A Short Guest Blog from Dr. Carney

John's been reading Educational Leadership and sent me this informal summary of what's in the current issue:

Writers in Educational Leadership have synthesized the goals that have persisted throughout nearly 300 years of U.S. education policymaking into 8 broad categories:
1-Basic academic skills (reading, writing, math, science, history, civics, geography, and a foreign language),
2-Critical thinking and problem solving (analyzing info, applying ideas to new situations, and developing knowledge using computers),
3-Social skills and work ethic (communication skills, personal responsibility, and getting along with others from varied backgrounds),
4-Citizenship (public ethics; knowing how government works; and participating by voting, volunteering, and becoming active in community life),
5-Physical health (good habits of exercise and nutrition),
6-Emotional health (self-confidence, respect for others, and the ability to resist peer pressure to engage in irresponsible personal behavior),
7-The arts and literature (participation in and appreciation of musical, visual, and performing arts as well as a love of literature),
8-Preparation for skilled employment (qualification for skilled employment for students not pursuing college education). From “Balance….” Pp. 9-14.

Interesting articles include a challenge to the so-called Curriculum Superhighway (really worth reading – pp. 16-20), and Teaching as Jazz (eclectic funneling), pp. 27-31, and Assessment Through the Student’s eyes, pp. 22-26.

My favorite article (probably because of my degree in curriculum and instruction) was “New Ways to Hire Educators” on pages 83 and 84. Candidates for teaching and for administration were asked to observe in the classroom and then to relate what they had “noticed” about the teacher and the students. Mr. Reeves took one student’s work samples but then placed fictitious names on the samples reflecting varying ethnicities and requested narrative comments. Was less expected of some and more of others based on a name on a paper? Did the candidate focus on teaching and leadership practices or on student characteristics or a balance of both?