Dr. Michael Hynes is the superintendent of schools in the Patchogue-Medford district of Long Island. He has thought long and hard about what a great education should be for all students. His elected board supports his vision.
He wrote this detailed report of what all children need and deserve.
The report can be found here.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
What Michael is calling for is what, back at the end of the last century, was called “holistic” education-attending to all of the needs of a child in growing up, learning, living and being. There were quite a number of districts that had instituted those holistic practices, decried by the religious right, edudeformers, privateers and regressive reactionaries as “fluffed up self esteem, everyone wins” education. Those doing the decrying certainly were not and still aren’t educators.
I saw what Michael is calling for in action to the benefit of all the students at the schools my children attended. Elementary teachers with no more than 15-17 students with a special ed teacher and an aide or two were able to attend to the needs of all students in all areas of their schooling experience. Team teaching approaches at the middle school level with all the teachers understanding what each individual student needed/required to enhance their learning. Student/parent/teacher conferences in which the student led the “conference” proudly displaying what they had done and learned. Elementary students learning how to learn, how to evaluate themselves and their learning and not just relying on the teacher and/or some invalid standardized test from far away to tell them how they were doing.
Focus on the learning process of the student, not on supposed student “achievement” is the holistic way of learning which is what the PEAS could be (still too much talk of that “achievement” as a supposed gauge of learning). It has been done and we can still accomplish a truly excellent student learning environment—when we focus on the inputs and provide the resources necessary to accomplish the task.
Glad to see something that brings applause from you. You are a tough critic.
Duane’s not a tough critic, he just knows what’s right. We know it from research and from what the rich and powerful want for their own kids. He’s just very exacting about demanding the same for the rest of us.
Research doesn’t tell you that religious leaders are very bad people even when they are trying to help you.
I’m not 100% ornery 100% of the time. Might seem that way, eh! But I’ve been wondering whether my orneriness increases as my lumbar cortisone shot wears off after a couple of months and I still have a month to go before the next one. Constant pain exacerbated by what I consider mischaracterizations of my thoughts does indeed increase my orneriness. I wish no chronic pain on anyone.
Thanks, Duane. AGREE. Holistic education is what our schools should be about.
Diane,
Thank you for PEAS.
I applaud, without reservation, any superintendent who gives teachers space to design meaningful curriculum and students space to play and engage. It’s difficult, though, to fully support a paper that presents misleading information. A few things to note:
*All students in the performance consortium take the NYS English Regents exam. They do not “eschew high stakes testing” but rather, use rich, challenging rubrics and multiple scorers to assess student work in the other content areas.
*As public schools in NYS, their curriculum is aligned to the NYS Learning standards as nothing about the CCSS or any other set of standards prohibits interdisciplinary curriculum design.
*The Kindergarten standards do not require that students to read independently – the standards speak to children reading in groups or emergent books like BROWN BEAR, BROWN BEAR. Independent reading does not appear until Grade 2.
Additionally, the Commissioner’s regulations, Part I00, requires schools to provide a full liberal arts curriculum including the arts, health and physical education, science, mathematics, social studies, English language arts, foreign language, and career development and occupational studies. The academic section seems to suggest that superintendents, school boards, or others are encouraging teachers to ignore those regulations, narrow curriculum, and focus only raising test scores. If Opt Out in NYS reflects pockets were the curriculum has been narrowed, it raises compelling questions about places where opt out is low. Or are parents opting out in districts that have maintained the liberal arts focus? In either case, the paper seems to suggest that districts are helpless in the face of large-scale testing while at the same time saying they should adopt a more holistic approach to education. It raises compelling questions around who is paper is written for and what actions the author wants readers to take after reading it.
And finally, Lincoln likely never said the quote cited in the first paragraph – the quote was most likely invented by activities in the 1950’s who wanted to motivate parents to fight for keeping religion in public schools.
By the way New York was well on its way toward portfolio assessment with rubrics before 2000. Then, NCLB dumped piles of manure on every teachers’ dream of creating better, more authentic forms of assessment. Then, the economy tanked, and the privatization steam roller picked up speed, thanks to Obama. So now we have Trump and more dystopian policies, privatization on steroids.
retired teacher,
Bingo! I also blame the DFERS for this huge mess.
Jennifer is known on Twitter as Data Diva.
Actually, Diane, she’s not. I changed my handle because what began as a joke among friends around performance-based assessment was viewed by those as something it wasn’t.
That said, I find it especially frustrating that rather than addressing the points I raise, you referenced my Twitter handle.
It was not an insult but an identification.
Ack – can you help me understand why you wanted to identify my (old) Twitter handle? That is, I’m really struggling to understand how a name I picked in 2008 as a lark has any bearing on my comments. More to the point, I’m trying to understand the celebration of a piece on your site that includes an inaccurate historical quote. I’m all for celebrating the concepts of PEAS but am unclear why we should overlook inaccuracies in the paper.
In Hawai’i where public schools are funded equally, many think private schools are better. It’s really sick.
Read this, and vomit!
New Directions for Education is more like NO DIRECTION and pay for pure junk.
Luncheon featuring:
Karen Grey, Education Researcher at Nevada Policy Research Institute
Alex Teece, Co-Founder, DreamHouse ‘Ewa Beach Charter School
Students in Hawaii have few options when it comes to school choice. But a new policy known as Education Savings Accounts may help parents save money for their child’s K-College education.
Former Hawaii native Karen Gray helped to pass an innovative school reform in Nevada, which may help more parents and children find access to quality education.
Alex Teece is also a supporter of diverse educational options for students and families. He is part of a team that founded a newly approved charter school known as “DreamHouse ‘Ewa Beach”. Alex will give his perspective on ways to increase educational opportunity in Hawaii.
Friday, September 15, 2017
11:30 AM – 1:00 PM
$40 General Admission includes lunch ($35 for members)
Downtown Honolulu
Wow! What a surprise!!!!! I have two grandchildren attending that school district. My daughter and her husband moved into the area because of the school district.
I picked the boys up after school. When we got home, I asked to see their homework. My grandson in third, started reading a library book to me that captivated his interest. They had no homework!!!!!!!! Yeah!!!!!!!! Now their parents can spend more time reading to the boys instead of cowing over asinine homework! (Oh the paper that is wasted on homework for pre-school and kindergarten in other districts!!!!! If they didn’t waste so much paper on homework and seatwork they wouldn’t have to have all those fund raisers.
▪Dr. Ravitch, you published: “Research doesn’t tell you that religious leaders are very bad people even when they are trying to help you. ”
Dr. Ravitch ! I read and reread your statement; I can not be reading your comment correctly. I am missing something. It had to be said with tongue in cheek. How can a woman of your stature make such a blanket, asinine statement!!!!!! With your education it is just not fitting to make such an unfounded statement even in jest!!!! You are lumping all religious leaders into one! Philosophy 101: there are few universals, e.g., there is a God, you were born and will die. Rash statements such as you made, need to be qualified.
That comment was part of a long thread in which I was defending religious leaders and expressing gratitude for their support for separation of church and state. I was there specifically thanking the Pastors for Texas Children. I was taking issue with a much-respected reader who rejects all religious guidance.
You have twisted my words to mean the opposite of my intention.
I apologize if I was unclear.
I am testing to see if a block on my commens about New Mexico anti-science legislation is a one-off glitch or systematic.
Laura,
I have not seen other comments by you on the New Mexico anti-science program.
Can someone from this district clarify if the recess applies to students beyond elementary school? Thank you. This is an inspirational piece that I will refer back to often as we set our own goals and vision as a district.
It does. Only 20 minutes for now at MS level but working on it…
Thank you for your response, Michael. I’m on the school board in a regional district and will be sharing your paper with many here. Well done.
I wrote this metaphorical description of schooling in America to help people new to the topic understand why the loss of professional autonomy in teaching is a big deal. Perhaps you will want to share it? The Restaurant Without a Kitchen. A Parable About Education In America – Growing Children
https://childrengrowing.com/2017/09/16/the-restaurant-without-a-kitchen-a-parable-about-education-in-america/