Cousins With a Common Purpose

Classroom teachers spend their entire careers being presented with one initiative after another.  Often times these initiatives have little to do with each other and may even work against each other.   However, sometimes initiatives work hand in hand with a common purpose.

Both situations above are the case with three current educational initiatives: Common Core (CC), Standards Based grading (SB), and Mass Customized Learning (MCL).  These are three separate initiatives that don't necessarily come from the same folks.  However, these initiatives are actually related.  In short CC represents the latest set of content standards that students will soon be expected to meet.  SB is an approach that requires all students to meet the standards of the Common Core and requires schools to report each student's progress toward that goal.  MCL is an approach that allows the theory of Standards Based grading to become a more practical reality.  Thus, MCL is also an approach that helps students meet the standards of the Common Core.  Though separate, the three initiatives are related, like cousins.

The difficulty arises when targeted experts, people who are rock solid in one initiative but lacking in understanding of other related initiatives, give well intended advice that is counter productive in the long run.  For example, some of these experts make claims about how best to address the Common Core, despite having apparently limited knowledge about how Standards Based Learning and/or Mass Customized Learning work.  This serves to fragment educational progress and undermine pedagogical growth.

It is far more effective to look at CC, SB, and MCL as cousins working toward a common family purpose.  When combined, these three beneficial initiatives are more likely to take the giant leap from theory to reality.