Chapter 5
Deciding What to Teach
Policy and Practice
Fitting Project-Based Learning with No Child Left Behind
John Simmons and Alba Lopez have been planning a thematic unit on architecture for the next school quarter that will allow them to have their two 4th grade classes work together, motivate the students to learn about a topic they may not have considered, and weave the content across the curriculum. The idea arose from watching children doodle on their papers and listening to them talk about their dream houses at lunchtime. John and Alba plan to capitalize on this interest by having students work in groups to design homes, buildings, playgrounds, and clubhouses, with the entire project culminating in an exposition at a PTA meeting. They plan to ensure its academic relevance by involving students in research on architectural styles, particularly those that can be viewed in their own town, exploring the science of construction, and incorporating heavy doses of mathematics and art by having students build scale models of the constructions they propose. They plan to have students visit realtor websites so they can conduct virtual walk-throughs of homes in the area. They have residential and commercial architects and contractors lined up to speak to their students in a panel format. They even have someone coming in to talk about the latest features that can make housing accessible to people with disabilities. In short, they’ve done extensive planning and feel confidant all of their students will not only learn more about architecture but will also extend their skills in a range of content areas. In short, they feel their unit is very much in keeping with state and national standards.
There’s just one problem. Alba and John shared their plan with the principal and while he had great appreciation for their efforts to engage their students, he voiced concern that a project of this magnitude would require an enormous amount of time but address skills in a less intensive manner than he felt the students needed. Their school was one that had been identified, based on last year’s test scores, as a low-performing school. He wasn’t sure whether the students had time for this. Sure the students would develop research skills and learn, but would they advance in the individual skill areas enough to perform well on the standardized tests? His advice to John and Alba was to work on skills and test preparation and then teach their unit after the annual tests had been administered. They felt that students would learn plenty from the project but followed the principal’s advice and reluctantly agreed to teach skills directly and spend time each day preparing students for the annual assessment.
The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) has had an enormous impact on policy and practice in schools. Some schools have restructured their academic schedules and fiscal resources to meet the goals put forth by NCLB. Time is spent each day preparing students how to take tests. Rallies and pizza parties are held to cheer students on as they prepare for tests. Recess is cancelled or postponed for younger children so that the test-takers are not distracted. While many people point to the increased achievement in historically struggling schools as evidence of NCLB’s benefits, others express dismay that achievement scores are obtained at the cost of what research indicates is sound instructional practice. There is concern that the students who need engaging, project-based learning the most are instead receiving rote instruction. Others contest that students who don’t demonstrate basic skills cannot afford the time required by more dynamic learning opportunities. Short-term, rote instruction may lead to higher performance on standardized assessments. Long-term, what might the impacts be on the value students place on school? On learning? Is it possible that achievement, as measured by annual tests, is capturing only a small portion of what students have learned? Are the results indicative of the scope of student learning? Are they indicative of the skills people need to be successful members of society? What about the people who argue that if teachers teach well, students will learn and perform well on standardized tests regardless of the instructional method employed? In other words, perhaps the instructional response to NCLB is not what was intended. Perhaps school personnel are letting the fear of being identified as a low-performing school (and losing federal funding) inappropriately influence their instructional decision-making.
As a practicing teacher, you will be affected by public policy, federal initiatives, and mandates from your local school board. Any or all of these decisions may exert serious influence over what happens in your classroom on a day-to-day basis. How you, and the leaders in your building, district, and state, interpret these initiatives has important implications for your students. How do you protect your curriculum, your teaching environment, and your students, in light of these influences?
Activities to extend your understanding
- Have a conversation with a teacher administrator at both a low-performing school and one who has made acceptable annual progress. What do you they think about NCLB? How are the mandates of this policy influencing their practice?
- Work with a partner. Take on the roles of John and Alba. What could you say to your principal to better justify your curriculum plan so that you could carry on with your thematic unit? Think carefully about how the plan you’ve proposed for your students could pay off for them and the principal.
- Review the websites listed below. Each website considers NCLB from a perspective – the federal government, the American Federation of Teachers, The National Education Association, and Grassroots.org. After reviewing them, what do you see as benefits and concerns about NCLB? What issues strike you most?
Federal government webpage on NCLB
http://www.ed.gov/nclb/landing.jhtml?src=pb
American Federation of Teachers on NCLB
http://www.aft.org/topics/nclb/
National Education Association
http://www.nea.org/home/NoChildLeftBehindAct.html
NCLB Grassroots.org
http://www.nclbgrassroots.org/