth).

The salesperson will likely present the school and the board with professionally designed advertising materials that reference "research." This "research" is likely abbreviated, and not peer-reviewed. After all, what kind of salesperson would offer information that might cause a school not to purchase the product?

Once it shakes out, schools take struggling readers and plop them behind a computer terminal. They work on the purely mechanical aspect of reading. And as such, they become strictly mechanical readers. They have no sense of imagination when they read. Can it be a surprise, then, when these kids get to high school and hate reading? Are we surprised when they can't pass a test about an imaginative novel, when they have no faculty to read imaginatively? Anyone who has ever loved a book knows that the act of reading is so much more than mechanical. What service are we doing our students, then, when we spend all this money on resources that don't teach the right way?

Once stuck with these purchases, schools will often keep using them. And then the vicious circle continues - schools churning forth mechanical students with poor critical and imaginative thinking skills.

I'm not saying all our students are this way - but peer-reviewed field research of reading comprehension strategies acknowledges that many things schools do are the opposite of what works. Why keep doing them?

Review that list of ten items above. If there is a big expenditure, I'm going to make sure it matches the sorts of values that really help kids turn into learners and thinkers. I have no interest in rubber-stamping thoughtless purchases that plop kids in front of a computer because it's easy, for example.

This is how Board Members can influence the kind of curricular reform that really influences the experiences our kids have in CPS schools.