FT: Special Committee on Education

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

SPECIAL COMMITTEE
of the HOUSE OF COMMONS on Education

Oyez! Oyez! Oyez! By the authority vested in me as President of his honorable house by Article V of the Standing Orders, I hereby convene this Special Committee of the House of Commons.

The purpose of this committee is to facilitate an open and collaborative discussion of education reform. The final product of this discussion should be, if not a formal bill, then at least a rough draft of legislation to be brought before the Commons for general debate. Per the Standing Orders, this committee is open to all Members of the House of Commons; I also encourage private citizens - especially those with an interest in this area of public policy - to contribute, either as full members or as guests. Our agenda will include, but is not limited to:

• Broad standards for Elementary, Middle, and High Schools • Possibility of publicly-funded Pre-K • Methods of assessment (i.e. testing) • Health and physical education

Committee members will, of course, be able to add items to the agenda.

As Prime Minister, I will assume presidency of this committee for the time being. Members and interested citizens, please sign in below!

Harry S Truman
Prime Minister of the Commonwealth

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

Alright, then. Barring any objections by the membership, we will now proceed with the first item on the agenda: that is, establishing general standards for public elementary, middle, and high schools. To start us off, here is my proposed standard curriculum for grades 1 - 12:

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Thoughts?

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Perhaps children in middle school should have required computer related curriculum? Teach the ins and outs of word, excel, power point, ect. Along with typeing speed. Though computers are common in this day and age, we still need to make sure students are computer literate by the time they get to high school.

I would agree that digital literacy is highly important for students in the upper grades - do we think there needs to be a separate class to teach these skills, or should computer instruction be incorporated into ordinary class time?

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I'd like to add five years of music to the elementary curriculum, as well as changing the Foreign Language requirement to not be (spanish/other). Also, maybe require that all students complete Algebra II by high school?

I would support all of this, particularly the part about music education. Did you have something specific in mind regarding the Foreign Language requirement (i.e. other options to accompany/replace Spanish)?

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@Rpryor: algebra 2 before high school might be asking a bit much. While I can't speak for all schools, I can say that from the schools I have seen. Algebra 1 is where they get to before high school. And even then there were still issues.

I interpreted that to mean "by the end of high school;" regardless, I agree completing Algebra II before 9th grade would be a bit much to ask.

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Also, why are Reading and Language Arts separated? I imagine there's a perfectly good rationale here, but I'm just curious.

In the early grades especially, reading and writing are actually two separate skills; it's not uncommon for a young child to be a strong reader but an abysmal speller, for instance. In the older grades, the two subjects are frequently combined and students transition from basic reading comprehension to more thorough literary analysis, which lends itself well to the sorts of writing they are doing at that stage. In elementary school, however, learning to read and learning to write are more distinct undertakings, and while there's certainly some overlap, from an instructional standpoint it's worthwhile to differentiate between the two.

Just the fact that Spanish shouldn't be the main foreign language. We should allow for more options, such as Mandarin Chinese, Portuguese, German, and French.

I believe he choose spanish because it is a very common language here in the region and thus the one mostly likey one would need to learn. I do however support the offering of other languages.

Novella is correct; I agree with Rpryor that other languages should be available to students who wish to study them (I myself studied French in high school and have taken both French and Latin at university); given the large population of Spanish speakers in Fremont, it seems reasonable to expect all schools to offer Spanish courses, while giving students in upper grades the option to learn a different language if they so choose.

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How should we incorporate digital literacy into the curriculum? Should it count as a science credit, or do y'all see this as a subject in its own right? Similarly, how many semester credits ought be required for all students?

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Revised standards, based on the feedback in this thread:

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This is a little late, but I think computer programming should be taught in elementary school along with art/music and require at least a year in middle and high school.

I could support increasing the requirement for Middle School students to one year, but I think requiring six-year-olds to take a computer programming course is a little onerous. Elementary schools would be free to introduce such a program on an individual basis, of course, but I don't think it should be mandated by the region.

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Updates as per RFayette's suggested changes.

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[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

I will give 24 hours for objections to the proposed Educational Standards (see above post), after which point we will proceed to the next item on the agenda.

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

Alright, let's move on. Since we just finished talking about curriculum standards, we'll now proceed to the methods by which we confirm that these standards are being met; namely, testing. Questions to consider:

                  (1) What should be tested, how, and with what frequency?
                  (2) How should the region respond to test averages, particularly low averages?
                  (3) Should parents be able to "opt-out" of tests on their children's behalf?
                  (4) What is the appropriate role for standardized testing in the broader curriculum?

I'm interested to hear the committee's thoughts on the matter.

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

Standardized testing should play a moderate role in the broader curriculum.  The goal of these tests should be to ensure everyone has achieved a basic level of proficiency in the tested subjects.  Teachers should not feel constrained to only teaching the contents of the test because the syllabus should be limited/fundamental enough to ensure that teachers still have classroom discretion.  However, for the coursework-specific tests, the tests will have greater content coverage and also provide a greater degree of resolving power in order to show a greater distribution of performance.  Thus, for those specific courses covered by end-of-course assessments, teachers would be more likely to "teach-to-the-test" in the sense that these tests will be designed to cover an entire year's worth of specific material.  The motivation behind this approach is that knowledge of these domains is important - Algebra 2 is a strong predictor of success in calculus (and strengthens general numeracy skills), biology/chemistry comprehension in success in collegiate science courses and scientific literacy in general, and ensuring a uniformity in instruction for these important subjects so students in the state universities can be expected to share a common body of knowledge.

I strongly concur with the sentiment expressed here. Teachers need to have the latitude to adapt their curriculum to the needs of their students and their community, and onerous testing requirements can get in the way of that. For courses like Biology and Algebra, a more comprehensive ECA is advisable, but such should be the exception, not the rule.

I likewise agree with RFayette's proposals regarding the frequency and areas in which we should test students. My one objection would be to the requirement for yearly tests prior to 1st Grade. Unless these were very general examinations, I feel this would be both oppressive and futile; I'm having a hard time imagining 5 and 6 year olds taking an extended written exam. I could be misunderstanding the intended format, though, in which case I would be willing to reconsider my position.

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

If you must test at every grade, which I understand there might be some pedagogical detail to be gained, I would think more general oral or even artistic evaluations would be appropriate.   

This is a really interesting idea. Do you know of any schools where this method of examination is practiced? As an alumnus of several Montessori schools, I have some familiarity with innovative methods of examination, but these things tend to vary greatly from program to program and I'd love to see how it is done elsewhere.

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

Alright! With the new session of parliament underway, I figure it's time to revive this. The question on the floor is that of standard examinations in public schools. Earlier, RFayette submitted a draft proposal on the matter; it has been suggested (by myself) that the requirement for examinations of kindergarteners be struck, and (by Mr. Barnes) that we ought to explore the possibility of alternative testing methods for students of the younger grades.

As a reminder, all citizens of Fremont - not just MPs - are eligible to join this committee, so if you have something to say, speak up!

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I largely agree with Barnes on this issue. The main question, I think, is whether we want to prescribe the method(s) for alternative assessment in an Act of Parliament, or allow teachers and school districts to work it out for themselves.

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Draft proposal for regional testing standards:

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I omitted the proposed Foreign Language AEA, as I feel foreign language ought to be tested in the format of an ordinary final exam, designed by teachers according to regional standards. Keep in mind that this is a draft only, so if you see something that needs changing, don't hesitate to say so.

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I think this represents excellent progress. I will ask, though, on the decision to not require AEA for the natural sciences. I remember that in high school there was the option of not taking science courses for some grades but I wonder about the need for such a thing.

Indeed, per the previously approved draft curriculum, students will be required to take at least three science courses (two of which must be Biology and Chemistry) over the course of their high school career. If you think it advisable, I would be happy to expand the Social Science AEA to cover the Natural Sciences as well.

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

Amendment to the earlier draft proposal, in accordance with the recommendation of Speaker Barnes:

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Any further thoughts/suggestions, or are we ready to move on?

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Seeing no objections, the draft has been adopted.

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Alright, moving on! Is there any interest in launching a regionally-funded preschool pilot program? If so, who should be eligible for this program (all students, or only those from low income families)?