“When the facts change, I change my mind"

Recently I began reading Diane Ravitch’s (2010) Death and Life of the Great America School System: How Testing and Choice are Undermining Education. I am thoroughly enthralled with her observations, honesty, candor, self-disclosure, and recommendations. One such aw-haw moment comes in chapter one where she draws upon John Maynard Keynes the famous economists response to why he had changed his position on an economic theory, principle, or practice. When asked why he changed his position, he stated, “When the facts change, I change my mind. What do you do, sir?”

Ravitch herself has changed her position on accountability for several reasons. Let me be extremely clear, she has not dismissed accountability. Rather, “Accountability makes no sense when it undermines the larger goals of education.”

This statement certainly begs the question what are the goals or aim of education. Moreover, what are the essentials, the non-negotiables of education? As she unpacks these essentials, she contextualizes each with the accountability movement as well as the testing and choice emphasis of the past 10 years.

Here are Ravitch’s essentials of education:

1. We must make sure that our schools have a strong, coherent, explicit curriculum that is grounded in the liberal arts and sciences, with plenty of opportunity for children to engage in activities and projects that make learning lively.

2. We must ensure that students gain the knowledge they need to understand political debates, scientific phenomena, and the world they live in.

3. We must be sure that students are prepared for the responsibilities of democratic citizenship in a complex society.

4. We must take care that our teachers are well educated, not just well trained.

5. We must make sure that schools have the authority to maintain both standards of learning and standards of behavior.

Quite a list – the challenge however, is how do we accomplish these while simultaneously meeting testing and accountability requirements? As you surmise, the aim of education is not synonymous with testing and accountability. In fact, it is becoming clearer that the testing and accountability movement has actually worked against the very aim we desire to achieve.

I have and will continue to voice that the End of Grade and End of Course assessments will take care of themselves if, I do mean if, we focus on learning – not test taking. We have become numb in many ways to improving instruction for purpose of improving learning not improving test performance.

This is absolutely key – improving instruction for improving learning.

We must focus on improving instruction. The assessments and tests will take care of themselves.

As I pen my thoughts, comments, and observations this week, I would be disingenuousness if I didn’t disclose that I am troubled by the reality that we cannot escape testing and accountability as it is presently defined.

However, if we will accept and act that this reality does not and will not prohibit or obstruct a relentless pursuit of improving instruction to improve learning our students will not learn and achieve.

We know they can and will – our data is too compelling, too convincing, too encouraging. We, however, must change our minds to act – act with conviction, commitment, and courage.

The behaviors of commitment are different than those of compliance. The behaviors of conviction are different than those of condemnation. The behaviors of courage are different than those of status quo.

Yes, we have challenges.

The value proposition for learning is quite different than a grade or diploma for that matter. We, now more than ever, must assist or in some cases make the connection between learning and life for learners. We can’t assume that our learners, all learners make these connections or value learning.

I am reminded that if we will focus on those factors or variables we control our learners will learn. They are curriculum, instruction, and the learning environment.

These three combine to drive learning. This must be, therefore, what we focus on to fulfill the aim of education – learning.

This is why in the months ahead; we will work feverously to focus these three levers as the centerpiece of our human capital development initiative.