Standards, curriculum and Lounge talk

We had an interesting conversation in the lounge today about benchmarks, ITBS and reality.

Our school district doesn't have a curriculum director. Instead each teacher serves on a curriulum committee. Each committee is advised by one of the administrators. Each committee is responsible for choosing new curriclum, writing standards, benchmarks and educating the rest of the district on the ins and outs of using the curriculum. There is a 7 year cycle that each curricular area moves through. I am currently on 2 committees - Social Studies and Technology (not really a committee)

It is a demanding and frustrating job when your committee is choosing new curriculum. Last year it was reading. Our district was divided down elementary building lines between two curriculums. There were strong feelings against the curriculm we chose and those who supported it. Now, as we implement this curriculum we understand the strengths and the shortcomings even more.

Each curriculum group has also worked to create the standards and benchmarks for their area. These are in various stages of completion. We have had numerous meetings and opportunities to work on these - but there are so many different opinions and ways to address the benchmarks that concensus is very difficult.

Now - back to our conversation. As we hashed over the newest discrepencies between the realities of our classroom curriculum and ITBS someone made an interesting statement. The majority of the people making the rules about education seem to be men while the majority of the teachers in elementary buildings are women. I know that is a generalization - but I think it's a pretty accurate one.

As a woman I think my time is better spent trying to figure out how to make the rules that i have work rather than spending the energy to change those rules. I think that is one of the reasons we are in this situation. Our district is a great example...we have 5 administrators and all but 1 are men. Our 3 elementaries have 1 male teacher and 2 male principals. Our principals do a great job - i don't mean to say they don't. But, I know that men and women attack problems differently.

So - what does al this mean? I'm not sure. But, I think that we need to encourage more women to move into administrative roles by providing options that are family friendly. I also think that we need to encourage the people making the decisions to actually spend time in the places they are overseeing. I would love to have a legislature share the teaching responsibilities in my 4th grade.

But - the biggest thing is to remember that we are all working to solve the problem in our own ways. We can patiently wait for our students - encouraging them to make choices and nurturing them to the best choices - but we often forget that as soon as we work with adults.

Ok - I'm off my soapbox. Now back to the trenches on a Friday afternoon! :)