The Global Search for Education
“The low-income schools that are struggling seem to get the teachers that are not the best. The states have to change that situation and put the priority on placing the top teachers in low-income schools.”— Dick Riley
The Education Debate - Richard Wilson Riley
C. M. Rubin with Harry Rubin and Michael Freeborn
The last presidential debate offered little in the way of focus on education and related policy. Today in The Global Search for Education series, I continue my conversations with education luminaries to discuss the issues that we believe will be a priority for the next President of the United States.
My imaginary Secretary of Education this week is former U.S. Secretary of Education and past Governor of South Carolina, Richard Wilson Riley. A lifelong advocate for high-quality education, many Americans (according to The Christian Science Monitor) regard Riley as “one of the great statesmen of education of the 20th century.” Serving for both of President Clinton’s terms, Riley helped to launch many historic initiatives to raise academic standards, improve instruction for the poor and disadvantaged, modernize schools, expand grant and loan programs for higher education, and improve teaching, among other significant advances.
Currently, Dick Riley speaks, provides leadership and serves in an advisory and collaborative capacity with many entities to promote education improvement in the United States and abroad.
What should the role of federal government be in K- 12 education? How much more funding should be given to education reform and in what major areas should it be spent?
The federal government should establish national priorities, such as helping disabled children (IDEA) and low-income children (Title 1). Those big national priorities that generally are funded by the federal government should continue to be part of the national policy.
The other part of national education policy should be about encouraging and challenging states to improve and to reform education through innovation. We should continue to call for challenging academic standards in core subjects, allowing public charter schools as part of choice, encouraging high teacher performance - those kinds of things are part of the President’s reform package. All of those measures should be put in place by the states. The states should be submitting plans for getting those things done. So that’s how I see the role of federal government policy.
Continuing to fund education during a time of economic recession is one of the main strengths of President Obama. In the middle of a recession that was not of his making, a recession that was handed to him when he took office as president, Obama made education a priority. He recognized that this is a knowledge-based economy, not just nationally, but globally. He recognized that we could not turn around an economy if our education system was failing. He took the initiative to prioritize education. I thought and still think that this was a brave and courageous thing to do. And, frankly, I think it has worked.
What would be your position on improving the teaching profession, including recruitment, teacher training, compensation, and assignment to low-income schools?
I have enormous respect for teachers. Not all of our teachers are high-quality teachers but certainly the greater percentages of them are. Further, they generally are committed to moving through all the areas of education reform, such as technology. So I have a very good feeling for teachers.
Countries that seem to rank highest in education right now, like Finland, have prioritized teacher recruitment. They get the very top students for the education profession. They do this by offering higher compensation and other benefits. It works. I think we need to do more in that regard, particularly in terms of finding ways to attract the brightest students to the profession of teaching.
I do not think teachers are being compensated as professionals, and they should be. When you pay teachers more, you can demand more. Also, I am a strong believer in the benefit of teachers working collaboratively with each other. I believe in high-quality teachers helping to improve those that are not. I do not believe in putting one teacher in the classroom and saying that’s it, you’re on your own. When teachers work in teams, students also will learn the importance and value of working in teams.
Right now we seem to send our best teachers to the best K-12 schools. The low-income schools that are struggling seem to get the teachers that are not the best. The states have to change that situation and put the priority on placing the top teachers in low-income schools. It would be a great help if we could move in that direction.
“I firmly oppose vouchers. Public schools are struggling for resources and I believe the idea of shifting a massive amount of money over into the private schools is a mistake.” — Dick Riley
What kinds of things could the states do to make this happen?
For instance, a school in a poor community could provide a residence for a young, high-quality teacher to live in that community. Other incentives could be provided to encourage better teachers to move into low-income school areas. And assistance could be provided for current teachers in low-income schools to gain National Board certification and other professional development to improve their teaching skills.
What would be your position on school choice, including charter schools and their expansion, private schools, vouchers, and investment in inadequately staffed and facilitated low-income schools?
I very much support public school charters. As you know, I was involved in the Clinton administration and we supported charter schools as an option for school boards to develop more public school choice and more school creativity. As with opening any new school, granting a charter does not automatically guarantee success; but generally it has proven to be a good option for students and families, as well as has spurred other creative ideas within the system.
I firmly oppose vouchers. Public schools are struggling for resources and I believe the idea of shifting a massive amount of money over into the private schools is a mistake. I support quality private schools. I support quality parochial schools. But I will continue to oppose strongly the use of public money for private or parochial school vouchers.
What would be your strategy to address the domestic and international achievement gaps, including your position on early childhood education, standardized testing, on-line modular education, and teacher/principal accountability?
Achievement gaps are a major issue, and we need to deal with them.
First of all, I believe we need to look at both domestic and international comparisons in terms of setting our standards and our strategies for improvement.
The only way you can close gaps in the long term is to invest more in early childhood education. All students improve as they move through the system. However, the gap becomes very difficult to close, or even narrow, when local communities don’t make pre-school a priority. Early childhood education involves a lot of things, including parental involvement and proper healthcare to ensure children are better developed by the time they get to kindergarten. We need to focus on this, especially in low-income areas. I very much support strengthening early childhood education.
With regard to standardized testing, that is very important. But we need multiple measures of assessment to determine a child’s (and school’s) academic status and growth. Formative tests that are given on a regular basis and provide timely feedback to teachers, students and their parents are particularly effective in determining what a child knows or doesn’t know and how that child’s instruction should be adjusted to gain continuous improvement.
Evaluating teachers and principals has always been difficult and it’s receiving a lot of discussion nowadays, as it should. I believe that student achievement, especially as far as improvement is concerned, is an important part of evaluating teachers. However, I do not believe that it should be the only method of assessment used. A thoughtful school principal will look at all the different factors that affect good teaching. He or she will develop a system within the school where teachers are collaborating and helping each other to do better, a system where students are learning from students. Observing a teacher’s work in the classroom (either sitting in or using videos) and assigning mentors to work with teachers on teaching methods are other ways that performance can improve.
Evaluating a teacher also depends a lot on who the students are. A teacher with very bright students in a well-to-do suburb is more likely to achieve more in the classroom than a teacher who has students from a very poor neighborhood where the parents (who possibly didn’t have a good education themselves) are struggling. It’s very hard to compare teachers in these situations. I am a great believer in looking at individual student improvement rather than how students are doing side by side. If the students are improving, my feeling is the teacher must be doing a pretty good job.
“I do not think teachers are being compensated as professionals, and they should be. When you pay teachers more, you can demand more.” — Dick Riley
What would be your position on curriculum reform, including the role of the arts, the treatment of ethics, and the adoption of blended online learning?
Technology is now clearly a part of our education system and will continue to change the way we provide education today and in the future. I personally like the blended learning ideas - that is, a blend of online and face-to-face interaction with students. Online learning allows us to reach out in many ways. In addition, it can be done quickly, from any location and at all times of the day. Blended learning will be an important part of education.
I strongly support music and the other arts in education. Enhancing the creative side of learning is extremely important, and studies have shown that music instruction has a beneficial effect on learning math and other core subjects. Learning to be creative, informed and well-rounded is important for our economy and it is important for our world.
Ethics is a very important part of growing up and learning. Parents have a strong role to play in that but so do schools and teachers. Positive role models are one of the best ways to illustrate strong ethics.
What would be your position on how to make college affordable for more qualified low-income students?
The cost of a college education is becoming a big national problem.
I am supportive of early college high schools. This idea of students finishing high school with one and in some cases two years of college behind them will save students money and time. The total cost of a four-year degree also can be reduced by spending the first two years at a community or technical college. This is good.
In President Obama’s plan, he encourages cost containment by colleges and universities. I think they all should be aware of this, paying attention to it and doing something about it. Pell grants, which the President has increased by more than 50%, are a tremendous benefit to low-income students. Also, significant cost savings to students, their families and all taxpayers have resulted from the federal Direct Lending program. With the community colleges and early college high schools programs, plus cost containment, Pell grants and Direct Lending, among others, we all should be able to work together to make college more affordable.
Dick Riley and C. M. Rubin
Photos courtesy of Riley Institute at Furman University and Nelson, Mullins, Riley & Scarborough L.L.P.
In The Global Search for Education, join me and globally renowned thought leaders including Sir Michael Barber (UK), Dr. Michael Block (US), Dr. Leon Botstein (US), Professor Clay Christensen (US), Dr. Linda Darling-Hammond (US), Dr. Madhav Chavan (India), Professor Michael Fullan (Canada), Professor Howard Gardner (US), Professor Andy Hargreaves (US), Professor Yvonne Hellman (The Netherlands), Professor Kristin Helstad (Norway), Jean Hendrickson (US), Professor Rose Hipkins (New Zealand), Professor Cornelia Hoogland (Canada), Mme. Chantal Kaufmann (Belgium), Dr. Eija Kauppinen (Finland), State Secretary Tapio Kosunen (Finland), Professor Dominique Lafontaine (Belgium), Professor Hugh Lauder (UK), Professor Ben Levin (Canada), Lord Ken Macdonald (UK), Professor Barry McGaw (Australia), Shiv Nadar (India), Professor R. Natarajan (India), Dr. Pak Tee Ng (Singapore), Dr. Denise Pope (US), Sridhar Rajagopalan (India), Dr. Diane Ravitch (US), Sir Ken Robinson (UK), Professor Pasi Sahlberg (Finland), Andreas Schleicher (PISA, OECD), Dr. Anthony Seldon (UK), Dr. David Shaffer (US), Dr. Kirsten Sivesind (Norway), Chancellor Stephen Spahn (US), Yves Theze (Lycee Francais US), Professor Charles Ungerleider (Canada), Professor Tony Wagner (US), Sir David Watson (UK), Professor Dylan Wiliam (UK), Dr. Mark Wormald (UK), Professor Theo Wubbels (The Netherlands), Professor Michael Young (UK), and Professor Minxuan Zhang (China) as they explore the big picture education questions that all nations face today.
The Global Search for Education Community Page
C. M. Rubin is the author of two widely read online series for which she received a 2011 Upton Sinclair award, “The Global Search for Education” and “How Will We Read?” She is also the author of three bestselling books, including The Real Alice in Wonderland.
Follow C. M. Rubin on Twitter: www.twitter.com/@cmrubinworld
The Global Search for Education
“Arts education strategies play a significant role in closing the achievement gap, improving student engagement, and nurturing creativity and innovative thinking skills.” - C. M. Rubin
More on Arts
By C. M. Rubin with Harry Rubin and Michael Freeborn
Thought leaders in The Global Search for Education series have consistently argued that an education without the arts is incomplete. The President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities report, Reinvesting in Arts Education: Winning America’s Future Through Creative Schools, made a powerful case for why education in the arts has never been more important than now. The report showed the link between arts education and student achievement in other subject areas. Beyond empowering students to create art and appreciate all art forms, the study illustrates how arts education strategies play a significant role in closing the achievement gap, improving student engagement, and nurturing creativity and innovative thinking skills essential to the 21st century.
What do we mean when we say that beyond skills and knowledge, an arts education better prepares students for the 21st century?
If you have been through the complex, interactive, dedicated, soul searching process that comes from playing a role in a dance, musical or theatrical production; if you have embraced the discipline, resourcefulness, inventiveness, passion and persistence it takes to create an original manuscript or work of art — then you will know what it means to have used all of your brain and you will be better prepared to compete in the global economy.
So where are the model American schools that are doing this today?
Upon visiting the Educare Center in Oklahoma City (home to one of the 68 schools in Oklahoma’s A+ schools network), U. S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan commented, “Oklahoma’s A+ school-network nurtures creativity in every student — and a recent evaluation shows not just that the program increases student achievement but boosts attendance and decreases discipline problems as well.”
Sir Ken Robinson describes Oklahoma’s A+ school network as “a groundbreaking program emphasizing the arts as a way of teaching a wide variety of disciplines within the curriculum.”
I had the privilege of speaking with Jean Hendrickson, Executive Director of the Oklahoma A+ Schools Program, an education movement that more and more American schools are replicating.
Please tell me about A+ schools: the early beginnings in North Carolina to Oklahoma, the vision, and lessons learned to date.
The A+ Schools’ initiative began in North Carolina in 1995 when the Keenan Institute for the Arts recruited 25 North Carolina schools into a study to determine what might happen in schools if the arts were a central component of school reform. The outcome of that 4-year study showed that schools steeped in the arts and supported with collaborative networks and ongoing professional development produced great results. Test scores were good, the climate was marvelous, teachers felt respected and supported, and communities (regardless of demographics) were engaged in the schools.
Oklahoma A+ Schools began its first Five-Day Summer Institute training in 2002. Fourteen schools completed the initial year. We now have trained more than 68 schools statewide. The schools span the state and have students from early childhood through high school. They are rich and poor, urban, suburban, and rural, large and small, public, private, and charter. In short, they represent the demographics of the state, truly affirming the value of an approach to school that systematically frames the kind of educational environment that should be present in order to motivate, educate, and celebrate every child and every teacher in the school, regardless of the demographics.
“A groundbreaking program emphasizing the arts as a way of teaching a wide variety of disciplines” - Sir Ken Robinson
What does the program believe an arts curriculum should look like in primary and secondary school education?
The framework for OK A+ Schools has eight essential components that bind all of our schools together. We believe that all schools must commit to working within a framework that uses all eight A+ Essentials systematically as they address the work of school. They are:
Arts, Curriculum, Experiential Learning, Multiple Learning Pathways, Enriched Assessment, Collaboration, Infrastructure, and Climate.
For the Arts Essential, OK A+ Schools supports arts everyday for every child. It is important for multiple art forms to be present within the school experience, including visual art, music, dance, and drama, along with creative writing and design. Because the resources at schools can differ considerably, with some schools having arts specialists in four arts disciplines and other schools having no arts specialist in any discipline, we do not dictate how the arts are specifically addressed. The fact is, regardless of the level of resources, it’s important that schools are held accountable for providing arts teaching, both in the disciplines themselves and in connections to other disciplines (arts integration). Schools start with their mandated curriculum and work from there. For example, in public schools in Oklahoma, visual art and music are required to be taught in a sequential manner to all students, beginning in kindergarten.
By using our second Essential, Curriculum, OK A+ helps schools lay out a sequence of study that includes the arts and that ties to other curricular areas over the course of the year. This process inevitably reveals gaps in instruction that then help schools target areas for which they will need professional development. OK A+ Schools can provide A+ Fellows who are specialists in various arts disciplines to train teachers in the basics of the arts disciplines and help them make connections to other curriculum. This process, over a period of about three years, builds the capacity of a school to provide arts education while highlighting the value of arts specialists as part of the school’s instructional team.
The goal is to have an arts curriculum that is relevant and provided daily so that the arts become a natural and connected part of daily learning. By the end of the school’s three-year implementation period, we expect to see the four major art forms in evidence throughout the school. This is the expectation in both primary and secondary schools. At the secondary level, the individual preferences of the students are more in evidence and practiced in specific classes (visual art, dance, photography, and so on.) Again, the courses vary according to the community, but we still expect interdisciplinary work to be evident and for teachers of math, the humanities, and the sciences to regularly incorporate the arts and collaborate with arts staff.
“The goal is to have an arts curriculum that is relevant and provided daily so that the arts become a natural and connected part of daily learning.” - Jean Hendrickson
How has the A+ program enhanced schools that have embraced it? Why are these schools better than they were before?
Our researchers have documented higher achievement scores, better attendance records for both students and teachers, a general sense of joy and well-being, greater parent involvement, and fewer discipline issues than other schools in the state.
One of our principals put it this way: There are more opportunities for the kids to demonstrate their strengths and teachers are more open to the variety of ways kids can demonstrate their learning. Teachers know they have permission and expectation to evaluate student knowledge in different ways.
A teacher reported to one of our researchers:
This is the happiest I’ve been since I became a teacher.
Another teacher commented to a researcher: Kids come to school excited about new challenges. They know they can be successful at something and often ask, “What are we learning today?”
Can you give me some examples of how the A+ program is used to enhance curriculum?
One of my favorite examples of how the A+ process enhances the curriculum again comes from an anecdote from one of our researchers. He tells of walking into an elementary school classroom to make an observation and take field notes. The class was busy with a project that looked like they must have been making dolls of some kind. He asked a student who informed him they were concluding a study of Native American peoples and were creating their own kachina-type dolls. The researcher asked the student if this was a social studies class or an art class. The student replied, “Both!”
Jean Hendrickson and C. M. Rubin
(Photos courtesy of the Oklahoma A+ Schools Program)
In The Global Search for Education, join me and globally renowned thought leaders including Sir Michael Barber (UK), Dr. Leon Botstein (US), Dr. Linda Darling-Hammond (US), Dr. Madhav Chavan (India), Professor Michael Fullan (Canada), Professor Howard Gardner (US), Professor Yvonne Hellman (The Netherlands), Professor Kristin Helstad (Norway), Jean Hendrickson (US), Professor Rose Hipkins (New Zealand), Professor Cornelia Hoogland (Canada), Mme. Chantal Kaufmann (Belgium), Professor Dominique Lafontaine (Belgium), Professor Hugh Lauder (UK), Professor Ben Levin (Canada), Professor Barry McGaw (Australia), Professor R. Natarajan (India), Dr. Denise Pope (US), Sridhar Rajagopalan (India), Dr. Diane Ravitch (US), Sir Ken Robinson (UK), Professor Pasi Sahlberg (Finland), Andreas Schleicher (PISA, OECD), Dr. Anthony Seldon, Dr. David Shaffer (US), Dr. Kirsten Sivesind (Norway), Chancellor Stephen Spahn (US), Yves Theze (Lycee Francais US), Professor Charles Ungerleider (Canada), Professor Tony Wagner (US), Professor Dylan Wiliam (UK), Professor Theo Wubbels (The Netherlands), Professor Michael Young (UK), and Professor Minxuan Zhang (China) as they explore the big picture education questions that all nations face today.
The Global Search for Education Community Page
C.M. Rubin has more than two decades of professional experience in development, marketing, and art direction for a diverse range of media businesses. She is also the author of three bestselling books, including The Real Alice In Wonderland.
Follow C. M. Rubin on Twitter: www.twitter.com/@cmrubinworld
The Global Search for Education
Young Australians present to their classmates
Australia On The Move
By C. M. Rubin with Harry Rubin and Michael Freeborn
In Vicki Abeles’ movie, Race to Nowhere, we met U. S. kids who were so overscheduled they had no time to be kids. The film suggested we were preoccupied with testing and performance, undermining what our kids should be doing in the classroom, let alone in their down time. So what is happening down under?
I’ve been to Australia six times for business and personal reasons (my ancestors, who were academics, once owned Geelong College in Victoria). The only thing that’s consistent about each trip? When I have to go home, I cry and then console myself with the promise, I shall return!
Professor Barry McGaw returned in 2005, leaving his position as Director for Education at OECD, responsible for the PISA test — the test U. S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan downloads when someone mentions The Global Achievement Gap. Did you know Arne Duncan played professional basketball for Australia’s National Basketball League and in the process met his wife Karen, an Australian high school teacher?
Australia is on the move! Professor Barry McGaw, Chair of the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA), has a brand new national curriculum to explain to me, among other things.
Barry, when I mention your work, educators bring up student assessment. Why?
What I am going to say is in the context of Australia and in an effort to produce a national curriculum. We are, like the United States, a federation, but one in which the responsibility for education is at the state and not the local level. There are six states and two territories with separate curricula, so the task of developing a national approach is much simpler than it would be in the United States. There have been several attempts since the late 1980s to move to a national curriculum but this time we have made significant progress. In December 2010, the Council of Education Ministers endorsed an Australian Curriculum for Kindergarten through Year 10 in English, Mathematics, Science, and History.
The national curriculum includes knowledge, understanding and skills, and sets our students’ learning entitlements. The ‘content descriptions’ set down the entitlements but we have provided ‘content elaborations’ as well for those teachers who would welcome additional guidance about how the content might be dealt with. The elaborations also serve to meet the expectations of those states and territories that traditionally specify their curricula in more detail than others.
When it comes to specifying achievement standards by grade level for learning areas, it is difficult to do it unambiguously. We do it but illustrate them with annotated samples of real students’ work collected in response to real tasks set by teachers. The assessments and annotations are provided by panels of teachers and the samples chosen illustrate various levels of achievement. The states and territories have been using this approach for a number of years, as are people in other countries as well. We think that this is the best way to help teachers use specifications of achievement standards consistently.
What kind of education system provides the human skills to compete globally in the 21st century?
In the Australian curriculum, we are taking a different approach to incorporation of what some call 21st century skills. First, we have not abandoned the traditional disciplines. We recognize that there are thousands of years of intellectual development behind the current ways of thinking about and representing knowledge. The disciplines that have been created are rich in their capacity to help people understand the world. So we have a curriculum that is discipline based but that is one of only three dimensions.
We include the so-called 21st Century skills as a second dimension. We do not call them that, however, since most of the skills typically nominated are ones that were clearly relevant in earlier centuries. We call them ‘general capabilities’. We started with eight but now use seven: literacy, numeracy, ICT competence, critical and creative thinking, ethical behavior, personal and social competence, and intercultural understanding.
Young Australians explain their history
On a third dimension we have identified three current priorities that we believe need special attention. They are Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories and cultures, Asia and Australia’s links with Asia, and Sustainability. These are in addition to and not instead of things already secure in the curriculum such as Australia’s historical connections with the United Kingdom and their expression in Australia’s political and legal systems.
When our curriculum writers are developing the discipline based curricula, they are obliged to pay attention to where the general capabilities and the current cross-curriculum priorities could be addressed. The curriculum is presented electronically (see www.australiancurriculum.edu.au) and that enables users to view the curriculum content from the perspective of any one of the three dimensions: disciplines, general capabilities and cross-curriculum priorities. The electronic display lets us have it all ways. We can embrace general capabilities that are particularly important in the 21st Century without abandoning well established discipline based ways of knowing. We can also provide protection to current issues, such as those captured in our cross-curriculum priorities, that we believe should be an important part of the world view offered to young Australians.
Technology knowledge in today’s world could almost be a special extension to curriculum. Would you agree?
Yes, but not as a separate subject in the early years. It has to be developed alongside everything else as reflected in our general capability, ICT competence. By the time you get to Grades 8 to 10, schools will offer a range of technology studies.
Can schools teach ethics?
Schools are institutions in which values and ethics have to be addressed. It’s tricky territory because it’s easy for people to mischaracterize teachers as pursuing particular political agendas if they do address them. Our ‘general capabilities’ include ‘ethical behavior’, ‘personal and social competence’, and ‘inter cultural understanding’ quite deliberately to address the issue you raise.
More students applying to higher education. More pressure?
We have the same problem. We have parents as well as students feeling this pressure. We have had a huge shift of students from government to private schools. Our research shows that the performance of those private schools is not necessarily better than public schools but parents feel the pressure to buy what they feel might give their children an advantage.
We see the pressure building earlier too. We have national assessments of students in Grades 3, 5 , 7 and 9 in the basic skills in literacy and numeracy. Parents receive reports on their own children but we now publish school results on the My School website (www.myschool.edu.au). On that site, we provide direct comparisons amongst schools with students from similar socio-educational backgrounds. That avoids unfair comparisons with schools in much more advantaged circumstances but it does put pressure on schools and students.
Enough emphasis on the arts in curriculum?
There is always a risk when some things, such as literacy and numeracy, are given such special prominence that other things might be downgraded. There is a case for special attention to literacy and numeracy because they are basis to so much other learning, but we need to protect other areas from too much focus on them. The protection for the others lies in clear, publicly available information on the curriculum to be implemented in all schools. Furthermore, we require teachers to report to parents students’ achievements in all areas of the curriculum.
World Wisdom — The Goals of Australia’s New Curriculum
Support students to become successful learners, confident and creative individuals, active and informed citizens by promoting equity and excellence in education. Equip students with the essential skills, knowledge and capabilities to thrive and compete in a globalised world and information rich workplaces of the current century. Curriculum will be accessible to all regardless of their social or economic background or the school they attend.
Barry McGaw, Chair ACARA, and C. M. Rubin
In The Global Search for Education, join C.M. Rubin and globally renowned thought leaders including Sir Michael Barber (UK), Dr. Leon Botstein (US), Dr. Linda Darling-Hammond (US), Dr. Madhav Chavan (India), Professor Michael Fullan (Canada), Professor Howard Gardner (US), Professor Yvonne Hellman (The Netherlands), Professor Kristin Helstad (Norway), Professor Rose Hipkins (New Zealand), Professor Cornelia Hoogland (Canada), Mme. Chantal Kaufmann (Belgium), Professor Dominique Lafontaine (Belgium), Professor Hugh Lauder (UK), Professor Ben Levin (Canada), Professor Barry McGaw (Australia), Sridhar Rajagopalan (India), Sir Ken Robinson (UK), Professor Pasi Sahlberg (Finland), Andreas Schleicher (PISA, OECD), Dr. David Shaffer (US), Chancellor Stephen Spahn (US), Yves Theze (Lycee Francais US), Professor Charles Ungerleider (Canada), Professor Tony Wagner (US), Professor Dylan Wiliam (UK), Professor Theo Wubbels (The Netherlands), Professor Michael Young (UK), and Professor Minxuan Zhang (China) as they explore the big picture education questions that all nations face today.
The Global Search for Education Community Page
C.M. Rubin has more than two decades of professional experience in development, marketing, and art direction for a diverse range of media businesses. She is also the author of three bestselling books, including The Real Alice In Wonderland.
Follow C. M. Rubin on Twitter: www.twitter.com/@cmrubinworld
THE GLOBAL SEARCH FOR EDUCATION
C. M. Rubin at the Shanghai Children’s Library
The New Chinese Education
By C.M. Rubin with Harry Rubin and Michael Freeborn
“The new China is strongly making for good,” proclaimed my great great Uncle George E. Morrison (NY Times feature article, 1912) who advised the Chinese leadership during the formation of the first Republic. Dr. Morrison’s speeches about the vision of his Chinese friends at the turn of the 20th century remind me of Henry Kissinger’s remarks about China’s determination to continue its remarkable economic growth in his new book, On China. Obama recently described China as a “strong, prosperous and successful member of the community of nations.” And educators will not forget Education Secretary Arne Duncan referring to Shanghai ranking #1 on PISA, the global standardized academic test, as a “wake up call” for education reform in the American system.
Meanwhile in China, the national newspapers published the comments of a Chinese mother passionately complaining about the long hours her child was spending on school work. Is this a nation of Tiger Mom test takers who only memorize what teachers and textbooks say, or is this also a nation of creators and innovators?
I had the great honor to interview the highly esteemed Professor Minxuan Zhang, Director-General of the Center for International Education Studies, Ministry of Education, China, and National Project Manager of PISA.
What kind of education system will permit China to have the human skills to compete globally?
I do not think there is one answer to your question. Different countries require different systems. One kind of education system cannot cover all the people skills. In nature, we have various kinds of trees and flowers. In the same way, there are many kinds of education systems which will be workable for a particular culture, economic situation, and social history. In China, we have several types of sub-systems. For example, in Shanghai we have a system suitable for a metropolitan area. I have worked in our rural areas, too. We have systems that are more suitable for them. Of course, in our overall education system, there are common characteristics.
From my personal experience of working in China, an education system should pay attention to all the students. As a nation, we cannot rely on a few elites. All the people in a society need to feel that they are helping that society. Government must ensure all people have a good education. This is very important to the Chinese people. My experience in other countries, even in poor countries, is that you can find good schools, but only for elites.
Do you believe Chinese standardized tests measure the broad range of your students’ skills?
We have a long history of testing in China. In Old China and perhaps even now, we still have the tradition that we select the best students from testing. But testing is only one way. It comes at the end of education. If we want to build a good system, we cannot only rely on testing at the end of learning. Testing implies that the student has finished the educational system. The most important thing is not just to see the testing results, but to pay close attention to the educational process. The process of education is much more important than the testing.
Are there other capabilities that we should also be evaluating?
Testing is an oversimplified way to check educational results. Education is not just about knowledge. It is also the process of socialization of the individual. There are other important elements such as social responsibility, personal potential in arts and the fine arts, how a student handles himself in relationships with other people, how students handle their work. Those kinds of skills and capacities are very important, sometimes even more important than subject testing. In the PISA test in reading, science, and math, Shanghai students did very well. PISA did not have the tests in the arts or in creative thinking. I have told my colleagues in Shanghai that if our students had been tested in personal potentials and critical thinking, perhaps we would not have done as well. In the next round of PISA testing, they have a new dimension called problem solving. It’s possible that Shanghai students will not do as well as they did in Math and Science.
From a larger perspective, does China’s definition of educational excellence take into account the quality of life of individuals and society?
In the Chinese culture, we have two kinds of perspectives on educational excellence. One is that students should learn more knowledge and skills. In China, because of our heritage and our history, we have always said before you can be happy you must be educated. Learning is the bridge to what you want to do in your future. If our nation had no constructors, no leaders, no people who serve the country, or serve the family, how can we have a bright future? But now we also try to pay attention to happiness in the learning process. We want to help our children not just to learn for the future, but to also enjoy the process of learning. This is our challenge, but we will try hard to find the way forward.
As competition in education accelerates, are we risking the emotional well being of our students in face of increased academic pressure?
After the PISA results, we wondered if we could lessen the learning burden of the students. In China, historically we have encouraged students to work hard and even struggle in their learning, but we do not want students to suffer because of education. We talk about not trying to learn all knowledge today. In the future there will be more knowledge. So the most important thing is not our students’ learning achievements today, but is to cultivate our students to have active learning attitudes. High School should not be the most important time. Of course, they are important years, but it is more important to keep students’ interest in learning so that they continue to learn by themselves.
World Wisdom from China
Different kinds of education systems are needed for different cultures, economic situations, and social history, among countries and within countries. Education systems should pay attention to all the students, not just the elites. A nation cannot just rely on its elites; all people in a society need to feel they are contributing.
The process of education is much more important than the end point testing. Such testing implies that students have finished learning. Educational excellence is about knowledge and skill, but it is also about the socialization of the individual; it is about cultivating students to have active learning interests for the rest of their lives; it is about strong cultural support for education.
In The Global Search for Education, join C.M. Rubin and globally renowned thought leaders including Sir Michael Barber (UK), Dr. Leon Botstein (US), Dr. Linda Darling-Hammond (US), Dr. Madhav Chavan (India), Professor Michael Fullan (Canada), Professor Howard Gardner (US), Professor Yvonne Hellman (The Netherlands), Professor Kristin Helstad (Norway), Professor Rose Hipkins (New Zealand), Professor Cornelia Hoogland (Canada), Mme. Chantal Kaufmann (Belgium), Professor Dominique Lafontaine (Belgium), Professor Hugh Lauder (UK), Professor Ben Levin (Canada), Professor Barry McGaw (Australia), Sridhar Rajagopalan (India), Sir Ken Robinson (UK), Professor Pasi Sahlberg (Finland), Andreas Schleicher (PISA, OECD), Dr. David Shaffer (US), Chancellor Stephen Spahn (US), Yves Theze (Lycee Francais US), Professor Charles Ungerleider (Canada), Professor Tony Wagner (US), Professor Dylan Wiliam (UK), Professor Theo Wubbels (The Netherlands), and Professor Michael Young (UK) as they explore the big picture education questions that all nations face today.
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Professor Zhang and C. M. Rubin
C.M. Rubin has more than two decades of professional experience in development, marketing, and art direction for a diverse range of media businesses. She is also the author of three bestselling books, including The Real Alice In Wonderland.
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