Wife, mother, grandmother, reader, writer, kindness warrior. Retired teacher. Former columnist for the Nevada Appeal. Author of US, NOW AND THEN.
View all posts by Lorie Smith Schaefer
2 thoughts on “Just who is being held accountable?”
Good thoughts in your editorial. I like the fact that you challenge conventional thinking. Standards are one thing. Where a student is along a learning continuum is another. What happens when that doesn’t match? The teacher, social worker, parent, role model, whoever is working with that individual does what he or she can to inspire that learner to keep learning. That’s what happens, or should happen. What doesn’t or shouldn’t happen is generalizing from that one person’s or small group’s experience to the larger population, unless there is serious research. I’m with you. Legislators, pundits, school administrators, indeed, the general public needs to spend time “In” teaching/learning situations and refrain from making laughable lists to which educators are expected to conform. In my experience, quantifying “education” is akin to nailing jelly to a tree. It can be done, but it takes a bunch of folks who get their hands sticky in the process.
Good thoughts in your editorial. I like the fact that you challenge conventional thinking. Standards are one thing. Where a student is along a learning continuum is another. What happens when that doesn’t match? The teacher, social worker, parent, role model, whoever is working with that individual does what he or she can to inspire that learner to keep learning. That’s what happens, or should happen. What doesn’t or shouldn’t happen is generalizing from that one person’s or small group’s experience to the larger population, unless there is serious research. I’m with you. Legislators, pundits, school administrators, indeed, the general public needs to spend time “In” teaching/learning situations and refrain from making laughable lists to which educators are expected to conform. In my experience, quantifying “education” is akin to nailing jelly to a tree. It can be done, but it takes a bunch of folks who get their hands sticky in the process.
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I agree! Thanks for stopping by.
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