Making Room for Deeper Learning

The standardized tests throughout the world have been harmful when they have abducted the curriculum. The PISA test makes sense as it does not make EVERY child take it. Having random tests every three years in one early high school grade can help folks adjust the elementary and high school curriculum - not rank schools or kids... Schools do not exist as a variant for real estate agents to seduce potential buyers into an area. Checking for understanding through quizzes, portfolios, presentations, debate, service learning...peer teaching... by the teacher and the academic team within schools - provides the internal data needed to address the question - How well do our students meet government expectations and/or best practice expectations? By reducing and reorganizing the expectations into essential and sub-expectations of the essentials, the government can ease up the focus on one objective at a time, and therefore, allow more time for deep learning... Having internal professional discussions about the "How well..." question must lead to action...Getting a culture of professionals to embrace revising their plans- takes time to move them away from the 'technician' culture spawned by the test-focused curriculum. Universities have a large role to play in setting the tone for becoming professionals. In many areas of the world teachers are paid as professionals, but are expected to paint-by-the 'objective'- numbers (with scores alluding that they are acting professionally). When they are told what the report card will be, that each lesson in 177 days should focus on a different objective, this is the practice of technicians, who are not expected to initiate, innovate, or do anything but 'paint the school house red'. It seems to me that folks who understand ZPD, growth mindsets, inquiry and the value of apprenticeships have a solid 'know how' of the need for deep learning. Let's see at one level, they can have the intellect to see multiple sides of an argument, and at a basic level - have the capacity to vote...At a higher level, we need to figure out how to create school cultures that enable young people to solve tomorrow's problems - not distinguish between questionable multiple choice responses of yesterday's facts. It's time to dismantle the testing kingdoms in education, as they handcuff us to the past. If we expect more civilized societies, then we must not use the same formulas that have led us to where we are today. It's time to focus more on to deeper learning, if not for student engagement sake, but for the sake of human sustainability. The answers to tomorrow's problem do not rest with the assumption of building mini encyclopedias who can rhyme off what is known quickly; we can do better and deeper learning is key to such a change.