Vision and Purpose of Education

My name is Nancy Haas-Wallace. I'm a doctorial student in education technology. I've taught for 15 years in public schools. Worked with sections of the PT3 grants (Preparing Tomorrows Teachers thru Technology), taught at the university level. I've taught in face to face post graduate classes and I've been an online instructor for a post-graduate program. I have two children that have gone through the public school system. I'm currently working as a technology resource teacher for a school district. I work with a unigue technology staff development for inservice teachers.

---> It appears to me that much of the confusion in any plan comes from a lack of a clear vision and an authentic purpose. Participants need to buy in to the plan...it must be authentic. I would be interested in hearing what those of you participating in this discussion list see as the vision for education in the 21st century and the purpose of our educational institutes? At the risk of stepping on higher ed toes, and realizing that they can not be excluded from this discussion, I would prefer we focus our answers on the K-12 institutes.

--->I'm a bit leary of past studies with statistics that point to an improvement in our system that is based strictly on standardize tests. In a recent article written by W. James Popham, Preparing for the Coming Avalanche of Accountability Tests, he has underlined some of the problems that these high stakes tests create. 1. curriculum reductionism 2. excisive class time spent on drill and kill 3. outright dishonesty in the form of altered test delivery in the classroom

--->In a recent interview with Terrence Deal, author of Leading with the Soul, chastised the current franatism towards high stakes testing. "These test are based on the lowest form of information/data." I don't think he is alone in this position. What do these test offer child and teachers? There is no feedback on the tests to help a student or teacher address a weak area. It is simply a measure of the data in and the data out. This is a serious issue that needs further discussion and reconsideration. The general public, for one, has little understanding of these tests.

--->I think if we can all agree on the vision and the purpose, we will be more likely to agree on an authentic systematic approach to reaching our vision. If you want people to be accountable to the program, it must be anchored in authentic purpose. You are trying to place a social construct to learning which is extremely difficult when you consider natural process of constructing understanding.

--->So, what is the purpose of eduction?