Let’s Take Learning Off The Clock!

Our current education system focuses on clock time to measure learning. The current buzz around teacher evaluations is that students should have a years worth of growth during a school year. These leaves two critical questions:

1. Who defines the growth?
2. Are all students going to grow equally in the same time frame?

Looking at my children, I struggle with this concept. They have all grown but in so many different ways and at very different rates. My three children have all been completely different when it comes to hitting “growth milestones”. My two boys Griffin (10) and Gavin (6) we late walkers and talkers. On the other hand Grace (6) was early. Then again my boys are way ahead on the height and weight milestones where Grace is “just” average. Having watched Griffin grow academically over 6 years of school, I have noticed he excels in Math, Science and Social Studies but struggles as a reader and writer.

Don’t we all have different strengths and weaknesses? Shouldn’t school honor this, allowing us to move faster in areas where we can, while helping us continue moving forward in areas of need?

 Our current education system focuses on seat time. Schools in Michigan are required to offer students 1098 hours of instruction. Students are expected to grow a years worth a growth in this time, but there is NO requirement for the students to be in school for those 1098. As students move through the system they learn that at the end of the year they will move on to the next grade whether they learn the requirements or not. This system slows down are accelerated learners and discourages our slower learners.

What if the system focused on LEARNING instead of CLOCK HOURS?

Schools should focus on learning! Students should be allowed to move at their own pace. If the meet the learning target and are ready to move forward, they should! Students need to be challenged! When we slow them down by putting learning on a clock school make the students “play the school game!” Students often become bored waiting for the rest of class and can become behavior problems.

Schools need to create blended learning environments that honor students learning paces. Students will progress at their own rate through learning targets with the guidance of teachers. Never slowed down or speed up by the curriculum map pacing made by someone who never met them. Students will be motivated to keep pace with their peers not just watching the clock to move to the next grade.

My Teach to Lead DOE proposal.