I think something that spoke to me the most in the key elements for changing education listed by Darling-Hammond and in the rest of her book is the overall understanding that we need to recognize the disparities that exist between low and high income students. All of the key elements that Hammond list would really work towards making education in this country more equitable. Teaching low-income students it quickly becomes obvious that they need more support, not because there is anything wrong or deficient about them, but simply because they do not have nearly as many opportunities to access learning outside of school. We need to re-alocate our funds and resources towards the students who need them the most.
I also thought Darling-Hammonds focus on accountability and goals was really meaningful for myself and my own teaching. I think "teacher accountability" has been a dirty term since the rise of standardized testing, but I think we need to step back from defensiveness and really consider our objectives. My objective as a teacher is to educate my students as best I can with the time I have with them. I think the nation's education goal should be pretty similar, and we do need a way to assess teachers. Many young teachers today are struggling and without assessment there is no way to help them. But our assessment should be geared towards our objectives. If we want our students to be good test-takers then we should keep the standards-based teacher assessments we have now, but if we want our students to be intelligent, complex, and compassionate people then we need to find a way to hold teachers accountable to that objective. Overall I believe that if the key elements Darling-Hammond lists were implemented in an intelligent way, the United States would begin to see inequalities decrease and the American education system rapidly improve, especially when compared to other students. The students in Singapore and Finland are doing so well because they are taught how to think. That is what we need to be doing more of here.
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AuthorI am a fourth grade teacher in Vacaville, California. Archives
November 2017
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