RE: Deming-based Nat. Fed. Ed. Std.

[Myron Tribus <mtribus@gull.prod.itd.earthlink.net>]

>
>A PROPOSAL FOR A DEMING-BASED
>NATIONAL FEDERAL EDUCATIONAL STANDARD
>
>
>II.	SUGGESTED FEDERAL EXAMPLES OF:  DEMING-BASED AIM, METHODS, AND
>CONTINUING EVALUATION.
>
>1.	Aim.
>
>	"Provide students age-appropriate support to enjoyably acquire
>fundamental skills and knowledge needed to become happy members of their
>future adult societies."



>
>2.	Methods.
>
>	Two major tracks of instruction will be present at each grade level,
>k-12.  The same subjects will be taught, but in one track (the SKILL-TRACK)
>the subjects will be secondary to the development of the "4-R" skills.  In
>other words, the subjects will be used as the means to develop the skills.
>In a second track, (the SUBJECT-TRACK) the skill development will still be a
>high priority, but achieving real learning (meaningful application) in that
>specific subject area will be primary.  At each grade level (k-12), minimal
>skill levels must be achieved by each student in the areas of Reading,
>wRiting, basic mathematics (aRithmetic), and self-leaRning/innovation.
>Should any student not achieve that expected skill level in one or more of
>the 4-Rs, they still will be promoted to the next grade level, but will be
>required to go into the needed Skill-Track(s) until they achieve expected
>mastery.  Then, should they wish, they can move back to the
>Subject-Track(s).

	This paragraph illustrates an important principle, which I
	learned by studying the wonderful book "The Dolphins are
	Back" by Phil Scanlon.  In this book he makes the point that
	whenever the Government attempts to improve the quality of life
	it can only do so by setting MINIMUM standards.  It then can
	impose FINES or PENALTIES on those who do not meet the
	MINIMUM standards.  Thus, if you, as a food company allow more
	than, say 0.01% contamination by mice feces, you are subject
	to a fine.  Only a group of private citizens can campaign for
	high standards of quality and can give recognition for those
	who reach or exceed them.  Scanlon illustrated this by showing
	how his committee of private citizens caused 90 communities along
	the New Jersey coast to change their ways, spend important tax
	monies and clean up their discharges to the ocean. The previous
	attempts by the state government were a dismal failure!

	The proposal here suffers from the same faulty paradigm.
 





>
>Of the four basic skills, the most emphasis will be placed on
>SELF-LEARNING/INNOVATION.  This will involve age-appropriate testing for
>cognition abilities, any needed deficit training, explicit training in what
>a real learning process is and how to achieve it, training in the use of all
>sorts of tools useful to self-learning, and exercises in the art of
>extrapolation, testing, and data-driven evaluation.  "Thinking" is not
>regarded as an endpoint unto itself, but as part of the process in
>self-learning/innovation.
>
>	Grades will not be given competitively.  In other words, all
>students in a class can earn an "A" if they achieve the required results.
>Conversely, should all students in a class refuse to do anything, they could
>all receive "F"s.  (Other sliding scales can be used.)    No grades will be
>based on rote memorization.  National Standards rooted in fact-memorization
>will only be used as guides to the areas and topics that each student should
>be aware of.  All or the major component of each grade will be based on a
>class Project.  The class Project can be a TEAM effort (if it's a real,
>Quality-trained, facilitator-validated team), or individual efforts.  If at
>all possible, the student's Project (or piece of a Team Project) will be
>designed to meet the student's particular interest, particularly as building
>on an evolving personal portfolio with a common theme(s).
>
>	NO MORE THAN HALF THE CLASS TIME in any class or subject will be
>permitted for presentation of background information.  Background
>information can include lecture or text overviews, videos, how to use source
>materials or tools, etc.  AT LEAST HALF THE CLASS TIME will be spent working
>on hands-on, APPLICATION Projects.  If at all possible, the Projects will
>not be "practice" exercises, but applications of the course material that
>have a real impact on helping real people/customers.  The final,
>non-competitive evaluation ("grade") will be primarily based on the
>student's class Project, awarded as to criteria negotiated between the
>instructor and the students when that class first began.  Students (in
>conjunction with their Parents and Champions) have the right to appeal the
>criteria at the start of the class to school management, and if satisfaction
>is not reached, to the five Stakeholder groups.
>
>	The final course "grade" is the instructor's subjective evaluation
>and certification of the Quality of the student's project.  Quality will be
>determined based upon evaluation by the end recipients (customers) of the
>Project as to whether or not it meets their needs.  End customers include
>the instructor of the course, the student, team members, and any other
>recipients.  Specific items in the "grading" matrix might be:  customer
>feedback;  level of student effort (as appropriate to the student's
>potential/skill level); teacher standard of "perfection;"  defined
>characteristics of the final product; etc.  Once again, the student has the
>right of appeal (in conjunction with Parents and Champions) if he/she feels
>the final certification by the teacher of the student's Project and other
>endpoints is in error.  The course "grade" in the transcript will consist of
>the final letter/number plus a one sentence explanation for it, plus a
>one-sentence description of the student's Project (with the Project or a
>full description thereof becoming part of his/her Portfolio.)
>
>	As a required corollary, all students (with input by Champions and
>Parents), will at the end of each course give a certification-of-Quality
>"grade" regarding the overall course, complete with a paragraph explanation.
>This student evaluation will particularly focus on how well the
>instructor(s) fulfilled their part of the initially agreed-upon course plan
>and Project evaluation criteria.  The student's Quality certification will
>deal with specifics of the course plan, Project certification criteria, and
>class processes, not with superficial popularity of the instructor or the
>material.  Student certifications of Quality will be reviewed by management
>and the five Stakeholder groups.
>
>	All school managers, teachers, and students will be trained in
>Quality Awareness.  A cadre of school personnel will be trained by outside
>consultants to be Internal Quality Trainers that in turn give continuing
>just-in-time training for teacher/student Facilitators, Team Leaders, and
>Team Members.  A cadre of school personnel (probably many of the internal
>trainers) will serve as continuing Facilitators that help students and
>teachers alike in the new (fluid) Application vs the old (rigid)
>Memorization environment.  Teachers can form teams between classes as
>appropriate, share class application time, overlap subjects to create more
>hands-on learning opportunities for the students, and overlap Projects.
>Before each class begins, the teacher's Course Plan for best use of the
>Overview half of the class and  best use of the Application half of the
>class must be submitted to management and approved.  Invited for input by
>management on each class plan are representatives of the five Stakeholder
>groups, the actual kids going into that particular class, their parents, and
>the kids' Champions.
>
>	Each student will be assigned a Champion.  Champions can be any
>appropriate school personnel, or community figures that understand that
>particular school's system.  Champions work closely with parents to help
>their Project (the individual student) be a success.  Champions are not
>randomly-assigned "counselors."  Champions share a major interest(s) of the
>student, as reflected in the theme(s) of the student's Portfolio, and will
>help the student whenever a knowledgeable authority figure is needed.  As
>the kid's interests develop, he/she can readily (with parental and school
>agreement) change Champions.
>
>
>3.	Evaluation.
>
>Standardized, rote-memorization tests will not be used for student
>evaluation.  Skill-testing will be conducted at the end of each year for
>determining if the student will need to enter skill-track(s) for the next
>year.  (Note that if the student is to take, say, Algebra, it will be taught
>very much the same in both Skill and Subject tracks.)  Voluntary surveys
>will track students up to 10 years following graduation as to:  1) their own
>evaluation of their general happiness/success;  2) their own evaluation of
>what value they received from specifics of their k-12 experiences;  3)
>satisfaction of higher educational bodies with their
>preparation/performance;   4) parental satisfaction with their children's
>success; and  5) community satisfaction (employers, police, churches, etc.)
>The survey results will help sculpt ongoing assignment of teachers as to
>their duties, process improvement at the school, balance of course subjects,
>and use of specific teaching methods.

	There are some useful ideas here, but as part of a Federally
	monitored and funded program, it will not and should not fly.


Myron Tribus,  350 Britto Terrace,  Fremont, CA 94539
Phone:(510) 651 3641  Fax:(510) 656 9875   e-mail: mtribus@earthlink.net
Trying to fix a problem without getting at the root cause is like 
waxing a dirty floor.
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