Accepting The Rainbows In A Black and White World

by Brian Archibald

Perhaps no professional field is as highly assessed and scrutinized more than the field of education. And rightfully so. With the future of our children and our nation as well as billions of tax and tuition dollars invested in our education system, it is imperative that we, as educators, continuously strive to stay on top of the latest developments in learning research and innovative curricula. However, muddying the waters for educators today is an overabundance of often conflicted reports, studies and research on every facet of education under the sun. Above all others, however, two subjects with two fiercely opposing camps in each have dominated discussion and concern in the past several years. In the subject of Reading, phonics vs. whole language and in Math, computation vs. experiential learning have ignited heated debates among scholars, schools, parents and educators. Both debates rate right up there with religion and politics in terms of rousing emotions and lack of mutual concession.

At least with religion and politics, believers and patriots can always affiliate with an institution or party that caters to their specific doctrines. In such institutions success is based on adopting a set line and staying the course. Yet in the secular, nonpartisan world of independent education, our course is rarely so defined, let alone predetermined. Certainly there are schools in our area and across the country whose missions are to educate based on one static curriculum, yet as parents we were are drawn to independent education based largely on the idea that learning is anything but concrete in nature. Which, in lieu of our world today, may make us one of only a few institutions in our lives operating under the primary charge of not prescribing to an extreme.

As independent educators, our freedom to break from the black and white and teach the yellows, blues and grays is paradoxically the most liberating and stifling aspect of our careers. With this freedom carries the incredible responsibility to assure the curricular paths we choose are not only devoid of counterproductive extremes, but are in the very best educational interests of not only a wide culturally and academically diverse student body but each individual within that body. Luckily, we have several vital sources from which to draw when determining such directions.

Everyday Mathematics is a research-based curriculum developed by the University of Chicago School Mathematics Project. The goal of this on-going project is to significantly improve the mathematics curriculum and instruction for all school children in the U.S. The program itself is based on three basic principles that have guided the development of Everyday Mathematics. These principles are:

• Students acquire knowledge and skills, and develop an understanding of mathematics from their own experience. Mathematics is more meaningful when it is rooted in real life contexts and situations, and when children are given the opportunity to become actively involved in learning. Teachers and other adults play a very important role in providing children with rich and meaningful mathematical experiences.
• Children begin school with more mathematical knowledge and intuition than previously believed. A K-5 curriculum should build on this intuitive and concrete foundation, gradually helping children gain an understanding of the abstract and symbolic.
• Teachers, and their ability to provide excellent instruction, are the key factors in the success of any program.