The Best Educational System Possible: Renewing Educational Success in America
Copyright 2013, John Manimas Medeiros
Summary/outline:
A) Developmental Learning: the student follows an outline of the field of study that indicates what level of learning is mastered in that designated field. Developmental outline of a field can be presented in condensed or abbreviated format, listing comprehensive topics, or highly detailed outline with the many branches of the field of study and what should be mastered before entering a new branch.
B) Learning Goal Inventories: student, and other learning goal participants, including parents, family, friends, teachers, community, list the learning goals, or learning objectives, or instructional objectives that the student may or has selected as their learning goals at the present time. Grade levels or progress levels are neither ignored nor abolished, but are not the guide for the student. The path of the student is the path of the learning goals selected by the student and those who participate in selecting learning goals for the student. For the younger students, teachers, parents and others involved in the educational enterprise will keep records and manage the list of learning goals for the student.
1) Student: purpose, aspirations, are goals realistic.
2) Parents/family: purposes, expectations, are goals realistic.
3) Teachers: purposes, expectations, are goals realistic.
4) Community: purposes, expectations, are goals realistic.
5) Philosophical/social/economic learning
goals are considered and identified but are still deemed to be goals selected by #1 through #4 for
reasons inherent in philosophical, social or
economic purposes. This would include
vocational, professional or employment training or a program of learning directed toward
liberal arts social skills or character development if such goals are deliberately selected. C) Developmental Grading and Tests and Evaluations:
based on the premise that all tests and evaluations, all forms of grading a
student or a student’s progress or level of achievement, are inescapably a
form of comparison. For example, the student’s performance can be compared
to a proposed norm or grade level, or an expected age level, but in all cases the
student is invariably compared to some established gauge. Often grades and
evaluations, established by testing procedures, are comparisons with selected
groups. For example, a grade from a teacher may be a grade based on comparison
with all of the other students in the classroom, or in the age or grade group.
Grading or evaluations are then commonly based on larger groups, such as all
students in the school, all students in a given territory such as the
municipality or the region or state. Sometimes the grading is based upon
comparison with social, ethnic or economic groups. In all cases, evaluations
are comparisons. There is no such thing as an evaluation that is universal or
based upon a fixed biological standard or expectation. We can evaluate the
knowledge or the skill levels of a student ONLY by comparison with other
students or with an artifice that represents an expected or desired level of
progress. Whatever the measure used, any student can be evaluated by the same
procedure or standard. But the standard used for such a measurement is always
either other students or a selected level of achievement to be reached either
partially or completely. THEREFORE, we use developmental grading
to avoid the harm caused by hierarchical grading and forcing all individual
students to subscribe to the same expectations of achievements in a set of
socially-selected fields of knowledge. Instead, the path of learning has been consciously
selected by the student and the other appropriate participants in selection
of learning goals, AND, the grade or evaluation or testing results are always
measured by the level of mastery achieved in compliance with the developmental
outline of the field established in A) above. This form of grading or
evaluation is not new, but is not used universally. It has been used for
learning impaired or emotionally disabled students but should be used for every
student for measurement of every field of knowledge. The essence of
developmental learning and developmental grading is that the student is
regularly and consistently advised what levels of achievement they have
mastered in the given field of knowledge, and what greater levels of
achievement they are ready to attempt. This method of grading avoids the sense
that one is smarter or dumber than other students, but is more like being a
cross country runner – one’s most important competitor is oneself. The student
is encouraged to exceed his or her own past achievements and learn what they
want to learn. The student is supported in their efforts to self-improve, grow
by deliberate intent and planning, and therein accept the highest possible
responsibility for their own learning. Their learning path is likely to
include an informal or formal process of teacher selection. This approach to
education may also include a formal or informal process where teachers
participate in selecting their students, or focus on a particular student
because of the particular learning path that they have chosen with the support
of the other participants or stakeholders in their learning career. This
approach can also be described as being based in large part on the
philosophical viewpoint that everyone in society, everyone in the community, is
employed, and the minor child’s employment is to be employed as a student.
Their job is to learn, but we want them to enjoy learning. We want them to
enjoy learning not just because we want our children to be happy and enjoy
their lives, but mainly because it is very important that children enjoy
learning to build good learning habits and motivate them to pursue the most
challenging and realistic learning goals for themselves, and succeed again and
again. In this way the students, the teachers and the community all experience
success, by a democratic and scientific method of deliberate and conscious
awareness of what learning goals each student is pursuing, using a conscious
and reasonable process to assure that the learning path is socially and
economically and personally realistic for each student.
Link back to: (Journey List) or (Welcome) page links or (Mindstream) of J. Manimas) or (JM Magazine 2013).