Re: Changing classroom practices

[Karen Canty <kscanty@PACBELL.NET>]

Allen,

Couldn't agree more...trying to define "real learning" is  one of the most
difficult things schools have to do - and enlisting the community's help in
doing so is probably the NEXT most difficult thing...We have been able in
our small k-8 district to do that over the past few years - because we have
gone to the community three times to ask for additional money to reduce
class sizes, fix/modernize our buildings, and add back art, music, p.e.,
counseling, staff development, etc. etc. And this was all during the time
that our test scores were already high - I know, but what that says to me
about our community at least is that test scores are NOT the end all and be
all for everyone in the community.  People understand and were willing to
pay for a lot of "other" programs that they believed constituted "real
learning"...and all of this took a 2/3 vote - not a simple majority....

However, our community is relatively homogeneous - at least as homogeneous
as a community in California can be - and it is perhaps not as difficult for
us to have that conversation -

Karen

p.s. And since Milton Friedman is just down the street from us at the Hoover
Institution on the Stanford campus - he's part of "our" broader community
too...





-----Original Message-----
From: Assessment Reform Network Mailing List
[mailto:ARN-L@LISTS.CUA.EDU]On Behalf Of Allen Flanigan.
Sent: Thursday, February 21, 2002 7:45 AM
To: ARN-L@LISTS.CUA.EDU
Subject: Re: Changing classroom practices


Real learning may mean different things to different people, or to different
communities.  I hate to agree with someone whose views are so politically
different from mine, but Milton Friedman was right:  When government imposes
standards which effectively define what "real learning" is and stipulate how
it shall be measured, we end up with government-imposed mediocrity, and
stifle progress and innovation.

Allen F.

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