One of my most favorite school memories is people stopping by to visit at school. It might be former students or a parent or even more interesting would be a teacher’s friend or family member. In response to the looming threat of violence, schools are no longer accessible. Community is no longer part of our schools for the purpose of safety. Public schools have shut the adults out in attempt to protect children.

The face of the American education system is changing and it isn’t all positive. School violence is only one issue. Standards based education has become increasingly controversial. People are infuriated by the workload and testing in public schools, but they are expressing it as a general loathing of the standards (and emphatically against common core). This is one of the reasons that we have seen such an upsurge in homeschooling.

People seem especially unhappy about the common core standards. I don’t often find people that can pinpoint exactly what they are worried about in terms of common core.

There are issues in the American education system, but I don’t think having a standards based education program is one of them. Educational standards have been around forever and have infiltrated into the post-secondary system (typically as learning objectives). Standards based education simply means a group determined what material should be covered in a specific grade or course.

Standards create continuity. Little Johnnie in Illinois should be getting a similar freshman English class to Little Sarah in Utah. Moves and transitions are made easier on the student as well as more even preparation for college (which should not be everyone’s goal IMO).

This isn’t a nefarious plot to undermine education, but a very real result of living in a world with job changes and moves that take people away from extended families. It isn’t the standards themselves that are the problem. It is all of the other stuff that has come with an emphasis on standards based education that are putting unnecessary pressure on students, teachers, and school systems. The pressure is the problem. With little access to the outside world and increased pressure within, the education system is a pressure cooker.

High Stakes Testing Doesn’t Provide Accurate Data

The current role of standardized testing in American education is wrong. A computer scan-tron cannot evaluate a child. A teacher or school system cannot be evaluated by a child’s scan-tron. Most people agree. Why aren’t we making a change happen?

Many homeschoolers leave public education, due to the pressure and stress that their children are under. As educators we know that we can’t begin to work through Bloom’s taxonomy until we satisfy Maslow’s needs. If children feel that amount of anxiety, they cannot learn. Their ability and the abilities of the teachers are irrelavent at that point.

This is not due to standards based education, but due to an ongoing debate about public school funding. Education funding is based on system performance. System performance is measured by a standardized test. Accountability is important, but while standards are important they are not all that is brought into the classroom. The question is how to best to measure accountability. High stakes testing is not the answer.

Everyone seems to agree that a child’s abilities are not represented in a standardized test, but no one seems to be making any changes. I think the essential questions we need to begin asking to drive policy are: What is accountability? How can it be measured? Should it be measured?

I want to be clear. I do think that standardized testing should be used as a tool for the overall picture, but a child should NEVER have their grade impacted by standardized tests. The tests are a tool to collect data and the grade portion creates undue test anxiety and pressure on both students and teachers. This results in an unhealthy classroom environment.

We are also squeezing out other worthwhile pursuits for academic achievement.

Lack of funding is always an obstacle to implementation.

Educators are amazing reverse engineers. Mandates are handed down with little training or funding. This has been true across party lines. Common core received more funding than many initiatives. That was the carrot that led to the number of states participating. The cost of testing is far beyond the boosts in federal funding.

The standards themselves are not necessarily wrong (although I believe there is too much too soon and the over abundance is confining for the teacher), but the implementation has been full of issues such as lack of educator and district training and sudden implementation instead of a rolling implementation (leaving kids in higher grades overwhelmed).

The sudden implementation felt punitive as the underlying message was that educators were doing it all wrong. The idea that an entire career of a teacher was a waste of time was insulting. Lack of public support has only added to the feelings of frustration. Many good teachers have left the profession as responsibilities have grown beyond what they are capable of accomplishing in the day as well as the general shift in focus by administration from student learning to data collection.

Lack of Individualization.

In a time, where differentiation has become not only the norm but a requirement. We have removed much of the ability of a teacher to be inventive and creative. Many of the new standards seem to go far beyond old standards format. There are more of them and more specific in nature.

The result is that teachers feel like there is little time for student led learning (which we know is best practice) and little leeway for differentiation (inclusion students typically have the same grade level expectation). Best practices and research does not seem to drive education policy.

esearch is telling us again and again that the days of cookie cutter education are at the end. Every student is not going to fall into a checksheet. It is an insult to our humanity to assume that is possible. I think we should be striving for meeting the student where they are and seeing growth each year.

Humans have uneven development and it would be lovely to finally see public education (and most private schools) embrace that.

Do standards stifle creativity?

Standards are foundational. Minimum requirements are the basis for most academic programs. Each grade and course needs to have basic learning expectations. I advocate for mixed ages of instruction and team teaching in order to focus on growth rather than proficiency.

Learning expectations should account for 50-70% of the mandatory learning. This leaves 30-50% of the time for differentiation so that varying student needs (and not just students who are protected under the IDEA) can be met. This type of balance results in an environment with a built in space for student led learning and creativity. Our research tells us over and over that students (given enough time to decompress) will begin to move towards learning on their own, in the end that is the best type of learning.

Finding a balance.

The 50-70% insures that there is some cohesiveness between little Johnnie’s experience and little Sarah’s experience. For instance, we all agree that during freshman English students will learn to write a persuasive essay and understand propaganda. That doesn’t have to look the same for everyone.

If that went into a semester long project in the background about advertisements and bias in the media and understanding the validity of sources that would be great. If that was something a student seems to grasp pretty quickly without a lot of interest, they might move on into a semester long project on the role of literature in history. There needs to be a balance between standards and creativity to say nothing of the need to be creating students who can find problems and create solutions.

The dogged pursuit of an overwhelming number of standards can feel almost claustrophobic to a teacher. Standards control the classroom. As an example, dissection is often put off until after state testing because it isn’t covered in the state assessments. Standards based education is about providing a framework, not preventing the side trips. The rabbit trails are often the most meaningful learning for students.

My Experience

I have always used learning standards as a guideline for developing my coursework and I encourage you to not be afraid of the standards themselves. Standardized testing penalizes difference and individuality. As a result, we fight against that type of control.

Remember, “No one puts Baby in a corner”. That didn’t just resonate with you because you love Patrick Swayze (we all love Patrick Swayze). No, you loved him more because you want to be thought of as your own person.

I don’t know what we can truly do as a society that is going to repair the safety of our schools, but I do know that if we take the pressure off then schools can be a happy place. Kids can be happier and teachers can return to a passion that they were born to do.

When we take the pressure off and we say no to high stakes testing, we say that each child and teacher is free to be his/her own person. A test cannot measure a person’s worth and purpose. There probably isn’t a single teacher that is hoping for a student to come back and thank them for high standardized test scores. No one can put you in a corner.

Homeschoolers are not exempt from this discussion.

If you are reading this and you are a homeschooler, you may be shaking your head and saying YES. The issues may be something that led you to homeschool, at the same time, I want you to embrace standards based education. Homeschoolers should be following standards based programs as well.

You can develop these programs on your own and the standards can be very different, regardless of difference there needs to be a minimum expectation. I love the freedom that homeschool provides and don’t want more oversight because I love picking the curriculum I choose with the scope & sequence that best fits my children’s needs, but not every parent has that desire or ability.

Even if you are a homeschooler, due to whatever reason, I feel like it is our civic responsibility to support public education and continue to be active in the process. The ability to homeschool is a privilege. Don’t all kids deserve a quality education?

Homeschoolers can’t put their head in the sand. Not only because public education is about every child, but changes that are occurring in public education could and probably will trickle down into the homeschool arena. Also keep in mind that it isn’t the standards themselves, but the pressure that is occurring around the standards.

Public Education Needs Support.

A direct result of education policy being handled by people who are not educators has been an increase in issues within the system. Education is a profession and requires ongoing professional development. The practice of people in charge of education policy with little to no educational experience is a mystery. This is done in education departments at the county, state and federal levels.

There is a very real need for current classroom teachers to be an active participant in education policy decisions. Education should not be a political agenda (no matter what political leanings that you have).

I stand behind public education and our public educators.

Check out my unit planning email course in order to see standards based education at work.