by Marge Joyce
ACCORDING TO A RECENT DOCUMENT released by the nonpartisan Center on Education Policy, twenty-three states, including Ohio, Colorado, Michigan, and Arizona, appear to be in denial about the impending 2013-2014 NCLB deadline for all students to meet proficiency standards. These states have opted for small gains in the early years of NCLB implementation with greater gains to be expected as the deadline nears. In other words, let’s worry about it later. The collective finger-crossing that somehow the law will be changed or that students and their teachers will achieve the benchmarks necessary to prevent wholesale consequences gives one pause, especially since attempts to revise NCLB have failed in Congress this year.
Addressing
the Challenge
It’s time for those of us responsible for the education of children to move the process along quickly and effectively. The question is “'how?” School districts are finding it more difficult to keep up with financial and personnel demands just as the economy is on a downturn—but gains can be made in math and reading without mortgaging the future.
Tony Robbins, international business guru, said, “If you do what you’ve always done, you’ll get what you’ve always gotten.” This holds true with our approach to instruction, an area that bears greater scrutiny given NCLB’s mandates. Making certain that teachers demonstrate sound instructional strategies is the business of the entire staff, of course. But here are some questions principals may want to examine to determine whether or not changes may be needed:
ONE.
Have teachers mapped their own content standards so that they have input about what is taught when during the school year? Curriculum maps handed down from above are usually left in a drawer as teachers do exactly what they’ve always done. Who holds them accountable for teaching what is expected?
TWO.
Are workshops provided so teachers can “experiment” with new ideas and share what is working?
THREE.
Are differentiated instructional techniques evident in weekly lesson plans? Are content standards and delivery strategies referenced in the daily activities?
FOUR.
Ask for samples of assessments given by staff and the rubrics used to measure them. Is higher-order thinking encouraged over memorization and recall?
FIVE.
Is time built for dialogue among grade-level teams? Teachers tell the truth when complaining that there is little time for discussion about curriculum.
SIX.
Are students engaged in meaningful lessons or just sitting at desks filling out pages from a workbook? Don’t wait until an evaluation to see what goes on in a normal day.
How do they add up?
If responses are unsettling, it may be necessary to form teams of teachers from all areas to consider ways to move
student achievement to the front burner. After all, isn’t that our major goal, even without
NCLB? 
Marge Joyce is PSI’s Coordinator of Curriculum and Instruction. Contact her at margejoyce@psi-solutions.org.