Yogi was right: It’s déjà vu all over again!!!

• What Kentucky was told in the early days of KERA:

“Business is telling us that all students must be able to think and solve problems at the level originally required of a few.”

“Learners initiate, implement, and evaluate their own learning.”

“Student-Directed Learning is characterized by students taking responsibility for setting the direction of their learning and helping determine the types of instruction which are most appropriate for the selected task.”

“Transformations: Kentucky’s Curriculum Framework, Volume II,” 1993, Pages 3, 9 and 11


• What the Prichard Committee for Academic Excellence just told us:

“An audience of 225 state education department officials, policymakers, college professors, and leaders of statewide education organizations got a first-hand look at the new wave of classroom teaching and learning strategies on Tuesday (June 14) at a showcase in Louisville. Funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and organized by the Prichard Committee for Academic Excellence, the event emphasized an approach to math that puts students in the center of problem solving and language arts assignments designed to require deeper thinking and stronger writing in English, science and social studies classes.”

Prichard Blog, June 19, 2011


• What Joe Brothers said in 2009:

“I came on the local (school) board in 1987. What you just said to me is no different than what I heard in 1987. So why should I be hopeful?”

Kentucky Board of Education Chair Joe Brothers’ reaction to proposals to fix Kentucky’s continuing education problems during the October 2009 meeting of the Kentucky Board of Education

Joe, it’s déjà vu all over again in 2011!

Supposedly, our schools have been using student-centered, higher order thinking approaches for two decades. Those approaches haven't worked well. Why does Prichard think they are on to something new?