A New Model is Needed

I took a graduate course titled “Models of Teaching.” The class was all about exposing us to different models of classroom instruction – direct, group, and inquiry-based to name a few.

It’s time to get rid of courses like “Models of Teaching.” In fact, evidence might be telling us it’s time to get rid of the role of teacher all together.

Late last month, The 74 online shared research that suggests stagnant learning recovery after the pandemic may be due to a crisis in teacher quality throughout this country. The 74 writes,

“More than three years after the pandemic began, a crisis in teaching quality may be stalling academic recovery, new research shows.”

“Faced with exhaustion, staffing shortages, and frequent student disruptions, many educators are using ‘outdated and ineffective’ methods and content below grade level, according to a report released last week by the Center on Reinventing Public Education at Arizona State University, part of a research project done in conjunction with the RAND Corporation.”

“Researchers analyzed interviews from 30 leaders, predominantly superintendents and chief academic officers, across five traditional districts and charter systems.”

“To cover extra classes amid shortages, teachers lost prep periods and opportunities to collaborate with colleagues, the report found. Many went years without feedback from principal observations, and are managing higher rates of challenging student behavior. These challenges, and a tight labor market that leans on early career educators who don’t yet have the experience to weather them, are all contributing to the crisis.”

“As a result, educators reverted to older, more basic strategies. For instance, students were asked to work in groups without further direct instruction from the teacher; prompted to use screens or technology unnecessarily; and were frequently disengaged.”

“’Just like we’re hearing about student learning loss, these leaders were seeing that their teachers were also experiencing teaching loss,’ said Lydia Rainey, who co-authored the last of four American School District Panel reports that explored how school leaders were responding to the pandemic with Paul Hill and Robin Lake.”

“Teaching quality is not solely responsible for the stall in academic progress – high dosage tutoring and technology supports, basked into recovery plans to help fill academic gaps, were ideals difficult to obtain in practice.”

“It’s possible, too, that teachers’ classroom choices have been impacted by political fights over curricula.”

“’When folks are stressed or depressed, or have not fully mastered what policy is asking them to do, they will revert to what they know. And what a lot of people know is how they went to school,’ Rainey said.”

“Both researchers and the leaders they interviewed were shocked by how much the quality of instruction had suffered in the wake of the pandemic – something leaders didn’t anticipate when drafting recovery plans.”

“’No one was thinking about this possibility, that teaching would suffer returning to school,’ Rainey added. ‘Beyond just these leaders, this was not in the national conversation about COVID recovery, either. This was a surprise to them and to us.’”

Why should we be surprised by this? Often, when human beings are forced to work in a dysfunctional work place, they begin to fail at being as effective as they once were when that system has more functional.

That is what is happening inside our public schools right now – a functional system in the past has now become dysfunctional as it attempts to move forward.

Instead of a graduate course titled “Models of Teaching,” we should introduce a new course – “Models of Learning.”

In that course, adult learning leaders would train to become experts at defining what types of learning a  young learner needs to achieve. They would become adept at building learning plans with young learners, focusing on reading, writing, problem-solving, and character development activities. They would help young learners execute on their personalized learning plan, utilizing all types of resources available. And they would help young learners evaluate their own learning, so as not to rely on paper and pencil tests like we’ve done the past 150 years.

A sign of a broken system is a broken workforce. Is it time we admit that our teachers are broken and that they need a new system in which to flourish?

Til tomorrow. SVB