Spaces of Liberty: Battling the New Soft Bigotry of NCLB

Abstract

N HIS speech accepting the Republican nomination in 2000, George W. Bush spoke of the "soft bigotry of low expectations." 1 His No Child Left Behind (NCLB) initiative has since become a far-reaching piece of national legislation intended to raise those low expectations and give equal learning opportunities to all children. What we now know from research conducted in various states is that the curriculum emerging in response to NCLB's testing mandates lowers, rather than raises, expectations. 2 Teachers have become deliverers of a standard curriculum, geared toward the tests, with a pacing schedule designed to finish the material in time for the tests. However, to offer real educational equity, teachers need to employ differentiated instructional practices that can help children develop the cognitive processes, the skill sets, and the social capital that give rise to successful engagement in our society. Research on learning tells us that students reach a deep understanding of fundamental concepts incrementally as teachers assess and respond to their perceptions in real time, which is why curriculum needs to be contextualized and not standardized. Sadly, today's educational mandates are not based on today's understanding of how people learn. Spaces of Liberty: Battling the New Soft Bigotry of NCLB Despite the strictures of NCLB, teachers need spaces in which they can negotiate the curriculum in response to students' individual progress. Similarly, students need spaces in which they can pursue their own ideas and thus help their teachers shape the curriculum. But such conditions cannot exist without the policies and funding to support them.

The language of collaboration: Dialogue and identity in teacher professional development

“…What teachers need for complex learning to occur are the same conditions that support students' meaningful learning. Brooks et al (2007) call it 'spaces of liberty' and they state that 'these spaces of liberty for students can only occur when their teachers have their own spaces of liberty' (p. 750). These authors refer to the ways the education system supports the negotiation of curriculum with students; the argument here takes an even larger systemic view suggesting that the way schools and districts view teacher growth and change will have a critical impact on how teachers view student development.…”

STEM Studio: Where Innovation Generates Innovation

“…In 2012, Hofstra created STEM Studio, a "space of liberty" (Brooks, Libresco, & Plonczak, 2007) where preservice teachers learn to effectively offer instruction that teaches children to think more reasonably, write more cogently, and compute more carefully. STEM Studio spreads successful teaching practices and classroom structures by engaging teachers in honing their skills by analyzing their students' performances and artifacts.…”