“The best index to a person’s character is how he treats people who can’t do him any good, and how he treats people who can’t fight back.”
– Abigail Van Buren
Early in my career I learned that student choice in how they could produce learning increased their engagement levels. I also learned that by teaching students how to think about thinking (metacognition)
their understanding and reasoning skills were enhanced. When I was a middle school teacher I believed ALL students could learn and I believed ALL students deserved rigorous, relevant, results focused learning. I was successful as a teacher because I built a foundation based upon trusting relationships and respect. It is part of my mission, passion, and calling to this profession to ensure that all educators believe in ALL students and that learning remain the focus of our business. We are in the business of learning. We produce learners and thinkers.
About 12 years into my career I was fortunate to have the opportunity to pursue and complete post-graduate studies earning the degree of Doctor of Education (Ed.D.) in curriculum & instruction. I published my dissertation: Effective Instruction in Middle School Social Studies. One statistically significant finding from my research and studies was in the area of student voice/choice. Statistically significant essentially means that what occurred did so as a result of something other than chance … meaning, the deliberate conditions (in the case of my study student choice in learning assessments) yielded higher levels of student satisfaction. The purpose of the study was to analyze student learning in 8th grade social studies classes with both traditional and constructivist philosophy based instructional settings, and to analyze the impact upon student learning in three areas: achievement, satisfaction, and perception. The findings that were significant refer to satisfaction.
Students took the Student Satisfaction Survey from the Comprehensive Assessment of School Environments (CASE) from the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP). The student satisfaction survey used in this study was part of the Comprehensive Assessment of School Environments (CASE) published and created by the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP). The satisfaction survey applied to the research in this dissertation study was used to establish satisfaction levels for the two comparison groups, the control group and the treatment group.
Research in the literature shows connections between student success and elements of constructivist philosophy. The ultimate implication for the education community, based upon the data presented in my dissertation study, is the social justice implication inherent in research studies designed to determine student satisfaction, perception and achievement. Students are the primary stakeholders, or constituent groups, in America’s classrooms this should not be forgotten or looked over. That these students have opinions and their ideas can be windows into the best and most appropriate educational methods of instruction should not be forgotten. Today’s student may be the same and he may be different from yesterday’s student, but the fact that student success is a just and viable goal for all school systems lends itself to the need for additional research into how best to educate children.
In my current leadership role, in addition to sharing meaningful research (i.e. Hattie’s findings), I also work to implement meaningful ways to impact student and staff learning. Lessons I have learned from personal research as well as from secondary research continue to govern and inform my work. Increasing satisfaction, engagement, happiness, respect, value – and by holding high expectations for ALL – we will continue to show growth!