Hi Dave,
In this thread, I believe that the words "curriculum" and "standards"
have been used pretty much interchangeably. I'm not even sure that there
is a difference in connotations between these words, or not. Although,
in my mind, curriculum is a lot more detailed, often going so far as to
list at what times certain topics should be taught, etc... (i.e. at the
completion of 3rd grade the student should be able to....)
-> Lets assign school 1 the honor of having met the national standard
-> and just passed the criteria. School 2 has proven itself capable of
-> far exceeding the standard and through what ever means has been able
-> to deliver an education that in reality is a year ahead of school 1.
-> The situation would probably result in a student transfering between
-> the two schools to be out of phase. would you place a cap on the high
-> end of the curriculum or would you dumb down school 2 to make 2=1 ?
-> I'd predict that the National curriculum would be based on the lowest
-> expectations not the highest.
Certainly, even with national curriculum or standards, some schools
would possibly exceed the minimum expectations. You are right that a kid
transfering between two schools may STILL find himself out of phase with
what is going on in the classroom. However, as that occurs even now, I
don't see what additional complications or harm a national
curriculum/standard would add to the present situation?
I do see potential for such a curriculum to aid in the allignment of
schools across the country, and to _possibly_ eliminate or reduce some
of the effects of transfering students being out of phase.
Unfortunately, we don't live in a perfect world, and I doubt we can ever
100% eliminate this problem. But we can work towards reducing it.
Would a standard be based on lowest expecations and not the highest?
Well, the NCTM standards for Mathematics, (NCTM= National Council for
Teachers of Mathematics) is one standard by a non-federal agency that
IMO is not based on lowest expecations. I don't 100% agree with these
standards, either, but you can check them out yourself at (I think)
http://enc.org/online/NCTM/280dtoc1.html
I'm pretty sure that they have the entire standards document on-line on
their site somewhere.
In any case, as to my answer to your question, would I favor dumbing
down #2 so that it was equal to #1? Of course not. I'm surprised that
you even have to ask me that.
-> Better some way of making it financially possible for all schools to
-> be the best they can be :-)
I agree. Suggestions?
-> If the national specification set out a standard so high that every
-> school could be measured against the accepted very best curriculum
-> and that best was just past attainable it might work. Just a thought
-> ;-)
This is what I envision.
-> How does the National Curriculum change the way things will work when
-> we see how things really work in today's schools?
"The" National Curriculum? Iyeeha! You're already talking about it as
though it exists. I would think that if there were such a thing as
National Standards or Curriculum, it might be one of those things that
schools would demonstrate to accrediting agencies that they are trying
to attain as part of their accreditation process. In such a way, it
would be voluntary compliance, and yet desirable as a way of attaining
accreditation. However, I understand that there are not only private
schools, but public schools as well, that operate without being
accreditted. What would entice such schools to reach for standards, I
simply don't know.
Sheila
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