Understanding Learning: Growth and Vaccination

   Have you ever been in that conversation when your asked a question and you know the answer you are about to give isn't what they are looking for? I frequently feel that way when I'm asked, "What is your math curriculum?" or "What is your reading curriculum?" I respond with our curriculum objectives, sharing that students progress through calculation and computation, geometry, equations and expressions, and statistics. The questioner is of course looking for the response of a publisher or the name of a textbook. Somewhere in the journey, we intermingled and then confused for ourselves, our teachers, and the public the differences between what it is we want and expect our children to know and be able to do, the curriculum and what are some of the tools we use to get there, the resources. This confusion has allowed legislative leaders and publishers to put forth the concept that the only "guaranteed and viable curriculum" is one that's "research-based" and comes from a publisher.
   The reality is that curriculum is steps of experiences, knowledge and skills, derived from standards. If the national standards are "research-based" then the curriculum steps to achieve them naturally are guaranteed and viable. Through the very act of achieving these standards we are meeting the "research-base." The reality of most "research-based" publisher curricula is that these are corporations that have commissioned their own research done by their own people. The resources and  product studies are not independently peer-reviewed and not independently published. Essentially a corporation commissions its people to write a study and publishes that study. One can assume that they wouldn't publish a study that didn't support their materials.
   In truth, as educational leaders the resource market is caveat emptor. Only through deepening our own understanding of learning and curricula can we choose the learning tasks, resources, and assessments necessary to help our students be successful. In order to do this, we must cultivate an understanding of where the journey ends. The newest focus in education is growth. We want children to grow more. We want them to progress at their own individual rate, accelerating the pace of learning by meeting them at their instructional level. We want students to move forward. This is a wonderful concept and in terms of where growth is our curricular goal, it makes sense. Learning faster or at a greater quantity is not always the outcome goal.
   There are content areas in which a growth model makes sense. One example is in math, when a child knows place value to the tens, move them on. Let them learn place value to the hundreds, thousands, and thousandths. Don't let your district's or classrooms progression of material hold them back until they no longer are interested in the concept. The same is true in Physical Education, if they get how to do a chest pass, move them on to the bounce pass. Don't wait until the children find the learning experience to be a waste of time. When the child has the knowledge or skill, we move them on.
   However, lost in the focus on growth, there are concepts and skills we teach to vaccinate our populace. The concepts are timely and meant to help our children inquire and investigate. Topics in which there is no race to the finish line but meaning itself is created by delving deeper. In Social Studies, we vaccinate our children to develop deep understanding and value within the community. It's not a race to understand my town's history then my state's history. Rather we hope to encourage to inquire deeply, create connections, and meaning. Moving the Constitution to early grades because the children are growing faster doesn't make sense. Rather developing a deep understanding of the Constitution and applying it to current situations such as presidential initiatives, individual rights in Ferguson and our own town, the right to privacy and the internet are terrific conversations in which there is no race to get their first but far more meaning by investigating deeper.
   As we look at learning and curriculum as leaders, teachers, and community members, we need to develop a common understanding of the difference between the curriculum and the resources. We need to articulate those concepts in which we are interested in progressive growth and those concepts in which we want deep exploration. Only then will we foster a common set of guidelines that helps our teachers and our families prepare or students to be the leaders and difference makers we hope they will become.

Harry Potter and the Patronus