Edit date: June 26, 1999 (Note new resource links.)
Editors' note.
The following document represents the collective works of a number of concerned educators, that is, people who are deeply involved with insuring that the next generations of our children enter adulthood with the academic skills needed to succeed and thrive in a global communications environment. This is a 'living' document that expects to be undergoing constant review and revision.
The collection of people known as Advocates for Classical Traditions in Education is varied and far ranging, representing a large geographic area. The issues contained herein are not the isolated views or idle ramblings of a few but are the collected works and inputs of many people who have been involved with public education for many years. ACT-Ed is comprised of individuals with a common view who would like to grow into a voice for education that has definite and defined end results instead of amorphous and elusive outcomes that are difficult, if not impossible, to measure objectively. ACT-Ed presently has no headquarters and no mailing lists. It is an idea to be shared and a rallying point of basic beliefs. It is our intent that we become a common source of people who share some common beliefs and concerns about what characteristics our school system should have and who can use this resource as a way of proving that people who believe that knowledge is important is not an anomoly but a widespread voice. We have found that there is a whole network of people interested in creating a system of excellent education, and this document is intended as a defining point for those looking for a base from which to answer the proponents of hollow progressive reform. We hope to be a source of information that can be shared and used as references and links to other sources of information so that a balanced view of the education system can be maintained. At the end of this document you will find a composite list of people who have stood up to be counted. We would like you on our list. If you would like to be counted in this group, please feel free to contact Dan Konieczko at: 7 Merrymeeting Dr., Topsham ME 04086-1810, or mail to: dkoniecz@gwi.net.
Advocates for Classical Traditions in Education
Introduction.
Education is many things to many people. For us it is the formal cultural transfer of academic factual knowledge and procedural skills with which we acquire knowledge, think critically, develop as ethical humans, maintain the democratic tenets of our society, and to transfer American cultural values from one generation to another. It forms the basis by which people communicate and develop as individuals and societies and its value can not be limited. There are educators who feel that formal education is an elitist practice and that students are perfectly capable of determining their own needs and then finding the knowledge they need to insure their own success. This argument only makes sense to those who, themselves, wish to maintain the suppression of a great many ignorant people. It is said that knowledge is power. Powerful nations formalize knowledge and pass that power to ensuing generations, thereby ensuring the growth and development of the society and culture. As a basis for this document and as a justification of why we believe that formal, classical education belongs to the people, we have found a concise summary of what education ought to be about, which was written by Chester W. Finn in his book We Must Take Charge. Underlying Finn's precepts are these values: (1) education's first purpose is cognitive development and acquisition of knowledge; (2) institutions (schools) charged with the responsibility of educating our societal members are held accountable for achieving that responsibility, and are expected to apply proven educational methods to educate to the extent that is possible; (3) consumers of public education ought to have the option of leaving a failing a failing institution for a successful one, what we will call choice. These precepts constitute our public statement of purpose and will be the focus by which we will evaluate our efforts to insure that we are keeping the education of our society at the heart of this work.
1. Let us always recall that we operate an education system for the benefit of its consumers, not its proprietors or employees.
2. We must organize, manage, and judge the system in relation to the outcomes that we seek from it.
3. In the United States in the 1990's the outcome we must concentrate on and gauge our success by is cognitive learning.
4. Civilian control of education is meant to ensure that we don't let the first three precepts tarnish with time.
5. Though the ends of education are the responsibility of society in general to prescribe through the familiar processes of democratic government, the means by which we reach those ends are the province of expert professionals.
6. We should revitalize the delivery system by vesting management authority and responsibility in building-level educators.
7. Education's individual consumers - children and parents - bear ultimate responsibility for meeting the system's norms and fulfilling its expectations, and they must therefore have the right to choose how they will do this.
8. It is time to put in place a rich, solid core of common learning for all young Americans and an effective means of determining how well it is being learned.
9. Because people differ in their educational and career aspiration, in their intellectual acuity and commitment, and in their cultural values and religious beliefs, the education system needs to respond accordingly.
10. At every level of the education system (child, classroom, school building, locality, state and nation) we must demand a steady flow of reliable information about student achievement and other important outcomes.
I. Purpose, Philosophy and Definitions:
Advocates for the Classical Tradition in Education (ACT-Ed) is a nonsectarian, nonpartisan, multiethnic group of concerned people dedicated to improving the academic quality of public education. We believe that the overriding goal of public education is an educated populace, capable of critical thinking, and dedicated to the preservation of a democratic society. We believe that parents as taxpayers have the right to demand quality education for their children and to know whether their children are receiving such an education. We will attempt to achieve the goal of improving the quality of our schools by: 1) collecting and disseminating current and accurate information of effective models and programs, 2) actively supporting education policy that supports such programs and models, 3) forming or uniting with other nonpartisan, nonsectarian, multiethnic coalitions or individuals with the same goals. We actively support the philosophy of school choice and will strive to find ways in which this goal can be reasonably and economically reached. By adopting this philosophy we are acknowledging that we realize different children and different families may have different needs and wants that a single one-size-fits-all education cannot meet. While ACT-Ed supports time tested pedagogies, models and programs, we believe that there is not one best way to educate all children and are open to new but well conceived and objectively evaluated pedagogies, models and programs. Our aim is not to tear apart currently accepted and practiced educational pedagogies and philosophies but rather to require that these practices and ideologies be accountable and directed toward clearly articulated and assessable goals. In recognition of the fact that education serves both the private needs of individual(s) seeking knowledge for various personal reasons and the public need to continue as a great society through the education of its young, we believe that various market models of supply and demand, funded through joint public and private funds, must be given more latitude to adjust to the needs of the individual and the society.
By way of explanation, "education in classical traditions" is defined as the acquisition of basic time tested knowledge and skills in science, math, languages, history, reading and literature that becomes increasingly complex as the individual matures and in this tradition children make use of that knowledge to pursue and build new knowledge. We support innovative models and programs to address educational challenges when these innovations have clearly stated goals that consumers (parents and children) understand and accept, and when these innovations are carefully designed and adequately evaluated before implementation. We support programs that have demonstrated effectiveness and not ones that rely on projected results. We do not support innovation simply for the excitement associated with another educational innovation. We value the education of our children and the future generation and believe to endorse less than carefully and fully considered innovation is irresponsible.
II. Beliefs:
A. ACT-Ed believes that the quality of education in the United States is much less than should be accepted and that a return to a more traditional approach to schooling, based on objectively measured and documented results is a necessary element to effective education.
B. Children are individuals with different aptitudes, learning styles, interests, attitudes and motivations that may influence their academic success and that it is important and appropriate to address the needs of all children, grouping them as necessary to achieve the maximum effectiveness in the most economical manner. Continuous monitoring and evaluation must be a fundamental part of this grouping and students must be moved at appropriate times to appropriate groups, based on objective performance criteria. We do not promote tracking, but we do promote ability grouping for the purposes of learning efficiency and the maximum productivity of all students.
C. There is no one model of schooling that will address the needs of all children and, therefore, that there must be choices of academic programs available to parents.
D. Parental educational choice is a part of the American culture and is fundamental to educational excellence. To this end, a variety of options must be available, to include public tuition assistance for those parents who find optimal schooling in districts other than those in which they live.
E. We believe that there should not be a distinction between public and private schools, religious or secular. We believe that it is the role of the parent, as consumer, to determine the best schooling product for their children and it is not the role of the state. We feel that education funds should follow the student.
F. We believe that assessment is a necessary part of classical education and that assessment must return to the concept of A=Excellent, B= Above Average, C=Average/Satisfactory, D=Marginally Acceptable/Not Satisfactory/Poor, and F=Failing; that assessment should evaluate individual progress as well as the extent of the individual's mastery of subject matter; and that that assessment methods should allow for consistency between learning groups of children, allow for reliable measurement and be valid according to scientific principle. It is expected that most children will earn grades of "C."
G. Effective education requires effective discipline. Students must be on-task and must pay attention to the topic at hand and make an effort to learn. Advocates of "child-centered" educational practices argue that the key to eliminating discipline problems is to simply allow children to pursue their intrinsic curricular interests. That model of education has more in common with a day-care center than classical education. As we see it, four critical elements are necessary for effective discipline: 1) students must be taught appropriately challenging content in an effective manner so that they can master gradually more complex and demanding material; 2) teachers must use effective grading and disciplinary practices that teach students appropriate classroom behavior and that motivate students to their best efforts to learn the material; 3) parents (and students) must have the liberty to go to another school if they are in conflict with the goals or methods of the school; 4) schools must establish, publish and enforce a discipline policy that clearly and strictly defines the expectations of student behavior within the school area, including the program for dealing with infractions and the imposition of consequences.
H. Curricula must be rigorous to insure that students expend effort in order to master the material, assessment is linked to achievement and there must be a variety of assessment tools used. We believe that all students in the public mainstream classroom can learn, but not all will learn to the same level of mastery by expending the same effort.
III. Fundamentals: As an organization of people concerned with improving the overall quality of public education we:
A. Support programs of academic learning that have defined curricula stressing traditional knowledge skills which are rigorous and for which learning can be objectively measured (the Core Knowledge for K-6 is such a program that this organization endorses.)
B. Support the right of parents to have a choice regarding the academic programs for their children. In this regard we endorse school districts who provide schools with different academic programs, and with accurate, documented disclosure of programs and results, giving thereby the means by which parents have the ability to select the program of their choice. Parents should be offered choices they want and not choices that educators make for them. Parents are consumers of education and it is the consumers who must dictate what choices the market is to provide. In this regard, we do support and encourage communities who establish progressive educational programs alongside programs in the classical tradition. There are students who will benefit from each approach, and it is critical that the parents have the final choice in the program that is best in their interests. John Stuart Mill wrote (On Liberty, 1869) that the state should set the standards, then let parents pick the school. He said that the standards should not question opinions but undisputed facts. It is a fact that parents do not have real educational choices. It is a fact that when choices are provided they are provided at the discretion, and in the interests, of the state and not the parent.
C. Support a single rigorous academic curriculum for all children through grade 10 and then a choice of alternate programs (academic; technical) after grade 10. We believe that such an educational program, while not as easy or compromising as many current programs, will result in higher levels of education for all children.
D. Support the free and active dissemination of information about: (1) academic programs that succeed in providing students and education in the classical tradition of core knowledge and skill acquisition and the ability to evaluate and synthesize information, (2) evaluations of current programs for comparison and model teaching/curricular programs, and (3) provide parents with reference points from which they can access that information and/or other relevant education information.
E. Will provide a reference point from which parents can access information about effective programs. (Ed.: This will be mailing address or web site or e-mail)
F. Support coalitions with other groups, associations, organizations, parents and students who share our common goal of improving the academic quality of education and believe that educational choice is important.
G. Support effective alternative certification programs to increase the number of qualified teachers who teach in the classical tradition, i.e., promote acquisition of knowledge and the mastery of basics as a precedent to high thinking skills. This may involve research, analysis and support of charter alternative teacher certification programs endorsed by ACT-Ed as a means of identifying and recognizing teachers of merit.
IV. Resources : Some useful Internet links. What people are doing, and some programs that work. We will update this section on a regular basis.
Direct Instruction : Old fashioned teaching in the classical tradition works, and it is research supported.
Pennsylvania's David W. Kirkpatrick has some terrific school report resources.
NOTE: These include documented programs that produce significant results in academic performance for students included in 'other than mainstream' e.g., lower SES, disabled children, average kids, above- average kids, brilliant kids while not compromising the high level of academic education for the others in the school, classroom, etc. We hope to answer questions such as what resources are available? .... What results can I expect? ...- questions that are not answered by progressives who just put in new programs with no measurable expectation or alternative program in case the projected results are not realized.
V. Terms. For definitions and discussions of these terms, please go to our expanded glossary.
affective knowledge/learning
child centered (traditional)
child centered (reform; modern; dysfunctional)
cognitive knowledge/learning
VI. A Self-Study Course: "The Case for Classical Traditions in Education."
VII. Advocates for Classical Traditions in Education - Editorial Board:
Virginia Baxt: Ed.D. (1997), Univ. of Houston. Bachelor of Arts in psychology from Univ. of Florida. Background in nursing, business and training. Current area of focus is education policy analysis, consulting and commentary.
Don Crawford: Ph.D., University of Oregon; AB, Occidental College. Holds life teaching credentials in Social Studies and Specialist in Learning Handicapped. Taught public and private school, both general and special education students in 1st through 12th grades in California from 1977 through 1990. An advocate and trainer for Direct Instruction programs. Co-author of a middle grade level textbook, Understanding U.S. History, with Dr. Doug Carnine and others.
Marilyn Keller-Rittmeyer : Doctoral Candidate in School Administration, Northwestern University; Public school teacher/educator in northwest Chicago; Charter writer and Board of Directors Thomas Jefferson Charter School, a Core Knowledge based program.
Daniel S. Konieczko : AB, Bowdoin College; M.Ed., St. Peter's College. Retired from the US Army in the grade of Major, after completing 20 years of service in Signal, Aviation and Air Traffic Control assignments. Holds a Secondary level Professional Teaching Certificate. Teaching experience includes seven years as an Asst. Professor of Military Science and has been teaching life and physical sciences to middle schoolers in the public system since 1992. Has been a four year member of a school district Teacher Staff Development Committee.
Bob Rose: A retired internist with a long interest in education who lives in Kennesaw, Georgia.
VIII. Contributing:
Dan Connell: A former federal executive who lived in Kingsport, Tenn. Dan died in 1998, but this charter vibrates with his insights, presence of mind and life. Of him we can say: "He thought, therefore he wrote." We are fortunate to have had his knowledge and experiences, and we are fortunate that he was willing to freely give of them for a cause in which he believed.
IX. Support List. It is our hope that this site is a gathering place for people who believe as we do. By banding together we can show that our views are widespread and encompass many schools in many districts across the country. By joining our voices we build strength. Progressive, reform educators would divide this house against itself and A. Lincoln made the inevitability of a divided house quite clear. To make your voice heard we ask that you add your name to our growing list at the ACT-Ed Support List.
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