16.Notes from the Keynote address

[Blog of the Annual-cum-International Conference 2015]

Standards & Benchmarks  and Excellence in teaching, learning & research

Key note  address delivered by
Dr. Margaret Solomon

Professor, La Sierra University

*Can Standards & Benchmarks alone bring excellence in Teaching, Learning and Research?

Standards and Benchmarks

*Learning Standards are a set of clear statements …specifying the key educational objectives students must achieve in each content subject

*Teaching Standards—Teaching qualities that pre and in-service teachers must demonstrate

*Benchmarks—Target goals that should be reached and demonstrated.

Standards Movement in the United States

*Nation at Risk came in 1983

-Improve student learning

-Improve teacher Quality

*Curriculum/Learning Standards were set by each State

*Teaching standards were adopted by teacher training institutions

Standard’s Movement was about…

*Bringing Equity in Education

*Decrease the Achievement Gap

*Reforms that came to support

*Improve Education America, 1993

*Goals 2000

*No Child Left Behind, 2001

Accountability Measures

*No Child Left Behind, 2001

*Demanded more accountability from teachers

*Student failures were attributed to teaching failures

*Schools did not receive resources to assist teachers

Teaching Standards Focused

*Teaching for understanding

*Skills development

*Collaborative Activities

*Diversity of Content and Methods

What Can we Learn from the United States?

*Standards became the teaching content in schools

*Student achievement showed improvement first

*Accountability measure—NCLB did not result in increased achievement

*NCLB made teachers very angry with its assessment measures

*Achievement gap widened

*Standards and benchmarks did not eradicate all the teaching and learning problems

Educational Excellence Means:

*Student Centered Instruction

*Research-based pedagogies

*Student Engagement in Learning

*Intellectually stimulating Learning Experiences

*Critical Inquiry

*Developing Solutions to real world issues

*Improving Practice through learning

*Critical Reflection

Action Research

*Action Research is a disciplined process of inquiry conducted by and for those taking the action.  The primary reason for engaging in action for improving a selected action

*Selecting a focus

*Clarifying theories

*Identifying research questions

*Collecting data

*Analyzing data

*Reporting results

*Taking informed action

Teacher Learning

*Teaching is a Learning Profession; therefore continuous professional learning will enhance the teaching practice.

*Teacher learning at its best takes place in the school among teacher learning teams.

*Teacher learning that focuses on students and their learning challenges brings the best result .

*Teaching is a Learning Profession; therefore continuous professional learning will enhance the teaching practice.

*Teacher learning at its best takes place in the school among teacher learning teams.

*Teacher learning that focuses on students and their learning challenges brings the best result.

What do we Know?

*How can we bring Excellence in Learning, Teaching and Research?

*Through continuous professional learning

*Developing teachers with a passion and commitment to teaching

*Can Standards & Benchmarks alone bring excellence in TLR?

*No, but they will help if there is a clear process in place for learning and researching to reach the standards and benchmarks

*How often should we set standards and benchmarks?

*As Research informs of the need