In the right direction

Not many education policy details came out over the course of the recent election campaign, but I am encouraged by President-elect Obama's obvious commitment to early childhood education, and especially, by the quality of the people who will be advising him. One well-respected education reformer is Linda Darling-Hammond, who chaired the committee that eventually resulted in the selection of Arne Duncan to be the new Secretary of Education.

As it happens, at Monday's board meeting we received copies of an article from the December Phi Delta Kappan, authored by the same Darling-Hammond. It addressed the fact that while the quality of public education in this country has been largely stagnant for the last generation, many other countries have significantly improved. Her article talked about what these countries are doing differently.

An important difference lies is the nature of student assessment: “whereas U. S. tests rely primarily on multiple-choice items that evaluate recall and recognition of discrete facts, most high-achieving countries rely largely on open-ended items that require students to analyze, apply knowledge and write extensively.”

Furthermore: "nations that have steeply improved student learning have focused explicitly on creating curriculum and assessments that focus on the so-called 21st century skills: the abilities to find and organize information to solve problems, frame and conduct investigations, analyze and synthesize data, apply learning to new situations, self-monitor and improve one's own learning and performance, communicate well in multiple forms, work in teams, and learn independently."

I couldn't have said it better myself.

Finally, "these countries do not use their examinations to rank or punish schools" (a primary fault of NCLB) or "deny diplomas to students" (a key aspect of Governor Rendell's GCA proposal). Instead, they use these exams to improve their curriculum.

Clearly, there’s a long way to go, but it’s hard not to be at least a little enthusiastic about the direction we appear to be heading.