Good Morning All,

 

While I do not have a lot to say, I thought I would take Federico up on his
invitation for someone from the Texas trenches to speak up.  I have little
doubt that I would be one of those local administrators that he thought
expressed a bit of resistance to the rollout of the Texas standards.  Part
of this resistance is right in line with Michael Tate's thoughtful
contribution in regard to the needs of "senders" and "receivers".  I am a
big believer in the validity of local innovation.  This doesn't make me an
automatic resistor to top/down change, but I am guilty of a certain
intellectual wariness of said initiatives.  

 

Typically, I voice what my teachers are unwilling to say in a statewide
forum.  I invited all coordinators and many teachers to the roll out
conference of the State Adult Education Standards.  Several of my best and
most experienced staff declined the invitation.  Standards were a red flag
to them.  To them the standards were code for why they left K-12 teaching in
the first place.  I think that we have to keep in mind that this is a very
real and valid reaction.  

 

The other point of resistance that I and a lot of my staff share is a
certain resistance to the Texas standard lesson plan format.  There is just
something about using numbered benchmarks (1.5, 2.5, 3.5, etc.) to signify
what a student will have mastered or learned that is, for lack of a better
word, unappealing.  

 

Having said all that, I do think that Texas has taken the right approach,
for the most part, with the rolling out of the standards.  The decision to
not make them mandatory, at least for now, was the right one, and I
congratulate Federico and Joanie Rethlake for making it.  I have had as many
of my teachers as possible trained in the Standards.  We talk about the
Standards at every program wide staff meeting.  We are still struggling on
how to implement all or part of them.  Lately we have been thinking about
the best way of incorporating the Standards into our internal reporting
systems.

 

I would not say that my program is comfortable with the standards yet, but
we are dong our best to become familiar with them.

 

Jon Engel

Adult Education Director

Community Action Inc.

PO Box 748

San Marcos, TX 78666

Voice  (512)392-1161 ext. 334

Fax  (512)396-4255

Email  jengel at communityaction.com

Web www.communityaction.com 

 

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