Teachers across the nation and in New Hampshire are being set up for failure. How? The new Common Core initiative targets teachers as the cause for why schools are failing.
Assuming that the problems lie with teachers (and we’d argue against that belief) one would think that any new reform effort would focus on setting teachers up for success.
Unfortunately that is NOT the case and we’ll explain why.
Teacher evaluations are being done via the Danielson Rubric which is sweeping the nation. According to the website, the Danielson rubric for teacher evals is “grounded in a constructivist view of learning and teaching” http://danielsongroup.org/framework/
Page 5 from New Hampshire Task Force On Effective Teaching:
“Each subcommittee reviewed and discussed related literature and research and developed recommendations which were sent to Charlotte Danielson for technical review.
At the final task force meeting in May 2011, Charlotte provided feedback to each subcommittee on its recommendations in light of current research and best practice. The subcommittees incorporated her feedback in their final recommendations, which will be used in the Phase II design effort.”
So how does the Charlotte Danielson Rubric set teachers up for failure? The information below shows how “Constructivism” lowers academic achievement in mathematics and science. We encourage you to read through the information provided in the links below. You will see how this pedagogy pushed on teachers, actually puts students at a disadvantage.
Failed Pedagogy is a recipe for failure in the classroom. Forcing teachers to comply to this kind of failed Pedagogy sets not only the students up for failure, but teachers too.
While we do not wish to dictate exactly how a teacher should teach in a classroom, we believe all information should be given to teachers so they understand the real problems with this approach to learning. Only then can they adjust their classrooms accordingly and make the best decisions for their students. In other words, let teachers teach the best way they know how. If they want to facilitate in the learning process vs lecture, let the teachers decide. If that approach is not working well, give them the flexibility to adjust their teaching style accordingly.
Common Core micromanaging teacher evaluations limits a teacher’s creativity in the classroom and can have a negative impact on academic achievement.
New Hampshire parents need to be aware of what is going on inside the classroom. Governor Hassan continues to push forward with this initiative that further damages academic achievement and the ability for teachers to simply…TEACH.
http://www.cogtech.usc.edu/publications/kirschner_Sweller_Clark.pdf