R5

Quote: “A culture that is not willing to accept scientific advances in understanding human behavior together with the technology will eventually be replaced by a culture that is” (Skinner, 1984, p. 953)

Question: When will the cycle of blame end for the state of our American education system?

Connections:

As I read the article by Skinner The Shame of American Education I found it disturbing that the cycle of blame has continued to haunt the state of the education system in America. While conducting scholastic audits at lower performing schools I have heard various reasons of low performances ranging from administrators blaming the feeder schools, teachers blaming parents and students, parents blaming teachers, etc., for the status of their academic performance.  Skinner blames the college of education for “poorly” training teachers (Skinner, 1984, p. 953).  In Kentucky, it has been discussed among state legislators and other stakeholders to re-design the teacher preparatory program to produce more teachers whom are more skillful researchers to become more effective when using diagnostic measures of academic progress. Will colleges of education ever treat teacher preparatory programs the same as preparing a medical physician? It could lead to producing more skilled researchers within a school organization to diagnose and design intervention strategies to remove barriers of learning in a classroom. In James’ world I believe he would be a happy to have the art of teaching and other sciences included in the teacher’s prep programs.

Another important statement from the reading was the quote by Skinner which stated, “A culture that is not willing to accept scientific advances in understanding human behavior together with technology will eventually be replaced by a culture that is” (Skinner, 1984, p. 953). Kentucky is an example supporting this message behind this quote based upon the new initiatives implemented to move away from the Education Reform strategies of 1990 in order to meet the needs of the current generation in our public schools. The Council of Chief State Officers and the Kentucky Department of Education have partnered to develop a system of personalized learning that will lead to engaging and motivating each student. This partnership has transformed the focus of the work at the state level to include collaboration among legislators, colleges and universities, and local school districts to prepare the next generation of learners. For example at the department one new project is called The Snow Bound project which involves altering the language of the law to allow districts that are severely impacted by inclement weather (i.e. snow) to have freedom to change the school calendar. Benefits would include lifting seat time requirements, increase learning outside of the school, and have alternate contract agreements with parents that are not able to get their child to school on those days.  This local school district has a grant to loan out laptops to all students and is working with businesses such as AT&T to provide a heavily discounted broadband connection so that students in that area can receive coursework and be counted present for that day. More forward thinking plans have been submitted from districts since the notion of innovation has sweep the nation.

References

Gross, Lisa. (2010). Partnership for Next Generation Learning. Retrieved on Feburary 14, 2011, from Kentucky Department of Education website: http://www.education.ky.gov/KDE/Administrative+Resources/Commissioner+of+Education/Friday+Fast+Five/Friday+Fast+Five+40510.htm

Pittenger, Linda. (2010). Partnership for the Next Generation Learners. Retrieved February 14, 2011, from CCSSO website: http://www.ccsso.org/Documents/2010/PNxG_Innovation_Lab_Net_Overview-Aug%2010_2010.pdf

Skinner, B. F. (1984). The Shame of American Education. The American Psychologist, 39, 947-. 954.