What Does it Mean to Say a School is Doing Well? Elliot W. Eisner

Presented by Glenda Lewis & Melissa DedamED625LDr. Kevin J Macleod

“The formation of standards and the measurement of performance were intended to tidy up a messy system and to make teachers and administration truly accountable. The aim was then as is today to systemize and standardize so that the public will know which schools are performing well and which are not.” (Eisner, 2001)

How Schools Are Measured

• Rationalized procedures in what define our ideas of education and drives what we believe makes a school successful.• Rationalization:

• depends on a clear specification of intended outcomes (standards and rubrics assist in setting the outcomes).

• typically uses measurement as a means through which the quality of a product or performance is assessed and represented (all outcomes then need to be measureable).

• of practice is predicated on the ability to control and predict(an assumption).

• down plays interaction (personalities, ideas, and temperaments maybe dismissed).

• promotes comparison and comparison requires what is called commensurability (all variables have to be identical such as time allocated).

• relies upon extrinsic incentives to motivate action (survival of the fittest).

Consequences of this approach

• Leave little room for small details and teachable moments• Narrowed curriculum where testing defines the priorities• Students only focus on earning good grades and not the learning process• Students who are: learning to do well in school vs learning to do well in life• Non core subjects such as art are marginalized and are not considered a

“priority subject”

Students are encouraged to do better in school, but what about doing better in life?

“In our desire to improve schools education had become a causality.” (Eisner, 2001)

• “Those of us who wish to exercise leadership in education must do more than simply

accept the inadequate criteria that are now used to determine how well out schools are

doing.” • (Eisner, 2001)

What We Need To Work Towards & Signs Of A School Doing Well

• Students who are motivated to learn and want to be in school• (work with the multiple interests and aptitudes that are present)

• Students creating their own questions, understands their purpose, and articulates their perspectives

• Students learning about “real world” things that they can apply and be beneficial to the outside world of school

• Students exploring their own interests and what they enjoy• Students working together (having an environment which fosters collaboration)

• Students who are less concerned about correct answers and more emphasized on their ability to ask meaningful questions

• Students who self-assess

• Teacher working together and learning from each other (discourage teacher isolation)

• Teachers who are focused on students strengths and discovering what their weakness are (student centered)

• Parents involved and connected to help define quality (fostering relationships)

What We Need To Work Towards & Signs Of A School Doing Well

• Schools that provide diversified opportunities for students• Schools that provide meaningful professional development

opportunities for their teachers and assist with the needs of their teachers

• Schools that are focused on process conditions that are culture related to the school and community

• Schools that foster a community of learner, not necessarily by age

What We Need To Work Towards & Signs Of A School Doing Well

“The function of schooling is not to do better in school but to enable students to be successful in life.” (Eisner, 2001)

“Children become more different as they get older, and we ought to be promoting those differences and at the same time working to escalate the mean.”(Eisner, 2001)

“A focus on what students can do with what they’ve learned in school is a true measurement of educational achievement.” (Eisner, 2001)