This past summer, the Pennsylvania State Board of Education passed a revised version of Chapter 4 under Title 22 of the School Code. Section 4.11 of this code states the following:
§ 4.11. Purpose of public education.
Public schools provide instruction throughout the curriculum so that students may develop knowledge and skills in the following areas:
(1) English language arts.
(2) Mathematics.
(3) Science and [technology] environment and ecology.
(4) [Environment and ecology] Technology and engineering.
(5) Social studies (civics and government, geography, economics and history).
(6) Arts and humanities.
(7) Career education and work.
(8) Health, safety and physical education.
(9) Family and consumer science
Broadly, academic standards describe what students should know and be able to do through a defined trajectory of teaching and learning. Each year, the state administers the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment (PSSA) to determine how effective each public school is in teaching certain academic standards. Standardized tests can often be misunderstood as a test of a student’s ability to learn standards, as opposed to a measure of a school’s proficiency to teach required standards. Specifically, Pennsylvania does not dictate how these standards should be realized and, sadly, not all teachers have access to high-quality curricula, nor do they have the training or resources to develop a school-based curriculum. (PSSA and Curriculum are topics for another time.) With more than 500 school districts in Pennsylvania and more than 150 charter schools, it is pretty much every school for itself.
With all due respect to the State Board, I disagree that academic standards are the purpose of public education. In addition, research clearly supports that a standards-aligned curriculum, in which to realize this knowledge and these skills, is lacking in many schools. Unfortunately, without a collective understanding of the purpose – the reason – for school, evaluating success and providing the necessary resources to achieve it will remain elusive.
Please share your thoughts. What do you think is the purpose of school?