IDEA Blog

Aren’t Facts Important?

This "democratic" approach to education seems nice, but don't kids need to know certain facts to thrive in the world?

In a word... yes.

But I'm not going to stop after one word. Yes, there are absolutely things that people need to know in order to thrive in the world, but we will never be able to teach people everything that they will need to know for their life. And people, depending on the life path that they choose, will need to know different facts at different times. So rather than filling our young people's heads with facts, we should teach them how to find the information they need and give them the skills to analyze and interpret that information for themselves.

If our schools...

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District nixes cash-for-grades fundraiser

A $20 donation to Rosewood Middle School would have gotten a student 20 test points - 10 extra points on two tests of the student’s choosing. That could raise a B to an A, or a failing grade to a D.

Susie Shepherd, the principal, said a parent advisory council came up with the idea, and she endorsed it. She said the council was looking for a new way to raise money.

“Last year they did chocolates, and it didn’t generate anything,” Shepherd said.

Shepherd rejected the suggestion that the school is selling grades. Extra points on two tests won’t make a difference in a student’s final grade, she said.
It’s wrong to think that “one particular grade could change the entire focus of nine weeks,” Shepherd said.

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Where’s the Line?  Putting Democratic Teaching Ideals to the Test

In my efforts to model democratic practices to pre-service teachers, I ask my students at the beginning of each class, "Are there any questions, comments, concerns, suggestions, complaints?" Usually I am met with silence or with just basic housekeeping-type questions (e.g. when do we have to take Praxis II? etc.). Occasionally, though, a student will offer a concern or complaint about the work load or impending due dates, or they'll propose a change to a grading rubric item. For example, in the last month, I had students request to be able to pre-record their Pecha Kucha presentation (a sort of slam poetry form of powerpoint presentation -- 20 slides in 20 seconds each to explore an...

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Is a parent’s job to keep a child on track?

You can do several things for your tweenage student who will face the college entrance requirements of 2012 and beyond. Marsha Watson, director of Mississippi Institutions of Higher Learning’s College Knowledge Project is tasked with finding ways to equip today’s middle schoolers with the knowledge and skills they will need to successfully enter college following their high school career. “Some families falsely believe that the college preparation process begins about the junior year of high school,” says Watson. “While there are certainly important milestone activities that must be accomplished by then, true preparation begins much sooner. There are things parents and students can begin to do as early as fifth grade.” ...

Don’t Let Up When the Going Gets Tough
As your child progresses, classes become more challenging. One way to help address this is to ensure your child stays on top of all assignments and masters the content presented—because each unit is a building block for the next level.

It can be tempting at times to allow your child to opt out of the more advanced courses. Their best friends may no longer be in the advanced classes and they might not want to be separated from them. The greater homework load might take up a lot of after school and weekend time. There are many rationalizations to justify letting your child take easier classes. It’s your job as a parent to keep your child on track. Aim for the more challenging courses. Locate tutors if needed. Set aside after school time to do homework.

Do whatever you can to keep your child on the college-prep track. It takes more effort to get back on track than it does to stay on track.

A college education can be very important to your child’s ability to navigate successfully through life. By taking proactive steps now to aim your child toward successful completion of a college prep curriculum, you help create a strong base for a positive, rewarding future for your child.

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Video: How JCOS Changes Students’ Lives

Alumni and students talk about their powerful experiences at Jefferson County Open School, founded in 1970.

For over thirty-five years, Jefferson County Open School (JCOS) has provided a viable, vibrant, and life changing alternative to conventional schooling.  JCOS features a Pre-Kindergarten through 12th grade environment with inter-age groupings throughout the school.  At all levels students work closely with their advisor in the development of their personal curriculum.  Both individually and in groups, advising is about developing strong, caring relationships between adults and students, and between students and their peers.  JCOS is committed to preserving educational choices for...

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Waldorf-Inspired Public Schools Are on the Rise

Traditional Waldorf schools are private, but the number of public schools inspired by Steiner’s methods is growing, fueled in part by the passage of the No Child Left Behind Act and the charter school movement. In the United States, there are about 44 Waldorf-inspired public schools, most of them K-8 charter schools located in the West.

NCLB requirements mandate that students test at grade level in reading and math, which can result in schools reducing the amount of class time dedicated to art. But Waldorf methods, in sharp contrast to traditional public education, encourage a learning pace dictated by the students themselves and an integration of the arts into lessons. ...

Waldorf education divides childhood into three seven-year stages of development: The first stage, birth to seven years old, is imitation, when children are encouraged to learn through play and movement. The second stage of development, seven to 14 years, is imagination, when students learn through images, art, and stories. At this stage, when the students’ emotions are thought to be developing, Waldorf practitioners believe that the stable relationship with one teacher is key. The third stage, from 14 to 21, is inspired thinking, when students become engaged intellectually and are encouraged to analyze information and think critically. ...

Last September, the first public high school inspired by Waldorf, the George Washington Carver School of Arts and Science, opened in Sacramento. A charter approved as part of the district’s small-schools reform plan, Carver took over a failing high school in a poor neighborhood on the edge of the city. Local children, along with students from John Morse and a private Waldorf school, make up the high school’s student body. (There’s also a private Waldorf high school in the area, which has allowed local students in the program to continue the traditional Waldorf education track from kindergarten to the end of high school.)

With a Rudolf Steiner teacher-training college in the area and many community parents familiar with Waldorf elementary schools, the new high school received early and enthusiastic support. Still, supporters and participants in the school consider Carver an experiment because adapting Waldorf methods to a public high school is uncharted territory for them.

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From Student to Conformist

Hi, my name is Claire Russell. I am a freshman at a mainstream public high school in rural Maine. I attended a "Waldorf-inspired" alternative school from the moment I walked into my first day of kindergarten, until the day I graduated from eighth grade last June.

I loved school. Every minute of it. There wasn't a day when I thought it was a drag to go to school. It was perfect for me. We learned to learn. My teachers taught to teach. We weren't tested, graded or analyzed. I had a second family of twenty-four kids my age and a teacher who probably knew me better than I knew myself at most times. The thought of leaving broke my heart a little every time I thought about graduation. It seemed...

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Worry is an expression of love

As a parent of a ten- and two-year old, I continue to be awed and humbled by what parenting asks of me. Whoever said that raising children is like watching your heart move around outside your body was spot on. As an educator who spends my day with other people's kids, I'm also deeply aware of the ways parents and educators can work and grow together as well as the potential impact when we don't.

I've come to love the worry parents feel and often express (including my own). I didn't start there, but as my kids got older and I found my own anxieties arrive at how my son spent his day, I found myself needing to rethink my responses to worry.

The way I see it, the worry a so called...

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What is Democratic Education?

In a society based on participation, empowerment, and democracy,

shouldn’t education be participatory, empowering, and democratic?

The United States of America is founded on democracy and the democratic values of meaningful participation, personal initiative, and equality and justice for all.  

Democratic education infuses the learning process with these fundamental values of our society.  Democratic education sees young people not as passive recipients of knowledge, but rather as active co-creators of their own learning. They are not the products of an education system, but rather valued participants in a vibrant learning community.

Democratic education begins with the premise that...

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Smart, funny and slightly disruptive

I have one kid I can't get to shut up and pay attention. He's smart, funny, and cute and is just always playing and being slightly disruptive. It's like being quiet for one minute is impossible. I don't want to totally shut him down, but I want to be able to work with him. What do I do?

- Minna D., San Francisco, CA, 9th grade teacher

This is a classic situation. The pace and structure of school carries with it expectations of what young people are and should be like. We expect our children to be able to "shut up and pay attention." But what do we really mean by that? In this situation it's not only that you want him to pay attention, it's that you want him to pay attention to what you...

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