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PART 1
In a stimulating opinion piece for the Los Angeles Times, W. Norton
Grubb (2005), the David Gardner Chair in Higher Education at UC
Berkeley, explained why it was that everything he really needed to
know about K-12 education he had learned in Helsinki.
It would appear from Grubb's piece that Americans might learn a thing
or two about K-12 education from the Finns. Grubb writes [bracketed
by lines "GGGGGG. . . ."; insertions at [. . .] by Hake; my CAPS]]
GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG
I have just returned from studying Finland's education system.
According to PISA scores. . .[PISA (2004), Sen et al. (2005)]. . .
this country of 5 million people ranks second (to South Korea) in
math, third (to Japan and South Korea) in science and first in
literacy by a substantial margin. Variations among Finnish students
on these tests were the lowest or near the lowest.
To accomplish this, Finland has developed interlocking practices that
foster both high and equitable performance.
[1] If a student starts falling behind his peers or grade norms, the
teacher works with him one on one, or in small groups.
[2] Another approach involves a school assistant who may sit beside
the student in class to provide help and encouragement, or work one
on one or in small groups with him.
[3] The third approach involves a special-needs teacher - not a
special-education teacher, but a credentialed teacher with additional
preparation in learning difficulties.
[4] The fourth line of attack is to send in a multidisciplinary team,
including school personnel, social workers, representatives of the
health and mental health systems as necessary and perhaps individuals
from public housing. If non-school problems are solved by other
professionals, teachers are free to concentrate on instruction.
THIS FOUR-PRONGED APPROACH DEPENDS ON OTHER FEATURES OF THE FINNISH SYSTEM:
[a] SMALL CLASS SIZES AND SMALL SCHOOLS. . .[see e.g., Clinchy
(2000), Levine (2002), Swidler (2004), Toch (2003), Witcher & Kennedy
(1996)]. . . make it easier to diagnose learning problems.
[b] Teachers keep the same students for several years and get to know
them [Meier (2002)].
[c] Thorough training develops teachers with expertise in their
subject matter and pedagogical alternatives [Cuban (2003), Hake
(2005e)].
[d] A STRONG WELFARE SYSTEM - NUTRITION, HOUSING, HEALTHCARE AND
FAMILY SERVICES - COMPLEMENTS SCHOOLING . . .[see e.g., Duguid-Siegel
(2005), Kozol (1992), Tyack (2003)].
The Finns do not rely on excessive low-level testing, as the U.S.
does. . . They have explicitly rejected the "naming and shaming" that