How limiting are curriculum standards?

[wunky]

I work for a program that is designed to expose educators - at all levels, in various disciplines- to other peoples and cultures. The expectation of the program is take the overseas experience and bring it back to the educators realm in the form of a curriculum project. In the past couple of years the impact of various states' school standards have limited the types and effectiveness of the projects. Since there are several teachers/educators in this forum I thought that I would ask if there are any ideas/thoughts on how to best suit the needs of the educators, without compromising the goals of the program. Any input would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks

 

[cbish]

I would like a little more info on your program. Could you give a brief example of the type of curriculum you have? Say for High School Science.

I could see where the state standards would limit a program such as your since the SCS's are pretty limiting as to what is taught. Where the SCS's stop however, is how things are taught.

Basically, I would look up on line the SCS's for a particular subject and see, specifically, if any of your projects could be used as a learning modality strategy.

(**learning modality strategy......good use of BS vocabulary, huh!?!)

 

[wunky]

The program is designed to give educators in the Social Sciences and Humanities an experience overseas. What is limiting the program is that it is national, and each state has differing standards. So when we place the expection on the participants to create a curriculum project, they will design something that will work well for their particular state, but that does not have the portability that we would like to have the widest impact possible. We try to give the participants the widest range possible in what they create, but a lot of the projects have a very short shelf life.

 

[Scottch]

The program is designed to give educators in the Social Sciences and Humanities an experience overseas. What is limiting the program is that it is national, and each state has differing standards. So when we place the expection on the participants to create a curriculum project, they will design something that will work well for their particular state, but that does not have the portability that we would like to have the widest impact possible. We try to give the participants the widest range possible in what they create, but a lot of the projects have a very short shelf life.

I have created many national state standard programs in education and if you look closely - most of the state standards are very similar.

I would look at the national standards by the leading organizations in education and have the teachers adopt their plan to their own state standards if they need to.

 

[athon]

Unfortunately, this is the drawback of state-based curriculums. Devolution of curriculum writing to regions, rather than centralising it, will always mean programs developed become difficult to apply outside of a narrow field.

What you will have to do is find out what standards are common to all states. The thing is, you will find that as diverse as curriculum expectations are, they have many things in common. If you compile these 'universal outcomes' and have projects based on them, you might have some more flexibility.

It's the only thing I can think of off-hand. If you need anything concerning UK (which is a national curriculum) or Australian (state-based) education systems, just ask.

Athon

 

[Kiless]

Is there a possibility for 'brother and sister school' exchanges to be set up? To contact say, (in my state) the state or national education boards? I'm thinking of the Catholic Education or Independent Schools Association or Public Education systems in my state who may help. They could then do the business of contacting likely schools on your behalf?

 

[Kiless]

In another thread, also started by Wunky (hi!), I mention the notion of using the exchange students themselves as being a resource that can be drawn upon to find out about curriculum standards in other schools. Quite frankly, if schools are willing to host exchange students I don't see how an exchange teacher would be that much different.

 

[wunky]

Kiless
It would be great to get contacts in Australia that would be interested in establishing exchange programs. I could pass that info along to previous participants of the program that I work for.
I could pass along to you the contact information for the sites that are hosting the projects that have been created by previous program participants.
In case the curriculum units could be of use. I will admit not all of what is created is as useful as our office would like.. which is kind of why I started this thread. Working in education and not being an educator can have its drawbacks, but also allows for a wider perspective. I really appreciate how responsive you have been. Merc spoke very highly of you when I met him earlier this year, but I was already gathering a high opinion of you myself.
Thanks

 

[Kiless]

Kiless
It would be great to get contacts in Australia that would be interested in establishing exchange programs. I could pass that info along to previous participants of the program that I work for.
I could pass along to you the contact information for the sites that are hosting the projects that have been created by previous program participants.

Excellent! I wonder if AISWA might be a good group to get in touch with : http://www.ais.wa.edu.au/ Most of the high-achieving schools in this part of the country are members.

In case the curriculum units could be of use. I will admit not all of what is created is as useful as our office would like.. which is kind of why I started this thread. Working in education and not being an educator can have its drawbacks, but also allows for a wider perspective.

Eh, everyone has 'worked' in education if they've been a student at one point in their life and can make a contribution from that perspective at the very least. Nice to see proactive strategies going on!

I really appreciate how responsive you have been. Merc spoke very highly of you when I met him earlier this year, but I was already gathering a high opinion of you myself.Thanks

Must be something in the American water.... Save yourself, drink Bushmills only!

 

[Dark Jaguar]

You want a horror story? When I was in school, all too often the rhetoric I heard if I ever tried questioning the teachers in light of new discoveries that made their science books outdated, they said "the important thing isn't really the accuracy, it's if you can follow directions and pass the tests".

Essentially, my entire education "taught to the test" to the point of exclusion of reality. Well, that's saying a bit much. I did have the great fortune of a teacher who truly cared about her job and was fully willing to update what she taught. She was the sort of teacher you could stump and count on to try and find an answer for the next day. It is unfortunate the majority seemed to be trying to instil this odd value of "what's most important is you are acing the tests".

 

[Zbu]

When I was back in high school, I had a bunch of teachers who would always bring current events into their teaching, especially history. Guess I got lucky.