Commentary:
How about a 'Learning Matters' Series?

by Elliot Washor and Charles Mojkowski

THE LATE ALBERT SHANKER was reputed to have a sign on his office wall that read:

"I taught the material, but they didn't learn it." Define "taught" in the sentence above.

His message prompts a few observations and suggestions regarding the recent series in the Journal called "Teaching Matters," which we believe made a significant contribution to helping the public understand what good education looks like.

The first observation is that, as Shanker's sign indicates, it's learning that really matters, not teaching. By this we do not mean that teaching doesn't matter at all, but that seeing learning as primary places teaching in its proper context — as subservient to significant learning for every child. Thus, every teaching practice, however appealing on its surface, must stand the test of contributing to each and every child's learning.

At the risk of messing with success, we suggest that doing another series called "Learning Matters" would communicate the proper focus. After all, although only a minority of your readers would call themselves teachers, everyone is concerned with learning. Indeed, it is impossible to get on in this increasingly complex world and workplaces without learning all the time, every day of our lives.

We are all learners now. Learning is everyone's business, not just the schools'. But then, maybe teaching is everyone's business, as well. Let's leave that for another time.

One consequence of focusing on learning is to look for the conditions that enhance it, for those learning opportunities that are challenging, address real-world standards, and promote the development of good habits of mind, body and spirit. We realize, of course, that there are no silver bullets, that learning is a very complex mixture of many things — motivations, intelligences, dispositions.

If we had to choose one thing, however, that would focus attention on learning, we would have a personalized learning plan for each student.

A customized, individual student learning plan is a tool to bring together students, parents, teachers and others who might serve as teachers to design a flexible, long-range learning plan with very specific immediate and short-term learning goals. The learning plan is based on learning goals that reflect high and significant standards and accommodate each child's specific interests and strengths. It provides specifics about what a student will learn and the kinds of learning activities that may be appropriate for that learning.

The plan evolves with the student and incorporates all of the work that she or he does in school as well as the internships and service that she or he performs outside of the school. The learning plan assures that relevant, authentic contexts are established for learning for each student and that that learning is addressed to high, real-world, and engaging standards drawn from the workplace and the community.

The benefits of individual student learning plans are that they bring substantial focus to the learning for the student as well as for his or her family. Plans allow everyone to focus on the whole child, not just on what the child is learning in a particular subject or on aNny one strength or weakness. In this era of accountability, the learning plan is the ultimate accountability tool, enabling students, parents, teachers, and mentors to be "accountable" for learning.

In her Aug. 30 column ("Schools must keep pace with changing times") Julia Steiny proposed that "schools need to innovate, reform, and generally get creative about addressing each and everyone of their students without excuses." The development and implementation of a learning plan would be a powerful way to help educators think about how they would reorganize the way they use time, people, and other resources available for learning. We believe it would have a substantial impact on the physical structure of schools and other learning spaces as well.

While the specific learning plan we use is uncommon, the idea of a learning plan for each student is not new (federal law requires one for each student with special learning needs.) Often, however, it has been rejected for all students because of its ill fit with the existing structure of schools, particularly secondary schools. Nevertheless, if we believe that we can create powerful and challenging learning for each and every student by pursuing a learning plan, then we need to think deeply about how all other aspects of schools and schooling would need to be adjusted to accommodate this powerful innovation.

Albert Shanker had a reputation for being focused. Despite his many controversial actions and unpopular positions, he knew the bottom line was learning – powerful, engaging learning for each and every child. A learning plan for each child would help everyone in the community to better keep our focus on Learning Matters.

Elliot Washor is co-principal of the Metropolitan Regional Career and Technical Center, a new high school in Providence. Charles Mojkowski is an associate professor at Johnson & Wales University's doctoral program in educational leadership and consultant to the Met.