Re: Teacher's Role in Reform

[cbgord@aol.com]

   I've copied below what I think is the most telling section--stunning, actually---from Richard Hake's post about Finnish education. It shows that the kind of ongoing small-group and one-on-one attention that could assure much higher levels of success for many of our students is recognized and actually practiced in a public school system.   I think this passage places the truism restated in the abstract---that the most important ingredient in good schools is "effective teachers"--into a broader, more realistic context: the conditions under which teachers can be effective. I don't mean to imply that the abstract suggests that an individualistic view of "effective teachers"; in fact, the rest of the post repeatedly puts that concept into context. But the concept of effective teachers has been so thoroughly distorted in our society that I think that even veteran educators like myself have a hard time thinking of it without conjuring up Hollywood's visions of Jaime Escalante or Erin Gruwell.   Anyway, those who may have missed this amazing description of schools in Finland, should check it out below.   Craig Gordon    
 From Richard Hake, 1/26/2007 5:23:32 P.M. Pacific Standard Time, rrhake@earthlink.net:   ... in his piece "Everything I Really Need To Know I Learned In 
 Helsinki," W. Norton Grubb (2005) 
 <http://www-gse.berkeley.edu/faculty/WNGrubb/WNGrubb.html>, the David 
 Gardner Chair in Higher Education at UC Berkeley, wrote:   I have just returned from studying Finland's education system. 
 According to PISA scores. . .[PISA (2004), Sen et al. (2005)]. . . 
 this country of 5 million people ranks second (to South Korea) in 
 math, third (to Japan and South Korea) in science and first in 
 literacy by a substantial margin. Variations among Finnish students 
 on these tests were the lowest or near the lowest.
 
 To accomplish this, Finland has developed interlocking practices that 
 foster both high and equitable performance.
 
 [1] If a student starts falling behind his peers or grade norms, the 
 teacher works with him one on one, or in small groups.
 
 [2] Another approach involves a school assistant who may sit beside 
 the student in class to provide help and encouragement, or work one 
 on one or in small groups with him.
 
 [3] The third approach involves a special-needs teacher - not a 
 special-education teacher, but a credentialed teacher with additional 
 preparation in learning difficulties.
 
 [4] The fourth line of attack is to send in a multidisciplinary team, 
 including school personnel, social workers, representatives of the 
 health and mental health systems as necessary and perhaps individuals 
 from public housing. If non-school problems are solved by other 
 professionals, teachers are free to concentrate on instruction.
 
 THIS FOUR-PRONGED APPROACH DEPENDS ON OTHER FEATURES OF THE FINNISH SYSTEM:
 
 [a] SMALL CLASS SIZES AND SMALL SCHOOLS. . .[see e.g., Clinchy 
 (2000), Levine (2002), Swidler (2004), Toch (2003), Witcher & Kennedy 
 (1996)]. . . make it easier to diagnose learning problems.
 
 [b] Teachers keep the same students for several years and get to know 
 them [Meier (2002)].
 
 [c] Thorough training develops teachers with expertise in their 
 subject matter and pedagogical alternatives [Cuban (2003), Hake 
 (2005d)].
 
 [d] A STRONG WELFARE SYSTEM - NUTRITION, HOUSING, HEALTHCARE AND
 FAMILY SERVICES - COMPLEMENTS SCHOOLING . . .[see e.g., Duguid-Siegel
 (2005), Kozol (1992), Tyack (2003)].
 
 The Finns do not rely on excessive low-level testing, as the U.S. 
 does. . . They have explicitly rejected the "naming and shaming" that 
 goes on in American schools through the publishing of test scores. 
 Test scores are never made public. . .[as mandated by the NCLB [USDE 
 (2005)], see, e.g., Carnoy, et al. (2003), Hake (2005c), Nichols & 
 Berliner (2005), Sternberg (2004)]. . . They are used for diagnosis 
 and improvement only. . . [i.e., for *formative* assessment, see e.g. 
 Black & Wiliam (1998, 2005), Black et al. (2004), Hake (2002)]. . . 
 not for invidious comparisons or to excoriate teachers, demean 
 students, or identify the worst performing groups.
 
 
     
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