Disruptive Force in Education

There are a lot of changes that need to happen in the educational system across the country. We have been consistently teaching within the fixated model of education. Teachers teach each concept and students are given assessments based on each concept/unit. The problem with this fixated model of education and assessments is that it limits students’ abilities, talents, or creativity. Students are then placed into categories based on their level of performance on formal assessments and state standardized tests. For my district specifically their performance is categorized into proficiency levels. These proficiency levels consist of developing, progressing, proficient, or advanced. The issue with this is you have students who may be very intelligent, but they could have a bad day, or they consistently experience testing anxiety. So, what happens when they are put into these categories based on their performance on an assessment when it is not a true reflection of the student’s learning capabilities? This is why disruptive innovation is necessary in the educational system. We can use blended learning and project-based learning as a catalyst to help alleviate students feeling the pressure of the fixated educational model. Blended learning is important, but teachers also must be cognizant of how they use blended learning. If you are teaching and just using a video to reiterate what you’ve taught, that doesn’t suffice as blended learning. However, when we use both of those and then add on a project and or an online learning program during a station rotation where you assign students specific TEKS of curriculum based on the students learning progress or outcomes then we are being more effective in the progression of students learning. I believe in my organization we could benefit most from project-based learning. I say this because working in a Title 1 school there are a lot of students that deal with negative social-emotional and socioeconomic circumstances. Creating the opportunity for students to have a choice in how they express and showcase their knowledge through projects may give teachers a better outcome in really seeing how much students have learned/retained throughout a unit while also giving students the ability to have creativity and free expression with the showcase of their projects without the pressure of a formal assessment. 

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