Welcoming the Next-Gen Ed Overlords

Dr. Stephen Krashen, professor of linguistics and education at the University of Southern California, recently wrote the following:

Remember the Simpsons, 1994, “Deep Space Homer”? A radio announcer erroneously thinks the Earth is going to be taken over by giant space ants and says: “One thing is for certain: there is no stopping them; the ants will soon be here. And I for one welcome our new insect overlords.¹ I’d like to remind them that as a trusted TV personality, I can be helpful in rounding up others to toil in their underground sugar caves.”

All the major teaching organizations embraced the NCLB overlords. It is now widely agreed that NCLB was unsuccessful.   All the major teaching organizations embraced the common core overlords. It is now widely agreed that common core was unsuccessful.  Now that this has been made obvious, the insect masters are pushing competency-based education.

Competency-based education lacks hard empirical support, will cost billions, promises to lead to more testing than ever, reduces the classroom to little more than programmed online instruction, and threatens to drastically reduce the need for teachers.

Are the organizations getting ready to welcome the new competency-based education overlords?

Will the leaders of the teaching organizations soon cheerfully declare themselves eager to participate in the destruction of the teaching profession and round up students to toil in front of computer screens, working through unvalidated and often untested programs designed by employees of testing companies?

Now, personally, I have trouble discerning the difference between the overlords and those simply welcoming them, but to help answer Dr. Krashen’s questions, I’ll leave you with the following:

Here is the cover page of a document produced by a think-tank called “Convergence”:

And here’s who helped fund this initiative:

Here’s what they’re planning for us:

Including, of course, the use of technology to “embed assessment seamlessly into learning, help provide adaptable and personalized learning pathways, and enabling coordination among networks of learners and adults.”

And here’s who signed off on the “vision”:

Yes, those are the two major teachers’ union presidents you see up there, and here’s what KnowledgeWorks (see Judy Pepper in upper right hand corner) thinks the future of teaching should look like:

Now, how to stop them from rounding up others to toil in the underground CBE sugar caves… ?

Author: Emily Talmage

My name is Emily Talmage and I teach fourth grade at Montello Elementary School in Lewiston, Maine. In addition to teaching in Lewiston, I have also taught special education and general education in New York City, including one year at a “high-performing” charter school in Brooklyn. I also have two master’s degrees; one in Urban Education from Mercy College, and another in Developmental Psychology from Teachers College, Columbia University. I have also worked as a research analyst and assistant at the National Center for Children and Families at Columbia and Oldham Innovative Research in Portland. View all posts by Emily Talmage