Learning Losses? Schools Are “Outed” – Still! (Part 17)
The new reality of unplanned online learning brought about by the COVID-19 school closures has caused a lot of concern, particularly within the education industry. Professional educators are worried about a number of things resulting from the new education dynamics, but are especially concerned about students falling behind.
The question is, how can a child be behind? Behind what, exactly? Does there not have to be some standard by which to measure this position or judgement? Would this not necessitate a presumed standard child? I must admit that in all my years of involvement in education, I have yet to meet this “standard” child.
Many years ago, an Alberta Education Minister addressing concerns parents were having regarding provincial achievement test results, said the tests were measuring how the curriculum was doing with the child, not how well the child was doing with the curriculum. He clearly indicated the focus of education was more a matter of creating a product than encouraging student learning, which brings us back to the issue of “falling behind”.
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