How teaching in the name of “change” became the “silent voice” in education. The education establishment in the 1960s began to transition the classroom teacher, from a competent individual to someone needing recertification to be qualified in the classroom. The phrase of the 1950s & 1960s “Teachers make a difference” became “we need better teachers” in the 1990s.
Special Education began with a strong mandate and instituted many self contained classes in the 1960s and 1970s. Learn what happened when 2 concerned parents took their children out and registered them in their local second grade against the advice of a “child study team” (CST).
How a mandatory “goals and objectives” took focus away from time needed to reinforce skills, too many objectives can ruin a curriculum. How phonics began to be minimized in the 1960s and its importance to a K-2 reading program, especially with learning disabled students. Individual instruction is a key to competence and initiative.
Education needs a curriculum report, from each school in a district, on file in the board of education office. Teachers as a group need to evaluate their curriculum in order to create an idea of the “state of education” locally, statewide and beyond. Boards of educations and administration change over the years, yet teachers who know and understand the needs and values of a school district have no influence in the local process of education.