Lost in Translation

By Pat Hinchey

Many of us have been working for educational reform, arguing forcefully for less focus on facts and more on what students will be able to do when they leave the classroom. Seeing new methods implemented we smile, glad that others are heeding our advice. We might do well to look more closely before rejoicing. Far too many practices are being implemented in ways that defeat their original goals.

This seems especially true in English education, perhaps because widespread concern about high school graduates' reading and writing abilities makes that area ripe for experimentation. In recent months, for example, I've visited a two-hour class designed to accommodate integrated study of "humanities''--and I watched the English teacher assigned to it (with no special preparation) spend the first hour teaching English and the second teaching social studies. I've seen my own children asked to keep journals in their English classes--and to record in those "journals'' traditional book reports. With a colleague, I've examined a statewide "authentic'' assessment method that asks students to produce a writing sample--and also to take a multiple-choice test that is subsequently used to send teachers back to the practice of teaching decontextualized grammar.

While such devices as "humanities blocks'' and journal-keeping may suggest significant change, these examples illustrate how easily new practices can be reduced to camouflage masking essentially...