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TRANSITIONS TO COMPLETE EDUCATION
New Hope Charitable Foundation
Thought drives belief. Belief drives behavior.
What people believe about themselves they become.
What is “Functional
Accountability" ?
A functional accountability system has four keys: (1) judge students based on what they have,
in fact, been exposed to in a logical sequence or spiral of learning; (2) address "foundational learning skills" whose
lack is blocking student learning -- such as auditory, visual, and memory processing skills. (Recent studies show "foundational learning skills" are weak or lacking among school-age children across all
socio-economic situations); (3) with those "foundational learning skills" in their repertoire, students then go
through remediation they need to have facility with curriculum pre-requisites for all areas appearing on the accountability
measure; and (4) students then succeed in the curriculum areas and on the accountability measure
itself.
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The Need for Accountability
It
is, of course, true that schools, teachers, and students must be accountable for the work they do -- tax dollars and
their time are being invested. Balance is struck between the need for accountability measures usable on a mass scale and
the need for a well-educated populace, each of whom can, 1) function within society, 2) feel comfortable and confident
in the complex 21st Century, and 3) have good decision-making skills, including how to define and realize their own goals
for financial security and personal fulfillment.
We
all know someone who has the above characteristics and yet, for whatever physiological or pshycological reason,
could not perform on written tests in school. Similar persons are in schools today. One can observe
their high educational achievement through their participation in discussions, their thinking "outside-the-box,"
their verbal self-confidence, their meaningful mentoring of another, and/or their full engagement in a particular subject.
Multiple research studies show the high school drop out rate has reached almost 50% in some geographic/demographic
areas and is 30% nationwide.
Some scholars suggest that the nation would obtain more long-term benefit from focusing on increased depth
and breadth of learning experiences for our students – from analytical reasoning skills, to life skills (financial education
is making advances), to 3-dimensional hand/brain skills, to exposure to more information, to variety of academic measurements
– as opposed to reliance on a few national standardized tests to judge outcomes for some 11,000,000 students
in Kindergarten thru 12th grade in the USA.
Every human brain is unique. Every cultural experience shapes how information is perceived. By the
reality of being human, each student in just one class in one school is having a unique educational experience.
Of course, the uniqueness of human individuals has nothing to do with and would never excuse diffrences
in student experience resulting from school-to-school or district-to-district differences in quality and/or funding.
"In life...
one size does
not fit all."
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No Child Left Behind:
What a great purpose for
a law! Read about it at the NCLB site.
What Now?
While districts
and states struggle with testing mandates, you can help your students and/or children as they move
through systems that so heavily emphasize testing. Especially as students enter middle, and then again high
school, their workload dramatically increases, as does the demand to peform well on high-stakes tests. Studies almost universally find highschoolers are stressed, frustrated, worried,
fearful of their future, and dropping out at unprecedented rates.
You can help them
by, a) ensuring they do not have a "foundational learning skill"deficit or sensory problem that makes testing (and learning)
difficult for them, b) ensuring they have proper sleep and nutrition necessary to get through both regular and testing
days, c) helping them put the test results in perspective, d) planning with them, in a positive, supportive way, for
a future that may or may not immediately include a 4-year college degree but will include economic security and personal fulfillment,
and e) ensuring they do finish high school.
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Awareness * Responsibility * Honesty
NewHopeCharitableFoundation.org
for EVERY child a life of meaning and hope Copyright 2005, 2006, 2007, New Hope Charitable Foundation
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