Curriculum Reform
A summary of an Eisner pieceEisner, E. What does it mean to say a school is doing well?. In Flinders, D. J.,
1. The consequences
1.1. curriculum get narrowed
1.1.1. school district make policies what to be tested is what to be taught
1.1.2. test define priority
1.1.3. core subjects
1.1.4. marginalize subject that are not part of the core
1.1.5. core subject relate to test that determine whether school is good or not
1.1.6. public opinion that score are good substitute for quality of education
1.2. #the function of school is to enable student to do better in life
1.3. deeper problem of schooling go unattended/no one pay attention to
1.3.1. quality of conversation in classroom
1.3.1.1. we must provide the opportunities
1.3.1.2. we need to help them learn how to do so
1.3.1.3. challenging conversation is an intellectual affair
1.3.1.4. it has to do with think about what people have said and respond reflectively, analytically, imaginatively to that process
1.3.2. teacher isolation
1.3.2.1. teacher don't often have access to other people who know what they are doing when they teach and who can help them do it better
1.3.2.2. "what really matters in education is test score"
1.3.2.2.1. students cut corners
1.3.2.2.2. teacher unfairly help student get higher score
1.4. it ineluctably colors the school climate
1.4.1. it promotes an orientation to practice that emphasize extrinsically defined attainment targets that have a specific qualitative value
1.4.1.1. this leads student to want to know just what it is they need to do in order to get the highest score
1.5. student rationally planning their education
1.5.1. but it has little to do with intellectual life: risk-taking, exploration, uncertainty, speculation
1.5.2. it means creating culture that can undermine the development of intellectual disposition: curiosity, interest in engaging and challenging ideas
1.6. education become casualty, become commodity
1.6.1. Education evolved from a form of human development serving personal and civic needs into a product our nation produces to compete in global economy
1.6.1.1. school become places to mass produce this product
2. What curriculum reform is not provided is.....
2.1. an efficient alternative, but there is no efficient one since educationally useful evaluation takes time, labor intensive and complex
2.1.1. if evaluation is used not simply to score children but provide information to improve the process of teaching and learning
2.2. a reduction to commensurability
2.2.1. commensurability decreases when attention to individuality increases
2.2.2. John Dewey: Nothing is more odious than comparison in the arts
2.2.2.1. we should try to discover where a youngster is, her/his strengths, where additional work is warranted
2.2.3. commensurability is possible when everybody is on the same track, there is common assessment practice, there is common curriculum
2.2.4. but still if you have some common practice but different individual, it is still appropriate
2.3. Are teachers given the time to observe and work to another?
2.3.1. To what degree is professional discourse an important aspect of being a teacher in the school
2.3.2. Is the school is center of teacher education
2.3.2.1. We should take PD seriously
2.3.2.2. The center for the teacher education is not the university
2.3.3. Is the school a resource, a center for teacher's development?
2.3.3.1. Professional growth should be promoted during the teacher works
2.3.3.2. School must address teachers real needs
2.4. Are parents helped to understand that their children accomplish in the classroom?
2.4.1. Teacher needs to create an educational interpretive exhibition that explain the viewers what problems the youngster have and how they resolved it
2.4.1.1. ex: compare prior and present work
2.4.1.1.1. interpretation
2.4.1.1.2. not focus on the grade but on what process that led to outcome
2.5. We have to create an educationally informed community
2.5.1. Can we widen what parents and others think about what is important on judging the quality of the school?
2.5.2. Can a more substantial and complex understanding of what constitutes good schooling contribute to a better enlightened support for the school?
2.6. Good school increase variance in the student performance
3. What are we looking for in a good school?
3.1. What kind of activities and problems do students engage in?
3.1.1. What kind of thinking do these activities invite?
3.1.2. Are students encouraged to wonder and raise questions about what they have studied?
3.1.2.1. the most significant intellectual achievement is in posing question
3.1.2.1.1. what if we took that idea seriously and concluded units of study by looking for the sorts of questions the youngsters are able to to raise as a result of being immersed in a domain of study
3.1.2.1.2. what would that practice teach the youngster about inquiry
3.1.2.2. when youngster have no reason to raise questions, the process that enable them to learn how to discover intellectual problems go undeveloped
3.1.2.3. the ability to raise question is not an automatic consequence of maturation
3.1.2.4. In a school that doing well, opportunities that yields good questions would be promoted
3.2. What is the intellectual significance of the ideas that youngster encounter?
3.2.1. Are the ideas they encounter important?
3.3. Are students introduced to multiple perspectives on an issue or a set of ideas?
3.3.1. To develop that kind of thinking, we need to invent activities that encourage students to practice, refine, and develop certain mode of thoughts
3.3.2. The implication (keterlibatan) of such an expectation for curriculum development are extraordinary
3.4. What if we used the structure of intellect from JP Guilford to promote various form of thinking?
3.5. What connection are students helped to make between what they study in class and outside the school?
3.5.1. Transfer of learning
3.5.2. Can student apply what they have learned or what they have learned how to learn?
3.5.3. Can they engage in the kind of learning they will need in order to deal with problems and issues outside the classroom?
3.5.3.1. If they use means to increase their scores on the next test, we may win the battle and lose the war
3.5.3.1.1. School learning becomes a hurdle to jump over
3.5.3.2. The most important variables are located outside the school
3.5.3.2.1. Our assessment practice haven't even begun to scratch that surface
3.5.3.2.2. It is what student do what they learn ca do what to do is the real measure of educational achievement
3.6. What opportunities do students have to formulate their own purpose and design ways to achieve them?
3.6.1. Can a school provide the condition for youngsters as they mature to have increased opportunity to set their own goals and to design ways to realize them?
3.6.1.1. The role of education is to help youngster learn how to define their own purposes
3.7. What opportunities do youngsters have to become literate in the use of different presentational forms?
3.7.1. It means different forms of human meaning
3.7.2. They are processes of interpreting and constructing meaning form material encountered
3.7.3. Reading text is not only a process of decoding but also encoding
3.8. What opportunities do students have to work cooperatively to address problems that they believe is important?
3.8.1. Can we design schools so that we could create communities of learners who know how to work with one another?
3.8.2. Can we design school and classrooms in which cooperating with others is part of what it means to be a student?
3.9. Do student have the opportunity to serve the community in ways that are not limited to their own personal interests?
3.9.1. Can we define a part of school's role as establishing or helping students establish projects in which they do something beyond their own self-in-teresa
3.10. To what extent are students given the opportunity to work in depth in domains that relate to their aptitudes?
3.10.1. Is personal talent cultivated?
3.10.2. Can me arrange the time for youngster to work together in basic interest rather than on the base of age grading?
3.10.2.1. To make these possibilities, we would need to address the practical problems of allocating time and responsibility. A vision of what is educationally important must come first
3.11. Do students participate in the assessment of their work? Important for teacher to understand what student think about their work. Can we design assessment practice in which student can help us?
4. School reform should focus toward the process, conditions, and culture that are closer to the heart of education
4.1. It should endorse promotion of improvisation, surprise, diversity of outcomes as educational virtues
4.2. We need a fresh, humane vision of what school might become
5. Rationalization has features
5.1. clear specification on outcomes
5.1.1. clear standards
5.1.2. clear rubric
5.1.3. clear outcomes on educational practice
5.1.4. to know precise destination
5.2. use measurement
5.2.1. quantification
5.2.1.1. increase objectivity
5.2.1.2. increase secure rigor
5.2.1.3. increase advance precision
5.3. ability to predict and control
5.4. downplays interaction
5.5. commensurability
5.5.1. comparison
5.5.1.1. must take into account the difference
5.6. extrinsic incentives
5.6.1. payment by result
5.6.2. consequences for school's priorities
6. Rational abilities
6.1. discover regularities
6.2. find out what works
6.3. the reform compare schools
6.4. regard test scores for the quality of education
6.5. leaves little room for
6.5.1. surprise
6.5.2. imaginatiotion
6.5.3. improvisation
6.5.4. cultivation of productive idiosyncrasy