Post on 16-Apr-2017
A Brief History of American Education
Reform
© Curriculum Leadership Institute cliweb.org
Traditional American Education of the 19th Century
• Memorization• Handwriting
emphasized• Drill, practice, 3 “R’s”
curriculum• Lecture-based• Teacher as source of
knowledge & final authority
• Corporal punishment• High drop-out rate• Agrarian & immigrant
Society• No federal involvement
Education at the Dawn of the 21st Century
Students expected to be ready for a global & digital economy
Teachers expected to keep up with the latest trends and rapidly changing technology
Among the latest trends:• Problem-Based Learning• Differentiated Learning• STEM, STEAM, STREAM• Flipped Classroom• One-to-one computer
initiatives• Mobile and blended learning• Professional Learning
Communities• Social Media: good, bad and
ugly• Cell phones & BYOD
initiatives• Teacher as Learning
Facilitator
Challenging Political Environment:
Demands for choice (charter schools, homeschooling, vouchers)
Continued debate regarding national involvement in education, from NCLB to CCSS.
How did we get from there to here?
Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778)
Authored Èmile, considered by some to be the best treatise on Education since Plato’s Republic
Ideas: • Distinct stages of development
require different educational methods
• Children inherently good, blank slates “Tabula rasa”
• Boys & girls should be educated differently
• Education should not begin until adolescence
• Religion should be discovered, not preached or taught
Horace Mann (1796-1859)
Initiated Common School movement in the U.S.
Believed in free universal education for all
Initiated the grade-level approach to education
Initiated teacher-training and “normal schools”
Served as Secretary of the first State Board of Education in Massachusetts (1837)
Charlotte Mason (1842-1923)
British Education Reformer, authored:Parents and Children: The Role of the
Parent in the Education of the Child (1896)
School Education: Developing a Curriculum (1904)
A Philosophy of Education (1923)Ideas:
Education is “an atmosphere, a discipline, a life”
Students should be taught from “living books” not textbooks “written down to children”
Short, focused lessons with emphasis on mastery
“Liberal” education for all classes, including arts, history & geography
Children are persons deserving respect
Current Impact: Republished by and influencing modern homeschool movement.
John Dewey (1859-1952)
Philosopher, Psychologist and Educational Reformer, authored:
My Pedagogic Creed (1897)The School and Society (1900)The Child and the Curriculum (1902)Democracy and Education (1916)Experience and Education (1938)
Ideas: Proponent of Experiential Education
and PragmatismEducation as Social ReformProgressive and Liberal, “out with the
old”Current Impact: His ideas and extensive writings are still discussed in today’s educational milieu.
Not to be confused with Melvil Dewey (1876), whose name is on the Dewey Decimal System.
Dewey as Visionary, Dewey as Misguided
“Dewey’s philosophy is a treasure house of the wisdom and vitality the twenty-first century requires” (2014)
“How the patron saint of schools has corrupted teaching and learning” (2006)
Maria Montessori (1870-1952)
Italian Physician and Educator, authored:
The Discovery of the Child (1948)The Absorbent Mind (1949)The Montessori Method (1912)
Ideas: Worked to develop “scientific
pedagogy” based on brain science
Expanded practical activities available for children
Allowed children freedom of movement and self-direction
Goal of education as Independence, role of teacher as observer and guide
Current Impact: Many Montessori schools and preschools are still practicing her methods and ideas.
Post WWII: Crisis-Driven Reform
“Life Adjustment Education” aimed to provide vocational skills
Baby boom = need for more teachers, expanding programs for teacher education
Cold-War concerns fueled investment in school safety and bomb shelters
School Segregation Crisis (1954)
Brown vs. Board of Education: Supreme Court ruled that segregation was not legal, new federal mandate for local schools
Schools must integrate to provide fair and equitable education for all
Sputnik Crisis (1957) Politicians blamed public
education
Demands for increased education funding
Education becomes politicized
National Defense Education Act (1958)
Increased Federal Involvement
Head Start (1965)
Child Nutrition Act (1966) expanded the post-WWII National School Lunch Program (1946)
Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) 1965, to be reauthorized every 5 years
Follow-up laws: Educational and Consolidation Act (ECA) 1981, Improving America’s School Act (IASA) 1994, No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) 2001
Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) 1965
Considered the most extensive federal involvement in American education
Title I—Financial Assistance To Local Educational Agencies For The Education Of Children Of Low-Income Families
Title II—School Library Resources, Textbooks, and other Instructional Materials
Title III—Supplementary Educational Centers and Services
Title IV—Educational Research And Training
Title V—Grants To Strengthen State Departments Of Education
Title VI—General Provisions
Examples of Discarded Education Fads Since the 1960s
New Math (60s)
Career Education (spawned by OPEC Crisis of the 1970s, high unemployment, double-digit inflation, Dewian in nature)
Open Classrooms (60s/70s)
Whole-Language (80s/90s)
Outcome-Based Education (OBE) (90s)
Education: A Political Hot Button
1983 “Year of the Reports,” including “A Nation at Risk”
Goals 2000 set by U.S. Congress, first National Standards for Arts Education
No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) of 2001, standards-based education reform act, revised version of ESEA (1965)
Race to the Top, Obama-led funding initiative (2009)
Common Core State Standards (2009), not federally mandated, adopted on a per-state basis, widely misunderstood to be a federally-mandated “curriculum”
ESEA is overdue for reauthorization & Obama is working on a revision to NCLB
A Few Current Trends in Education
Professional Learning Communities (PLCs)
Problem-Based Learning (PBL)
Differentiated Instruction
STEM, STEAM, STREAM
School Choice & Charter Schools
Year-round education
One-to-one technology initiatives
Flipped Learning
Student-Centered Learning
Confused by all the Trends?
This website could help:
“The Glossary of Education Reform” @
http://www.edglossary.org
• Low teacher morale and engagement• Teacher “burn-out”• Student bullying and classroom manag
ement• Negative public perceptions of educato
rs and schools• Cuts to education funding due to deficit
s • Increasing immigrant, migrant populati
ons• Lack of teacher-perceived classroom au
tonomy• Frustrations with high-stakes testing
Current Struggles in Education
Does your District Have These Two Education Basics Mastered?
Empowered & Engaged Teachers
Sound Curriculum
Do You Wish for Some Stability as you Navigate Through the Latest Sea of
Education Reform?
Helping school districts stay on even keel, since 1991.
Curriculum Leadership Institute’s
Pathways to School Improvement
It’s time to consider the CLI Model for School Improvement
• Our process engages teachers in the development of a local, standards-aligned curriculum.
• We believe the professional educator benefits from an active role in curriculum development.
• Teachers who are invested in their district’s curriculum are invested in teaching it in their classrooms.
Modern Theorists Our Model is built largely on the following
three educational and intellectual theorists: Instruction: Benjamin Bloom Curriculum: Ralph Tyler Organizational Management: William
Edward Deming
Benjamin Bloom (1913-1999)
Educational Psychologist, authored: Taxonomy of Educational Objectives (1956), All Our Children Learning (1980), Developing Talent in Young People (1985)
Known for: Bloom’s Taxonomy of Educational Objectives
Contributed to: Theory of Mastery Learning
Ralph W. Tyler (1902-1994)
American Educator in the field of evaluation and assessment, Authored: Basic Principles of Curriculum and Instruction (1949)
Defined “evaluation” as an exam which aligned with learning outcomes
His book defined a basic, four-part structure for instruction: 1. Define learning objectives
2. Introduce objectives
3. Organize experiences to maximize learning
4. Evaluate and revise processes
William Edwards Deming (1900-1993)
Engineer, professor, author, management consultant
Authored: Quality Productivity and Competitive Position (1982), Out of the Crisis (1986) and The New Economics for Industry, Government, and Education (1993)
Considered the Father of TQM (Total Quality Management), although he did not coin the term
Understanding of human psychology considered essential piece of human management
Our Model Research-based
Time-tested
Allows teachers professional freedom to choose their own teaching methods
Is a systemic model for district-wide vertical and horizontal curriculum alignment
Visit us today at: http://cliweb.org