Getting to Know Your International Contacts—Part 2

I have been in contact with Mrs. Kailou-Walker, who as I previously mentioned, is an elementary school teacher in the UK. We are able to chat via instant messenger and E-mail, which has been such a huge help to me. In week 3, we discussed poverty issues in the school district that she works in over in the UK. This week we discussed issues related to excellence and equity within early childhood. I briefly mentioned some of the points that Delia Vasquez mentioned in the audio file and she was able to elaborate on them from her point of view. She agreed that achievement gaps were an issue in her school system but said that she thinks that the United States has more of an issue with pressuring teachers and students to achieve high test scores than in the UK. She views the United States school system as much more competitive than most places and thinks that her school in particular does work with students on social development. Her school board recently had a meeting in which she was invited to discuss changes that she sees necessary within the curriculum. She was adamant in her proposal for more emphasis on developing social skills in the classroom because that will carry them far in life. "Couple that with a solid education and you are bound to have successful students!"--Mrs. Kailou-Walker. She said that most quality school systems are "assessment minded" but some take it too far and that is why there are still achievement gaps. As I was looking for information on the topic, I found some websites that I would like to recommend. First of all, here is a great website with information about effective assessment: http://www.naturallearninginstitute.org/UPDATEDSITE/RESEARCHFOUNDATION/EffeciveAssessment.html

She also told me to look up information on "Outcome-based education" which has become the new trend. Here is more information about that: http://www.ncrel.org/sdrs/areas/issues/envrnmnt/go/go4outcm.htm and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outcome-based_education. Outcome-based education is a method that literally works backwards. For example, a school system will set their outcome goals and then plan from there how to achieve those goals. Mrs. Kailou-Walker is in no way against Outcome-based education but is afraid that some children will get lost along the way. What do you think?