Constructivism in a high stakes world

Most people would agree that learning for the sheer love of learning is a noble endeavor. They would also quickly agree that, like communism, it is good in theory but not possible in reality. In today’s high stakes, accountability culture it can difficult to advocate for a pure sense of learning, which is exactly why it is needed now more than ever.

In my two plus decades as a teacher I have seen a steady slide in education from learning to test prep. As states continually push policies that are based on a competitive model of ranking and sorting, schools are pressured into conforming to the methods that most effectively increase their rankings. Doing well on the mandated tests is the most prominent approach, but pushing advanced classes that help media created rankings is also big. Either way, the end result is preparing for an exam.

School districts, schools and teachers have spent an inordinate amount of time refining curriculum, engaging in professional development and coordinating teaching practices to maximize performance on tests. Some would argue that doing well on tests demonstrates that students are learning. This is a fallacy that has been perpetuated across the country both in  and out of education. This is a fallacy that can only be fought from the inside. School districts need to at the forefront of explaining how and why this assumption is incorrect, and it is going to have to be the districts that most benefit from the system that lead the charge.

All across the country, accountability measures and high stakes testing have failed to achieve their stated goals. There are a few possible explanations for this. One explanation is that the desired outcomes of raising scores and the quality of education for all students was never the actual goal to begin with. The actual goal was to discredit and demoralize public schools everywhere so it would be easier to privatize and corporatize the system. This theory may be a little too conspiratorial for many, but not completely outlandish.

The real issue, which no one at any level wants to deal with, is poverty. It is no accident that the highest ranked districts in all states are from higher socio-economic areas and those that are ranked at the bottom from lower socio-economic areas. Generally, there are exceptions. There are some magnet, charter and traditional public schools that outperform the other schools in their area. These are usually singular cases that exist because of exceptional leadership or history, or some kind of non-reproducible factor. A school like the Harlem Children’s Zone is consistently successful because it addresses the many factors that lead to poor performance. Students live at the school, parents are given job and parenting lessons. It isn’t just an academic school. Most school districts do not have the resources to replicate this program.