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Keeping up with education trends
By The News-Gazette
Here is a sampling of a few notable trends in education
from the last several decades:
New math/new-new math:
Widely known as the "father of the new math,"
UI mathematician Max Beberman pressed for replacing rote computation with
an understanding of the "why" of the drills.
In 1964, Beberman was credited in Time magazine for his
work in math education reform.
By 1978, though, area teachers were saying new math probably
wasn't such a good idea and moved to emphasizing old skills.
Today, the war is over "new-new math" rather
than "new math," even though they're basically the same thing.
Another thing that's not new: protests.
Major opponents of "new-new math" call it "whole
math" or "fuzzy math" and say it reduces knowledge and accuracy,
creates an over-reliance on calculators in place of basic skills and promotes
writing about math at the expense of doing math.
Open classrooms:
Open education enjoyed the spotlight from 1967 until about
1975, when mounting criticism and declining SAT scores shifted attention
to basic skills, according to Education Week.
Open education typically stressed giving children choice
and plenty of opportunities to experiment. Teachers monitored pupils'
work, rather than dictating what they should study and learn.
Architects responded to the open classroom approach with
"open space" schools, but those buildings proved unpopular with
parents and teachers.
Year-round schools:
More than 3,000 schools nationwide have adopted year-round
calendars, including three schools in Champaign and three in Danville.
In an article titled "Prisoners No More," Charles
Ballinger, executive director of the National Association for Year-Round
Education, says the traditional nine-month school calendar "long ago
lost its reason for being."
A number of local school officials agree. In addition
to schools in Champaign and Danville, two in Urbana might make the switch.
One rural school in this area – Thomasboro Grade School – is talking
about it.
Most schools on year-round calendars hold classes for
nine weeks at a time and take three weeks off between sessions. Summer breaks
are generally six weeks. The "balanced calendar," or "continuous
learning calendar," is said to reduce learning loss because of the
short summer vacation and cut down on teacher and student burnout because
of the more frequent breaks during the year.
While the switch to year-round calendars hasn't generally
caused a great amount of turmoil in local school districts, parents in other
communities – like Bentonville, Ark., and Paradise, Calif., for example
– have gone to war.
The Urbana district may experience quite a bit of resistance
from Leal Elementary School parents, many of whom have ties to the University
of Illinois. The UI runs on a traditional calendar.
Most opponents have not argued with the academic benefits
of a year-round calendar. They simply find it inconvenient. And, often,
it is a pain, particularly when parents have children in different schools
operating on different calendars.
Bilingual education:
Unlike some states – notably California – Illinois
doesn't question the need for bilingual education.
Elsewhere, though, how much instruction a student should
receive in his or her native language has been a big issue over the years.
Proposition 227 in California called for English immersion,
or placing minority-language students in classes in which "nearly all"
instruction is in English.
Proponents of Proposition 227 argued that bilingual education
had failed minority-language children. Opponents argued that students need
help in their native language while learning English and before moving into
mainstream classes.
Illinois districts are required to provide instruction
in English as a second language to students who score among the bottom half
of students who take the English proficiency test.
The state also requires that students with limited English
language skills be taught the basic subjects – reading, writing, arithmetic,
science and social studies – in their native language unless they are
capable of performing in English.
Character education:
At South Side School in Champaign and others in this area,
the Character Counts theme is carried throughout the school, teaching and
reinforcing its "six pillars": trustworthiness, respect, responsibility,
fairness, caring and citizenship.
 Students
in schools where character education is part of the curriculum have made
pledges to respect others and the school, to learn all they can, to be responsible
for themselves, to practice patience and peace, to make good choices and
to do their best.
The Community Forum for Character and Values, founded
locally, led to Character Counts in Champaign County.
Character education is not a new topic, but the character
education movement of the 1990s is significant. In March 1993, the Character
Education Partnership was launched as a national coalition committed to
putting character development at the top of the nation's educational
goals.
Some, though, have spoken against saddling schools with
teaching character, saying public schools have no place taking that role,
particularly when they are already struggling to teach basic skills.
Reading education:
The best way to teach children to read has been a major
issue across the country.
The two methods in question: whole language vs. phonics.
Tired of the endless drills associated with phonics, many
schools went to the whole language approach.
Proponents touted it as the best way to teach kids to
read, but others called whole language an "educational disaster"
and blamed it for pulling down reading scores.
The reading wars died down a bit after the influential
National Research Council issued a report in 1998 urging more teaching of
the connection between letter and sound, or phonics, as well as exposing
students to a wide variety of reading material. Whole-language advocates
believe kids are turned on to reading by exposure to lots of books, allowing
them to get meaning from context.
Montessori:
Most of the several thousand Montessori schools in the
United States are private institutions, including the Montessori Habitat
School in Champaign. However, the program can also be found in public schools
and, pretty soon, Stratton School in Champaign will have a Montessori program.
According to the book "The Parents' Guide to
Alternatives in Education," Montessori education is the legacy of Maria
Montessori, who in 1907 founded the Casa dei Bambini (the Children's
House) in Rome. Montessori based her method of teaching on her view that
young children possess a divine life force.
In the Montessori classroom, which is usually a multiage
classroom, the teacher creates and maintains a consistent, orderly and attractive
learning environment, sets limits, establishes a schedule, observes and
provides help when needed. Otherwise, the teacher gives students the freedom
to choose a task and carry it through to its successful completion.
Kindergarten:
All-day kindergarten programs have grown in popularity
in recent years, partly because of a rise in the number of single-parent
and dual-income families in need of child care.
But does all-day kindergarten provide a better education
as well as relief for parents trying to juggle work and the care needs of
their children?
Some say no. They say the school day is too long for children
that age and that the children need more one-on-one attention than teachers
can provide.
Many educators, however, say all-day kindergarten does
provide a better education. They believe the less hectic schedule in a full-day
program benefits children as they continue in school.
Some research confirms the academic benefits of all-day
kindergarten programs, according to a summary on the issue by the ERIC Clearinghouse
on Elementary and Early Childhood Education at the University of Illinois.
In some studies, children in full-day programs exhibited
more positive behaviors and were more independent and productive than children
in half-day programs.
The News-Gazette welcomes comments from readers on the
issues raised in this article. Please send your comments to: Editor, The
News-Gazette, 15 Main St., P.O. Box 677, Champaign, IL 61824-0677. Send
comments by e-mail to news@news-gazette.com. |
