Jan 042017
 

Teaching to the Middle

Teaching to the Middle -ā€˜Thereā€™s No Such Thing as Averageā€™: Todd Rose on Brain Science and the Limitations of Standards

Teaching to the Middle: Incumbent, One Size Fits All Teaching to the Average, Middle, Student Doesn’t Work Because There is no Such Thing as an Average Student.

Teaching to the Middle – By Mary Jo Madda,Ā Oct 26, 2016

teaching to the middle

Mary Jo Madda

Teaching to the Middle -Thereā€™s no such thing as ā€œaverage.ā€

That a lesson professor Todd Roseā€™s shared with educators and education entrepreneurs in his keynote at iNACOL in San Antonio, Texas on October 26.

Rose, who currently heads the Mind, Brain and Education program at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and cofounded the Center for Individual Opportunity, became well-acquainted with the concept of ā€œaverageā€ā€”average score, average body size, average abilityā€”after conducting research for his recent book, ā€œThe End of Average.ā€

But how did ā€œaverageā€ come to be a common construct, and why is it a potentially destructive concept, especially in the world of education? According to Rose, there are two big reasons: First, thereā€™s no such thing as an average person, and second, itā€™s inhibiting educators from creating ā€œa principled way to think about individuality.ā€

Why thereā€™s no such thing as an average person

Up until 2002, Rose reports that brain scientists believed that in brain imagingā€”the use of various techniques to directly or indirectly image brain structureā€”there was such a thing as an ā€œaverage brain.ā€

But Michael Miller, a UC Santa Barbara professor, began to study how the human brain retrieves memory and realized there was no single brain that looked like this mythical average. ā€œWe each have unique ways that our brains retrieve information and create memory,ā€ Rose reported.

This has not just played out in neuroscience, but in every advancement and every field, he adds. In education, this is particularly harmful to students because it affects pacing guides, textbooks and how states measure who achievesā€”and who fails.

ā€œOur current industrial model is rooted on the belief that there is an average student,ā€ Rose said. ā€œIn most states, textbooks are expected to be age-appropriate, but it just means designed for what the ā€˜averageā€™ kid knows and can do.ā€

Yet Rose believes there is hope if we can implement the concept of personalization more actively in schools and other learning environments. ā€œIf we want to get a place that nurture kids, instead of batch processes them, average systems donā€™t work,ā€ he said. Instead, ā€œwe need deep rooted understanding of individuality.ā€

The three elements that differentiate studentsā€”and really, anyone

According to Rose, there are three patterns of individuality that everyone should consider when creating learning experiences for students.

The first, jaggedness, refers to any human characteristic that we care about, and canā€™t be reduced to a single data point or score. When it comes to identifying oneā€™s jaggedness, there are usually a number of different data points that separate each individual student from the next. Take IQ: While two students could test as having the same IQ, the specific elements of what make up that IQā€”knowledge of vocabulary, reading comprehension, quantitative skillsā€”can, and always is, different.

teaching to the middle
“Jaggedness” as it applies to IQ. (Mary Jo Madda)

Next, thereā€™s context. ā€œItā€™s meaningless to talk about behavior, learning and development if itā€™s independent of understanding the childā€™s environment,ā€ Rose explained. He added that oftentimes, adults will ignore context because it can seem ā€œmessy and hard,ā€ but in reality, context offers insights into patterns or conditions outside of a childā€™s control. ā€œIf we look at the context, we realize that we donā€™t always need to send kids to remediation,ā€ Rose says.

The third concept, pathways, embodies the idea that every human being differs in what pace and sequence will lead to outcomesā€”an idea thatā€™s particularly pertinent to the world of education where seemingly every set of state standards and textbooks follow one set, ā€œaverageā€ pace. Average-based systems, Rose says, have forced educators, parents, even students to think about learning and development in ladder-like structuresā€”and that is harmful.

ā€œThere isnā€™t a relationship between pace and ability. We have a huge problem when we have a system thatā€™s standardized on an average pace,ā€ Rose explained, while displaying an example of how one student in a test case performed: 1) in a timed environment versus 2) at his/her own pace. In the display, the student performs lowest out of the group when timed, and highest when taken atĀ his/her own pace.

How to introduce personalized instruction at scale

Rose isnā€™t worried about acquiring more research or data to back up his case, saying that thereā€™s actually ā€œa mathematical theorem that proves you canā€™t use averages for human beings.ā€

His bigger concerns relate to the fact that the concept of average is a deeply held assumptionā€”and that oftentimes, ā€œbeing right isnā€™t good enoughā€ when it comes to challenging assumptions. ā€œJust look at the example of Norma,ā€ Rose says, calling attention to a controversial 1943 statue created by a man of scienceā€”obstetrician-gynecologist Robert Latou Dickinsonā€”as an example of the ā€œaverage female form.ā€

Backing up an idea with knowledge or data never guarantees acceptance. So in order to support competency-based learning and move schools away from likes of seat time, standards, and yes, averages, itā€™s up to educators to help spread the news.

ā€œItā€™s the one important barrier thatā€™s holding us back, that idea of average,ā€ Rose says. ā€œItā€™s that very mindset, that continued belief in the myth of average.ā€

Mary Jo Madda (@MJMadda) is Senior Editor at EdSurge, as well as a former STEM middle school teacher and administrator. In 2016, Mary Jo was named to the Forbes “30 Under 30” list in education.

Ā Teaching to the Middle – Access the EdSurge Article, Here
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Teaching to the Middle – Access What Educationally Innovative IS, that Directly Benefits ALL students
Teaching to the Middle – Access this Student Success Resource, with Corresponding Hyperlinks and Many, Many Other Student Success Resources, Here

Harvard University

  • Graduate School of Education
    • Learning Innovations LaboratoryĀ (LILA)
      • What is LILA?
    • Mind, Brain, and Education Program
      • Thereā€™s no such thing as ā€œaverage.ā€
        • Center for Individual Opportunity
          • Ā Science
            • “The End of Average.ā€

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Tom McDonald, tsm@centurytel.net; 608-788-5144; Skype: tsmw5752

teaching to the middle