Education in the USA needs a clear goal.

Got a call a week or so ago from the WSJ and ended up a blurb in another news article. https://lnkd.in/gjYRdkQC worth checking out though it really isn't really anything new to those who are in the trenches or have been involved. With so many different perspectives on what is wrong with our current education system, solutions are going to be hard to come by.

It has occurred to me more than once that one of the primary reasons we struggle so much with identifying the "why" of education's current state, is that we don't use the S.M.A.R.T. goal approach in what we're trying to accomplish. ? So, as part of sharing the WSJ story, I posed the question: What should be the S.M.A.R.T. goal for the US education system?#education #wsj #smartgoals

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Fast forward a few days and I've gotten 39 comments in response to my post.? Of those comments, the majority of them are opinions or proposed solutions that address administration or legislation, equating teacher pay (which we all agree is an issue) with college performance

Or pushing a new program / software / magical technical solutions (I will have a post about technology in education coming soon)

Or this one that set off a bit of a debate about vouchers

One person Gabby Lubin https://www.dhirubhai.net/in/gabby-lubin-0a19607b/ brought the idea of a S.M.A.R.T. goal? into a post of their own https://www.dhirubhai.net/posts/gabby-lubin-0a19607b_education-teachers-activity-6945019348654731264-57nO?utm_source=linkedin_share&utm_medium=member_desktop_web?

Of all the comments, I only had one taker on my smart goal for education?

Here's my SMART goal for Elementary schools. I’m sure that many people will disagree with me and that’s the great thing about living in the United States – it’s a free country. We’re free to agree or disagree with whomever we choose.

This might seem overly simple, but really, I believe that if we can agree on a simple purpose for our educational system (and I believe this has to be divided up between elementary, middle, high school and post-secondary education) we’d be a lot further along.

S- Provide all children with a basic education that will prepare them to further their studies as they reach the teen age years. Teach children the basic skills of reading, writing, and arithmetic. Add history and science to the curriculum and include artistic expression in student created portfolios. Students must have daily playtime, outside as often as possible.

M - Measure learning progress based on a set of standards. Note: I said “progress”, not “grades”. Use measurement tools that include, but are not limited to: student self-evaluations, teacher’s review of daily work and class participation, regular assessments.

A - To create an achievable goal there are multiple factors that must be addressed. 1) Consider the conditions under which students report to schools. Students who do not have a safe place to live, who do not enough to eat, or have adequate parental guidance will need a different school setting to be successful then students whose basic needs are met at home. 2) Consider the responsibility of the job position and the level of experience needed to execute the role. Now consider what an appropriate salary would be for that role. 3) Consider the role in which the government has to play in our educational system. Put control of local schools back into the hands of local communities so that they can adopt measures that work in their district.

R - It is relevant for all children to learn how to read, write and calculate figures. It’s essential that students learn history, so that they can avoid mistakes made in the past and that they understand basic scientific concepts. Students must also have an opportunity to develop innate skills and talents such as artistic, musical or athletics. Providing this opportunity impacts our global culture.

T - Most elementary students start around age 5 and finish around age 11. In other words, kids spend about 6 years in elementary school. Again, this will vary from person to person, but it’s a reasonable starting point for a time-bound goal.

Even if people don't agree, it's stated, clear and actually available for anyone to see what the intention of 6 years of work should result in. That is something that isn't done very often.?

?I have done this exercise with a number of people and it is interesting that no-one who actually creates a smart goal says anything about a % of information attained or a GPA just that kids can do X skill (this might say something about how important people outside of education see grades). We have common core and our state core standards that have lists of topics and things that have to be learned but the end result of what all of these create is vague or missing altogether.?

????????Imagine you are in a boardroom of a fortune 500 company and everyone in there knows that things are going poorly, everyone is trying to provide solutions or point out issues that are occurring but for some reason everyone doesn’t even know what the company produces or the services they provide in order to create something to sell. This is the US education boardroom, everyone pointing out issues or problems or solutions but the product that they spend 12 years manufacturing can’t even be described. How can we say we have a solution or even an understanding of “the” problem if we don’t have a clear understanding of what we are producing??

My example S.M.A.R.T. goal for a high school graduate is:

S. Able to connect multiple different disciplines to create solutions to given problems.

M. When given a new real life scenario students are able to combine multiple disciplines to create a solution. (Example student is given a set of yearly tax documents and they are able to work through to filing their taxes and identify the disciplines used)

A. Based on the tools (common core criteria for education) available to the students they should be able to attain these results.

R. All scenarios are relevant to adult life in the USA - filing taxes- applying to college - understanding the law as it applies to them - ability to participate in the political process and accurately explain why they would choose one candidate over another beyond party preference??

T. By the end of each year they will be able to complete different scenarios based on the learning that year

?????(this would also need a lot more specificity but it would be a good starting point)

Once we have a goal that is clear we can start to look at what we are doing that helps students reach that goal and also to remove things that are not helping them to reach that goal. To use the business practice that assists in making sure that we are staying inside our Scope of Work and staying on track to reach our goal.

What are your thoughts? What skills should every HS student leave school with?? Do you agree? Disagree? why?