Twitter Book Club: John I. Goodlad (1979) What Schools Are For - Chapter 6

"schools become burdened with non-educational functions and, in the process, forget what education is." Goodladless than a minute ago via Twittelatoranderscj
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"[Charles Rusch] discovered that a complex, urban environment can be extraordinarily educative and that (cont) http://tl.gd/69hc8iless than a minute ago via Twittelatoranderscj
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"I am equally convinced that society, individuals, and the schools would benefit immensely if a vast (cont) http://tl.gd/69hd4tless than a minute ago via Twittelatoranderscj
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I think in many ways, schools have done it to themselves. In convincing the populous that education is the solution to society's problems, a populous that equates education with schooling will blame the school when things in society do not measure up to expectations.

"prime yardstick for appraising a school, then, is the percentage of it's time and resources it spends on what is truly educative."Goodladless than a minute ago via Twittelatoranderscj
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"If we suddenly were to find ourselves without schools, here in the United States, our school-less culture (cont) http://tl.gd/69hgq1less than a minute ago via Twittelatoranderscj
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I love this place where Goodlad takes us in the book. Imagine a school-less culture and what would that culture invent as a vehicle for education. I love this proposition both as a thought experiment and as a way of thinking about school reform.

"Schools currently perform least well those educational functions that the rest of our society also attends to poorly." Goodladless than a minute ago via Twittelatoranderscj
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"If we were suddenly to find ourselves without schools, the rest of society would be tuned up quite readily (cont) http://tl.gd/69hiefless than a minute ago via Twittelatoranderscj
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"Most studies conclude that teachers don't use instructional technologies very well; often, they leave it in a closet." Goodladless than a minute ago via Twittelatoranderscj
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@anderscj tech left in closer; new textbooks left on shelf -- agree on this one. So much to do hard to try differentless than a minute ago via EchofonJoel Hollingsworth
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"we do not need schools today, in our kind of society, if their sole or even prime task is teaching the basics" Goodladless than a minute ago via Twittelatoranderscj
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This has been why I have said on a few occasions that if we continue down the path we are on of narrowing the curriculum and objectifying all who have anything to do with schooling, that I would start advocating against sending kids there. I have not given up hope that the pendulum will swing back the other direction though.

"Soon, of course, it would become apparent that manipulating numbers and mastering the mechanics of reading (cont) http://tl.gd/69hmijless than a minute ago via Twittelatoranderscj
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I am going to repeat this quote in it's entirety because it is the one that stuck with me most the first time I read Goodlad:

"Soon, of course, it would become apparent that manipulating numbers and mastering the mechanics of reading would not challenge our young for long. The human being requires complexity. And so we would have to think about how the rest of the 'day in custody' would be spent. Would we re-create the schools we have?"

"Education is the only profession I know that consistently places its most highly prepared personnel (cont) http://tl.gd/69hp8vless than a minute ago via Twittelatoranderscj
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@anderscj disagree w/Goodlad medicine, sales, law enforcement, more--all move best away from essence of organization's key actionsless than a minute ago via EchofonJoel Hollingsworth
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"To what degree are some students deprived of the richest opportunities for personal growth and (cont) http://tl.gd/69v47mless than a minute ago via Twittelatoranderscj
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Also, how many of our kids are placed on a slow track because they were not sufficiently motivated by mainstream prescriptive learning to demonstrate that they need to be placed on a fast track?

"most of those practices serving to differentiate academic students from students who must settle for (cont) http://tl.gd/69v5kcless than a minute ago via Twittelatoranderscj
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I think this is an important point. It sounds a lot like Freire too. That in placing some students on a college track and others on school-to-work track we deny both necessary learning opportunities.

"It is my view that much individualization in learning has gone in precisely the wrong direction. Most (cont) http://tl.gd/69vac7less than a minute ago via Twittelatoranderscj
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How do we take back differentiated instruction? How do we allow differentiated instruction to mean more than just different ways of being shown the same thing? When are we going to say it is not only OK but expected that different kids learn different things?

"We often state that children and youth should learn how to learn, but relatively little of what goes on in s (cont) http://tl.gd/69vcbsless than a minute ago via Twittelatoranderscj
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"schools must guide each student beyond personally comfortable ways of learning into all those alternatives (cont) http://tl.gd/69vdamless than a minute ago via Twittelatoranderscj
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"persons with rich personal resources, living full lives, actually have difficulty scheduling time for (cont) http://tl.gd/69vfn9less than a minute ago via Twittelatoranderscj
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"if schools go on into the twenty-first century and do nothing more than refine in practice the rhetoric of (cont) http://tl.gd/69viieless than a minute ago via Twittelatoranderscj
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"I firmly believe that learning occurs best in a laboratory setting where the teacher also is involved in (cont) http://tl.gd/69vl8lless than a minute ago via Twittelatoranderscj
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"I would endorse the concept of each student having an allocation of vouchers to secure the out-of-school (cont) http://tl.gd/69vn5mless than a minute ago via Twittelatoranderscj
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"To give up on the common school now would place in doubt the possibility of achieving for all of our (cont) http://tl.gd/69vrl6less than a minute ago via Twittelatoranderscj
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"We are all accountable for the conditions of our schools. This is no time for us to become either (cont) http://tl.gd/69vtl0less than a minute ago via Twittelatoranderscj
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Twitter Book Club: John I. Goodlad (1979) What Schools Are For - Chapter 5

"Parents rate their school higher and trust the decisions of local principals and teachers more when they (cont) http://tl.gd/68ie8tless than a minute ago via Twittelatoranderscj
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This is exactly the problem find with how the whole national conversation about education, catalyzed by the film "Waiting for Superman," and propagated by NBC's devotion to a national conversation about education with their "Education Nation" project. It is what prompted me to post these four Tweets:

Education has always been a local issue. If NBC is serious about affecting change they should bring #educationnation 2 local affiliates.less than a minute ago via Twitterrificanderscj
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Education Policy conversations at a national level tend to miscategorize what really goes on in schools. #educationnationless than a minute ago via Twitterrificanderscj
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On a national platform it is too easy to show 1 ex of poor schooling & use it to generalize about all public schools. #educationnationless than a minute ago via Twitterrificanderscj
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@NBC bring #educationnation 2 your local affiliates & host discussions about schools locally with people who actually work in & with them.less than a minute ago via Twitterrificanderscj
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"Schools must possess the authority and freedom essential to exercising [the] responsibility [for the quality of its own existence]."Goodladless than a minute ago via Twittelatoranderscj
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When external agencies impose accountability assessments and prescriptive solutions to poor results it undermines this fundamental condition for their success. It is, like Chinese Handcuffs, the counter-intuitive solution that solves the problem.

"We must reverse the trend of assigning most of the authority to remote levels of the education system, (cont) http://tl.gd/68ih6uless than a minute ago via Twittelatoranderscj
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"The healthy school has a sense of mission, identity, and wholeness that pervades every aspect of its functioning." Goodladless than a minute ago via Twittelatoranderscj
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I believe so very strongly in this. If schools are allowed, or required, to be viewed as simply resources available to help the public along they will not be successful. They will, and I have seen this happen, wither like a dead branch on a tree and die. I think it is also true for any learning community, not just schools. This effect can be achieved around more than just an institution. Look at the successful online learning communities in our PLNs. That sense of mission can be different for individual members in a learning community but each person must bring this quality out and show it.

In successful schools, "the principal is a person with a strong sense of personal worth and potency, who (cont) http://tl.gd/68ijf9less than a minute ago via Twittelatoranderscj
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"When people appear to be carrying chains not of their own forging and are willing and able to perform more (cont) http://tl.gd/68ilpaless than a minute ago via Twittelatoranderscj
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Yet another good argument for the elimination of standardized testing and value-added assessment.

"the criterion of accountability for the principal is based on the development of a comprehensive (cont) http://tl.gd/691psgless than a minute ago via Twittelatoranderscj
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I agree with this statement only in so far as the principal is given the authority that allows them to be responsible for this. Too often this authority is taken away because of externally imposed mandates and the depletion of resources. This statement lies at the heart of equity issues in public schools.

"the [successful] principal purges from his or her mind those views of instruction that offer panaceas and simple solutions." Goodladless than a minute ago via Twittelatoranderscj
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"When students are Involved in and excited about what they are doing (to the extent of being immune to (cont) http://tl.gd/691rvgless than a minute ago via Twittelatoranderscj
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"This involvement occurs, regardless of the techniques of external motivation employed, when the subject (cont) http://tl.gd/691sujless than a minute ago via Twittelatoranderscj
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Would it be a copyright infringement to print these two quotes on t-shirts and posters and sell them to teachers? I want to put these quotes somewhere all teachers will see them everyday when they go into work.

"A mastery approach to learning, as recommended by Benjamin Bloom, within a nongraded structure offers much (cont) http://tl.gd/6921arless than a minute ago via Twittelatoranderscj
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I think the term mastery in the last couple years has been co-opted to mean "teach harder." When I teach middle and high school students I teach for mastery by giving feedback on projects and assignments, giving them back to students to continue to work on, and not accepting their work until they have mastered it. In the process often we have to change course in the approach to attaining mastery based on individual student needs. What I have been hearing lately when the term "mastery" has been employed has been more akin to the increased drilling of rote memorization techniques until the student can repeat lists. I saw a good example of this false mastery on MSNBC's Education Nation on Monday when they brought out a KIPP math teacher to show how he teaches factors. What he did was simply rewrite a T-payne song so students could more easily memorize the factors of various numbers. This is not mastery. How many of those kids could list for you the factors of the numbers in the song but not know what they mean? Teaching for mastery involves teaching for understanding and to attain it a student must also want to master the content. Teaching for mastery starts with the student internalizing the learning objective and the teacher guiding them to attaining them. Mastery is a responsive, not reactionary pedagogy.

"Management may be part of leadership, but management alone is no substitute for leadership." Goodladless than a minute ago via Twittelatoranderscj
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"Interestingly (60 or 70 years ago) principals were viewed more as head teachers than as administrators and not at all as managers." Goodladless than a minute ago via Twittelatoranderscj
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When I first read Goodlad five years ago this quote stuck with me. Actually, since the book was written in the late 70s the actual quote says 30-40 years, I have updated it. I believe strongly any effective reform of our schools today must strive to reclaim this. Move principals closer to the business of education.

"for far too many school administrators, learning and teaching no longer are at the core of their daily existence." Goodladless than a minute ago via Twittelatoranderscj
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"the improvement of curriculum and instruction calls for delayed gratification." Goodladless than a minute ago via Twittelatoranderscj
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"Our work, for which we will always be held accountable, is to develop, justify, maintain, and articulate (cont) http://tl.gd/692cdfless than a minute ago via Twittelatoranderscj
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"Improving the schools we have does not require new legislation, sweeping innovation, massive infusion of (cont) http://tl.gd/692fjkless than a minute ago via Twittelatoranderscj
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Why do so few people understand this? Don't we have enough data about the effectiveness of these failed approaches to make a data-driven decision to stop these practices?

"Improvements beyond the cosmetic are more likely to occur if several schools are joined in a network for (cont) http://tl.gd/692hhmless than a minute ago via Twittelatoranderscj
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This seems to be a recurring theme in the books printed before the rise of the WWW that I have been reading for Twitter Book Club. Goodlad, Dewey, Illich, Papert, and Freire have all, in their pre-Internet texts, called for the need for and the potential power of a network of teachers, or PLN, to make change in schools. In many ways, Twitter Book Club is an homage to them and an appropriate medium in which to honor them.

"The creation of an educative society may call for less schooling as we know it now, or more in some places and less in others." Goodladless than a minute ago via Twittelatoranderscj
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Twitter Book Club: John I. Goodlad (1979) What Schools Are For - Chapter 4

"The norm by which the performance of schools is now judged is entirely inadequate from one perspective (cont) http://tl.gd/673upqless than a minute ago via Twittelatoranderscj
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"The affixing of accountability for improving performance according to the standard now used inhibits the (cont) http://tl.gd/673vdqless than a minute ago via Twittelatoranderscj
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"many people outside of schools who think they know what will lead to improvement and who are imposing (cont) http://tl.gd/6740uqless than a minute ago via Twittelatoranderscj
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This statement I believe to be partially true. It is why I am starting to think that in order to make real substantive changes in education one needs to leave the classroom and grow into an outsider role. An educator like Tim Walz who left the classroom for the House of Representatives is perhaps in better situation for change than the teacher fighting the struggle in the classroom. Problem is, the teacher who leaves the classroom to fight for the changes they thought they needed ends up passing on changes for others that they felt they need, not necessarily what kids or current teachers need. In many ways this is a paradox.

"neither satisfied nor dissatisfied parents give much thought to whether their children's curricula were (cont) http://tl.gd/6742mlless than a minute ago via Twittelatoranderscj
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I think this is a condition we are schooled into. A passing thought I had this morning was that maybe the Libertarians have a good point in their drive to restrict what schools do. If we reduce what schools do to a more basic purpose it will force other institutions to take responsibility for what they have let schools take the burden for. On the other hand, this approach would need to be coupled with other measures to ensure equity happens by some other means.

"how a student spends precious time in school and how he feels about what goes on there is of much greater (cont) http://tl.gd/674446less than a minute ago via Twittelatoranderscj
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"Use of norm-referenced standardized test scores as the standard for judging student, teacher, and school (cont) http://tl.gd/6745coless than a minute ago via Twittelatoranderscj
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"Is the time not overdue for seriously considering other ways of accounting for what goes on in the education system?" Goodladless than a minute ago via Twittelatoranderscj
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"what about this school administrator's criterion of a successful school: 'I know this is a better school (cont) http://tl.gd/6748adless than a minute ago via Twittelatoranderscj
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"my further guess is that more complex intellectual processes not easily measured will decline at an even greater rate." Goodladless than a minute ago via Twittelatoranderscj
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My concern as well. In fact, I believe we have seen this happen large-scale in the past ten years.

"Schools are caught up in society's conflicts when they try to educate for changing circumstances." Goodladless than a minute ago via Twittelatoranderscj
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"The family is potentially our most powerful educative institution. Nonetheless, it is regarded primarily (cont) http://tl.gd/674g7dless than a minute ago via Twittelatoranderscj
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How do we restore this role for the family? This, I believe, is one of the issues Education Nation on NBC ought to be discussing. Yes, we need good schools, but we need to recontextualize what role they play. They ought to be seen as resources to help families in educating their children, not as the sole proprietor.

"There are few instances in our society of organizations increasing in size without increasing in (cont) http://tl.gd/674hbuless than a minute ago via Twittelatoranderscj
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@anderscj Thanks for the gems from Goodlad. Do you Oprah, Arne, Gates, or the DFERs have read any of his work?less than a minute ago via webDan McGuire
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@sabier I doubt it, but I think his work did in large part add fuel to the beginning of the charter movement.less than a minute ago via Twitterrificanderscj
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@sabier problem is the direction they take it bastardizes it's original intentions. Instead of creating places 4 R&D they create inequities.less than a minute ago via Twitterrificanderscj
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"Scholars and innovators in research and development enterprises outside of schools rarely possess the (cont) http://tl.gd/67k6ttless than a minute ago via Twittelatoranderscj
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"legislators assume not only that they know what is best for schools but they will give it, even though (cont) http://tl.gd/67k7uvless than a minute ago via Twittelatoranderscj
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"It would be easy to suggest that the improvement of schooling rests with educators...But it would be (cont) http://tl.gd/67kcncless than a minute ago via Twittelatoranderscj
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"Teachers, in turn, are more tied to their disciplines and the teaching of content than oriented to the (cont) http://tl.gd/67kfi0less than a minute ago via Twittelatoranderscj
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"Our schools must be reconstructed, one by one, by citizens and educators working together." Goodladless than a minute ago via Twittelatoranderscj
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I had a dream last night, that after watching "Waiting for Superman" and watching the whole PR campaign on Oprah and MSNBC this week the American people saw through the crap and rallied to actually help improve their own schools. It was sort of a "peasant revolt" against the corporate "common core" options being sold to them by the "reformers" acting from their ivory towers and imposing reforms on them instead of with them. In my dream parents became driven to take an involved role in school in places where none had done before. In my dream local businesses donated supplies to fix up crumbling infrastructure. Then I woke up wondering, could it happen?

"The goal-oriented factory model furthers the instrumental role of schools, taking attention almost (cont) http://tl.gd/67ki9bless than a minute ago via Twittelatoranderscj
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"the indices of improvement used in the model are such that a school can appear to be getting more healthy wh (cont) http://tl.gd/67kiv8less than a minute ago via Twittelatoranderscj
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@anderscj i have not read anything of Goodlad's. Can u suggest some links or books... I want to read what you are tweetingless than a minute ago via Twitter for iPadJoe Bower
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@joe_bower http://www.amazon.com/What-Schools-Are-John-Goodlad/dp/0873674677/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1285570328&sr=1-3less than a minute ago via webanderscj
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"It was of great importance to the health of the system that the children began to see the difference (cont) http://tl.gd/67ks2rless than a minute ago via Twittelatoranderscj
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"We gave little or no thought to outcomes but a great deal of attention to each other, to how we wanted to (cont) http://tl.gd/67kss6less than a minute ago via Twittelatoranderscj
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"The issues of accountability are substantially more complex in the ecological than in the ends-means model (cont) http://tl.gd/67ktp3less than a minute ago via Twittelatoranderscj
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I love these last two tweets. They are from a story Goodlad tells about a class he taught where for some act of fate he ended up teaching a class of students in a classroom that was effectively situated as a one-room schoolhouse. In that environment he had a lot of leverage and flexibility to do whatever he felt necessary. He ends up establishing a culture of shared goals and shared experience. It really is a lovely description of what I believe is one vision of an ideal learning environment.

"We can no longer be content with standardized achievement test scores in a few subjects as the sole (cont) http://tl.gd/67ku9tless than a minute ago via Twittelatoranderscj
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@joe_bower I have not read anything else of Goodlad's. I read this book in a grad school Ed policy class and it made a strong impression.less than a minute ago via Twitterrificanderscj
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@joe_bower At the time I was so pressed to speed through it I never really got to digest it the way I would have liked to. So, now I am.less than a minute ago via Twitterrificanderscj
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@joe_bower The strange thing is, I think, the charter movement began heavily influenced by Goodlad's work...less than a minute ago via Twitterrificanderscj
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@joe_bower ...but what it has devolved into, with corporate entanglements and "common core" legislation, is a departure from Goodlad.less than a minute ago via Twitterrificanderscj
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I do wonder if Duncan, Oprah, Rhee, Canada, and crew have read any John I Goodlad. How could we get them to?