New Report: Whole Child in a Fractured World

Posted by on August 25, 2006

[posted from Public Education Network newsblast]

THE WHOLE CHILD IN A FRACTURED WORLD

Commissioned by the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD), a new paper by Harold “Bud” Hodgkinson is designed to assist in recasting the definition of a successful learner from one whose achievement is measured solely by academic tests, to one who is knowledgeable, emotionally and physically healthy, civically engaged, prepared for economic self-sufficiency, and ready for the world beyond formal schooling. The report documents the “splendid isolation of the U.S. educational system” providing an overview of the complexity, the challenges, and the flaws in measuring efficacy. For example, the U.S. Department of Education contributes only 10 percent of total education spending, but it issues 90 percent of the regulations that schools must follow. Hodgkinson proposes five themes for consideration: (1) Equity. Who gets access and who doesn’t? (2) Coordination. Should there be one national standard for student proficiencies, set by the federal government, or a standard for each state? Who decides? (3) Knowledge Integration. How can we develop a common vocabulary for education discourse? (4) Sequence. In regards to learning and teaching, what should happen to people at what moment in their lives? (5) Wholeness. Could schools collaborate with health, school, and community organizations in maximizing potential using a whole child approach? “If decisions about education policy and practice started with ‘What works for the child?’ how would resources — time, space, and human — be arrayed to ensure each child’s success?” said Gene Carter. “If the student were truly at the center of the system, would could we achieve?”

http://www.ascd.org/ASCD/pdf/fracturedworld.pdf