Wednesday, July 1, 2015

Deconstructing CCSS -- Two Questions?


Dear Colleagues:

The CCSS development criteria state that the standards be "Clear, so that educators and parents know what they need to do to help students learn." 

Question 1: Why are state leaders, curriculum specialists, and teachers deconstructing them if they were deemed by the developers to have met the "Clear" criterion? 

Question 2: Would standards deconstructed by individual teachers over 40 states lead to different understandings of the original "CCSS standards" that are intended to meet another development criterion: to be "Consistent across all states, so that students are not taught to a lower standard just because of where they live?"

Start-Up. Given the immediate need to implement CCSS, I believe time would be better spent by teachers designing, pilot-testing, and constantly improving instructional practices that result in improved student demonstrations of the standards as adopted. This is where creativity shows up in teaching and in student products and performances that meet and surpass the intent of the standards. 

Support. This start-up focus would guide state and local officials, subject matter experts, and professional developers to support teachers as instructional leaders as they network with colleagues in classrooms across state lines to answer the essential question for our profession:

"What teaching practices in my classroom lead to 
improved student learning on specific CCSS standards?" 

Source for Development Criteria:

Sunday, March 1, 2015

Today's Change Agents

Dear Colleagues:


Today I was thinking about: "Who are the change agents creating 21st century education approaches?" 


I'm not sure today the "real" change agents are in education. I look at it this way. If you want ideas for changing and improving 21st century education in schools to flourish and spread, join a learning community where people actively share, innovate, co-create, and produce something. Typically, learning communities start and stop at the sharing phase. Today's change agents are members of learning communities that produce something of value.


When you have a cool idea to change teaching and learning, people will share it, collaborate, and make it better. Chances are today that happens outside the formal education structure, e.g., Khan academy, iPad, virtual K-12 schools, emerging online degree-granting and job-related professional development platforms.

Want to be a change agent? You are cordially invited to join LearningFront and make it happen. We build and share cool ideas here to change and improve teaching and learning! 


Nick Hobar