The Lost Promise of Our Work

Even as someone who most would call a supporter of customized learning, there has always been a part of me that knew something was wrong, but I could never find the right way to put it. Recently, I was able to put it in to words.

My problem with the current direction of the cohort is that we are trying to be customized and standardized. As a result, we customize when kids learn and how they learn (to some extent) but not what they learn. I think when many of us hear the term customized learning, it is the "what" that we immediately jump to.

It is easy in the echo chamber that can be the internet to just stop there, and pick a side of the battle lines. However, I wouldn't be a very good example to my students if I didn't offer some potential solutions.

One such option is to build choices within your content standards. For example, students in my room might be tackling the world history standard: "Understands a variety of reasons people have gone to war." With the vastness that is world history, there are plenty of options for students to meet their interests while still learning the content necessary to meet the standard. However, I do feel like this is akin to a dress code that allows students to wear any clothes they want, so long as they are khaki pants and blue button-up shirts.

The second option, which I think bares the most consideration, actually involves adding more standards. Our current curriculum is the amount of knowledge we want all learners to have upon graduation (and it may be asking too much of them, but time will tell on that one). That makes them a least common denominator. It is therefor necessary that we have other things we want to encourage students to do in addition to the "bare minimum." After all, our current curriculum in most schools doesn't stop at the graduation requirements.

I would propose that our graduation or promotion requirements require students to meet a certain number of standards in each content area, but with more flexibility in regards to which standards they complete. For example, a student may only complete 3 of 5 war standards in middle school if they complete an extra two standards in another social studies topic that is more interesting to them. I would also propose the creation of a number of inquiry-based units in each subject area to further customize a student's education. Think of what your average college degree program looks like, but with standards replacing required and elective courses and independent studies. Students have earned a promotion/degree when they have met their handful of required standards, plus a set number of standards of their choosing in each content area. 

This compromise preserves the increased "rigor" that the proponents of the standards argue is inherent in their higher-taxonomy levels, while also allowing for more student choice and real customization of what they learn. It will require more work to build out standards and more tough decisions on what is required and what is not, but I think it is the missing piece to this puzzle.