Centering on Students

I sit here reading the article "Centering on Students in the Middle Grades Curriculum," by Gayle Andrews the morning after a staff meeting focused on data collection and formative common assessments. I can't help but feel a little conflicted about our focus on common assessments and data collection, especially after reading this article. The article focuses on some changes that Andrews has considered since she originally co-authored the book Turning Points 2000. The changes hinge on the fact that world around us has changed considerably as well. Education has not only begun to shift into a national issue, it has begun to shift into a global issue. With movement around the world, and communication becoming easier and more prevalent, students need to be educated in a more global context.

In the article Andrews mentions turning the backwards planning model that was explained in Turning Points 2000 on its head. She cites extensive research that has been done with student-centered planning and integrative curricula in her explanation of the benefits of this type of curriculum. The research points to an increase in student motivation because the problems they are exploring are real and relevant to their lives. It points to more positive teacher and student relationships with a decrease of behavior problems, as well as more of a feeling of professionalism in teachers. With the little I have done using these types of approaches, I have begun to see that these results do ring true. Students become more involved when they have a choice about what they are learning, and when these choices center on issues that concern them. They explore the concepts presented to them while practicing, and hopefully mastering, the skills that are being taught.

I fully understand and agree with most of what Andrews presented in this article. I worry about the fact that every time I go to a staff meeting (most Mondays) we add a new common assessment to our plate in order to collect data so that we know exactly where all students stand with every piece of our prescribed curriculum. I worry about testing so much that I won't have a chance to teach. And finally, I worry about who these test are really for and what they really tell us about each individual student. Andrews begins the article with the question, "In a world increasingly focused on accountability, extensive federal and state legislation, policies, and mandates seem to clutter the educational landscape and obscure and perhaps overshadow the students who should dominate it. A certain irony, then, lurks behind a critical question guiding this article: Can our curriculum be student centered and leave no child behind?" I believe it can. Actually, I am beginning to believe that the more student centered our curriculum gets, fewer and fewer students will be left behind. The task then becomes to convince the powers that be of this same belief.