Any honest assessment of the science is going to recognize that there are things we understand pretty darn well and things that we sort of know. But there are things that are uncertain and there are things we just have no idea about whatsoever. (Nate Silver, The Signal and the Noise, 2012, p. 409).
Ah, if only federal and state policymakers, researchers, and reform-minded educators would see the “science” of school reform in K-12 and higher education in similar terms. I put “science” in quote marks because there is no reliable, much less valid, theory of school reform that can predict events or improvements in schools and classrooms.
Still, for K-12 children and youth there are “things we understand pretty darn well.”
*We understand that socioeconomic status of children’s families has a major influence on students’ academic achievement.
*We understand that a knowledgeable and skilled teacher is the most important in-school factor in student learning.
*We understand the wide variability in student interests, abilities, and motivation.
*We understand that children and youth develop at different speeds as they move through the age-graded school.
It’s funny because the longer I teacher, the less confident I feel about my impact. Despite all the new practises, reforms and ideas I am expected to follow in my day to day life.
Teaching feels so simple - to help someone learn. Yet, in the day to day it’s this constant maelstrom.