First, standards provides us with structure. It can help guide instruction to ultimate teaching goals for our students. Second, they provide defined goals and objectives for students to achieve over the course of the year. I do think that these goals should be made available to the students at the beginning of the year to help them understand what they should be achieving at the end of the year. Standards can also place accountability on the teacher to ensure that they are providing, what the state, believes is the best education.
However each of these points I can also argue from the opposing side. Standards providing structure to the teaching process can make it a dry, boring, and inapplicable to todays world. (I do understand that it is up to the teacher to adapt and present the material in an interesting way). Personally, I cant tolerate being in class that has little relevance to what I believe in, what I want to achieve, and what is happening in current times.
While the standards provide defined goals and objectives do they really encourage learning. Standardized tests are usually used to assess learning, but what about the student who doesn't like taking test? The student who'd rather be physically involved in learning? I feel that application is the true measure of learning. Take math for example (I loved math in when I was in school). It is all based on principles, formulas, theories, or whatever you want to call them. If a student doesn't understand them, they most likely won't get the problem right.
Accountability is one area that I cannot argue. Teachers need to be held accountable. This does, however, place enormous pressure on the teacher, especially when they are being evaluated.
So shackle or benefit? Both.
In my school, there is consistency across the particular grade level. Grade level teams meet once a week to align goals for the upcoming week but the instructional processes, I assume, are very different. I know that I do adhere to our state standards for physical education but struggle with the health component. If you don't know, health education at the primary level is nearly non-existant. How am I to meet all the standards for two content areas? Before everyone starts, understand I see kids 80 minutes per week, while classroom teachers see them 270 minutes a day in my school. Also, being a PE teacher, we are often "left alone" which I think is completely unacceptable and lets some very inappropriate educational practices survive.
State vs National Standards
I am not sure that it would matter where the standards are coming from. For Physical Education, NASPE (National Association for Sport and Physical Education) provides 6 national standards that are very broad. One standard reads - Participates regularly in physical activity. There are many ways to achieve that which provides freedom to the teacher but lacks substance. I have a student who completely dislikes any physical activity yet if I test him on locomotor movements I am sure he would pass but I cannot say that he participates regularly in physical activity.
I do believe standards provide consistency in education provided for all student and because of this I think that standards, in some capacity, need to be in place
Sean: I agree with much of what you say in regards to standards being both good and bad. And, like you say, having some standards in place is necessary to maintain consistency to some degree. I'm curious about your comment about PE teachers being "left alone" allowing inappropriate practices to continue. Perhaps this is something our group can discuss in class, rather than a blog.
ReplyDeleteAs much as some other PE teacher will get mad at me for this, we (Physical Educators) are not held to the same level as other educators. I think this is wrong. (Need to explain in person)
ReplyDeleteInappropriate practice- referring to teachers doing things that are not developmentally appropriate. For example, a teacher would not teach a 1st grader calculus. Unfortunately in PE sometimes, I think, students are required to know/perform skills that are at a much higher level than they should be.
Standards are necessary in a sense that they should be used as a guide or framework in a subject area. In assessment I am in total agreement and feel as though standardized test do not really measure a students learning ability. Teachers can come up with other ways to assess student learning.
ReplyDeleteBeing a music teacher I see my students only once a week for 30 minutes. How hard is that to incorporate all standards into my lessons? I understand how difficult it is to be a special area teacher and to adhere to a curriculum in such a short amount of time.
Do you think the accountability level would change if there were a NJ ASK PE test, where all students had to perform tasks (i.e. Presidential fitness test) every May and the PE teacher were judged on how well they achieved that goal?
ReplyDeleteI think an NJ ASK for PE is an interesting concept. I think those teachers who are doing it 'right' would have nothing to worry about and may hopefully earn a little more of the respect they deserve. However, I would really like the teachers who are sitting on a chair throwing a ball out to kids to be held a little more accountable.
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