Bucking School Reform, A Leader Gets Results

David Herszenhorn:

“We are relentless,” Dr. Cashin said in a recent interview. “The secret is clear expectations. Everything is spelled out. Nothing is assumed.” She provides her principals, for instance, with a detailed road map of what should be taught in every subject, in every grade, including specific skills of the week in reading and focus on a genre of literature every month.
Dr. Cashin is obsessed with writing, and in most of her schools, student work lines the walls — not just the final product but layers of drafts. Even first graders have writing posted on the walls.
A feature used in every school is the four-square graphic organizer, a worksheet with four boxes like a window pane and a rectangle at its center that helps children develop a five-paragraph essay. Some progressive educators scorn it as a crutch; Dr. Cashin insists that it works.
While the city’s reading program focuses on story books, Dr. Cashin layers on lots of nonfiction. And, responding to research showing that impoverished children often lack vocabulary and basic facts, she has adopted a curriculum called Core Knowledge, which teaches basics like the principles of constitutional government, events in world history and well-known literature.

2 thoughts on “Bucking School Reform, A Leader Gets Results”

  1. I’ll be. Using education to impart facts and historical wisdom to the next generation. This is risky business though. Why, if enough children learn about the great institutions and hard work that went into building this country, we may end up with a generation that actually thinks the US is a good place.
    We have to put an end to this now!

  2. The article highlights many good practices and attitudes. This one stands out for me:
    “‘We are relentless,’ Dr. Cashin said in a recent interview. ‘The secret is clear expectations. Everything is spelled out. Nothing is assumed.’ She provides her principals, for instance, with a detailed road map of what should be taught in every subject, in every grade, including specific skills of the week in reading and focus on a genre of literature every month.”
    Dr. Cashin is describing a teacher-directed, not child-directed, environment.
    Reading researcher Sandra Statsky explained Jean Chall’s perspective on the effectiveness of teacher-directed instruction:
    “Going beyond the confines of reading studies, [Chall’s] last work sets up a dichotomy that in her view captured the larger picture. Most of the issues in the curriculum could be seen, she suggested, as a reflection of the tensions between a teacher-centered and a student-centered approach to instruction and to education in general. Commentators on education over the years have come up with different terms for the dichotomy in approaches: traditional vs. progressive, direct vs. indirect, content vs. process, product vs. process, structured vs. open, or skills vs. conceptual understanding are just a few of them. But, they always reflected how one viewed the learning process and the role of the teacher.
    From her examination of trends in national test scores and both quantitative and qualitative studies in all areas of the school curriculum, Chall concluded that teacher-centered approaches led to higher student achievement in all areas of the curriculum including reading, especially in the elementary grades and especially for low-income children. Yet, ironically, for the past 50 years the conflicts were almost all about what was best for these children. Which approach would do the most for these children? The research evidence was clear, but it didn’t seem to matter to those who claimed that social justice for the children of the poor demanded nothing but “best practices.” Why wouldn’t those who professed to be their advocates draw on the studies that showed how they might best be taught?”
    Access the full text of Stotsky’s discussion at http://www.schoolinfosystem.org/archives/Stotsky%20on%20Chall.pdf

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