Is teaching possible in your school?
“Teachers can’t out-teach their context.”
- Joe Murphy
11/03/03Marilyn Crawford, PhD (marilyn.crawford@earthlink.net)
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“Teaching is very much a factor of the
conditions that enable or disable effective
teaching. Context has the greatest power in
inhibiting good teaching, or in freeing good
teaching. No, context alone does not make a
poor teacher better, but context can stop
good teachers from doing their best to
educate all students.”
- Updraft-Downdraft, pp 14-15
11/03/03Marilyn Crawford, PhD (marilyn.crawford@earthlink.net)
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How’s the weather in YOUR school?
“Leaders, if you don’t understand the change nature of forces outside
the school, most of the interventions you choose will be problematic.”
- Joe Murphy, 2001
11/03/03Marilyn Crawford, PhD (marilyn.crawford@earthlink.net)
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Historical Roots
“Carefully constructed historical inquiry
may well provide us with the most
powerful guides available.”
- Shulman, 1984
11/03/03Marilyn Crawford, PhD (marilyn.crawford@earthlink.net)
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“Public Schools” are PUBLIC
HISTORY
Economic Forces
HISTORY
Copyright: Marilyn Crawford, PhD
GOALS
The Comprehensive High School
(1890-????)
“The blueprint for the comprehensive model
of secondary education emerged from the
social, political, and economic developments
that took place during the quarter century
following the release in 1893 of the famous
Committee of Ten Report.”
- Wraga, 1994
11/03/03Marilyn Crawford, PhD (marilyn.crawford@earthlink.net)
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1890-1920: Preparing for Industrialization
“For most Americans, the battle over high school was not one of the classics versus
the modern sciences but one of academic culture versus practical training —
the well-known confrontation between those who wanted to prepare for college and
those who wanted to prepare for life.”
- Herbst, 1996, page 115
Copyright: Marilyn Crawford, PhD
1893: The Committee of Ten
Goal: “There was to be no difference between them. What the colleges required and
what life demanded were not, in the Committee’s view, different or contradictory.”
- Sizer, 1964
Copyright: Marilyn Crawford, PhD
1918: Cardinal Principals of Secondary Education
Goal: “To produce individuals who were trained for a specific role in society. High
schools would fit the young for their niches in that structure.”
- Murphy et al, 2001
11/03/03Marilyn Crawford, PhD (marilyn.crawford@earthlink.net)
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The Cardinal Principals won the battle, and the
comprehensive high school was institutionalized.
“In aged group batches, students study for defined periods of time, earn Carnegie
units for each hour of study and, upon earning a specified number of units, receive a
diploma. It is a notion of education dictated by seat time.”
- Levine, 2001
Copyright: Marilyn Crawford, PhD
“Schools do change, but they seem to
change only when the gap between
schools and society is extreme and at the
same time the demand for formal
education is growing. In 1892, the
pressures that inevitably affected
education clearly were great; change was
inevitable.”
- Sizer, 1964
11/03/03Marilyn Crawford, PhD (marilyn.crawford@earthlink.net)
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1980s: Another Shift
“We are living a huge shift — a 100 year historical cycle that will result in the
virtual elimination of the comprehensive high school as we know it today.”
- Murphy et al, 2001
Copyright: Marilyn Crawford, PhD
The Committee of Ten Returns
“The theme of the 1980s rang clear and loud: Bring the academic standards of
students graduating from American high schools back to that of 90 years ago, the
years of the Committee of Ten report.”
- Herbst, 1996
Copyright: Marilyn Crawford, PhD
With TEETH!
Standards, Assessment & Accountability
School
Reports for
principals,
school
leaders and
instructiona
l specialists.
11/03/03Marilyn Crawford, PhD (marilyn.crawford@earthlink.net)
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“Updraft-Downdraft”
ALL
Economic Forces
HISTORY
Updraft-Downdraft
HISTORY
SOME
Copyright: Marilyn Crawford, PhD
The Updraft-Downdraft Phenomenon
“The unevenness could not have been resolved by simply hiring ‘smarter’ teachers.
Many of the smarted, best-educated of these teachers felt that ‘really to teach’ would
be going ‘against’ expectations at their school, not fulfilling them.”
- McNeil, 1968
11/03/03Marilyn Crawford, PhD (marilyn.crawford@earthlink.net)
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Updraft-Downdraft
“Teachers and students operate in context of a
wind shear – one force a clear updraft that
drives high achievement, the other a strong
downdraft that actually drives low
achievement. This wind shear flows through
every crack and crevice of secondary schools
and classrooms. Some students ride the updraft
to success, while others plummet predictably
into an undertow of low achievement.”
- Updraft-Downdraft, p. 16
11/03/03Marilyn Crawford, PhD (marilyn.crawford@earthlink.net)
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HIGH ACHIEVEMENT
COLLEGE
Common Goal
System Capacity
Achievement Essential
Parental Pressure
Experienced Teachers
UpdraftDowndraft
TRADITIONAL
GENERAL
ALTERNATIVE
ORDER
CREDENTIALS
Negotiation
Defensive Teaching
School Knowledge
Disengagement
Low Expectations
Low Achievement
DIPLOMA
LOW ACHIEVEMENT
Copyright: Marilyn Crawford, PhD
HIGH ACHIEVEMENT
COLLEGE
QUALITY WORK
POST-SECONDARY
Common Goal
System Capacity
Achievement Essential
Parental Pressure
Experienced Teachers
UpdraftDowndraft
TRADITIONAL
GENERAL
ALTERNATIVE
ORDER
CREDENTIALS
Negotiation
Defensive Teaching
School Knowledge
Disengagement
Low Expectations
Low Achievement
DIPLOMA
LOW ACHIEVEMENT
Copyright: Marilyn Crawford, PhD
Where can you find evidence of
“Updraft-Downdraft” dynamics?
Everywhere!
11/03/03Marilyn Crawford, PhD (marilyn.crawford@earthlink.net)
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Research
“The differentiated
curriculum conforms to
larger social purpose –
preparing students for
different futures.”
- Oakes & Lipton, 1995
Copyright: Marilyn Crawford, PhD
Parents
I have a marginal interest in other kids and only after I’m assured
that mine have what they need. That is perhaps not the ‘right’
attitude, but I think it is the one that prevails. Until you can
convince me that this can be a win-win, nothing will change and
you won’t get my vote.
- Parent
Copyright: Marilyn Crawford, PhD
Schools
“Students have the opportunity to select courses comparable to individual abilities,
talents, and career goals. The guidance department and the administration reserve
the right to change a student’s schedule based on past academic performance and
standardized testing results and to accommodate the needs of the student body.”
- High School Course Selection Catalog
Copyright: Marilyn Crawford, PhD
States
“Each day is designated and proclaimed by the Governor as Arbor
Day shall be also known as Bird Day, and it shall be the duty of every
teacher in the public schools, to devote, together with their pupils, at
least two hours of such school day to the study of birds, trees, and
general conservation of resources; and it shall be the duty of all
district superintendents to see to it that the requirements of this act
are complied with.”
- State of Pennsylvania School Code, Effective 7/10/70
Copyright: Marilyn Crawford, PhD
Media
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Newspapers
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The Lesson of Updraft-Downdraft?
The Power of Context: “The lesson of the Power of Context is that we are more than
just sensitive to changes in context. We’re exquisitely sensitive to them.”
- The Tipping Point, Malcolm Gladwell, 2000
11/03/03Marilyn Crawford, PhD (marilyn.crawford@earthlink.net)
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Do you need to improve
conditions to support learning
and teaching in your school?
11/03/03Marilyn Crawford, PhD (marilyn.crawford@earthlink.net)
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