Biography Project, Questions, and References PDF

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Summary

Biography project on Deborah Meier. Includes a time frame, her influence on education, her impact on urban schools, her ideas on how to reform public education, etc. ...

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Biography Project: DEBORAH MEIER 1: Time Frame: 1930s-Present. -->1940’s: Expansion of high schools to control youth problems (social), keep youth out of labor market, and life adjustment education (social). 1950’s-->1980’s: Racial and cultural harmony (social), war on poverty (political/social), educating more scientists and engineers to aide in Cold War efforts (political), equality of educational opportunity (economic), career education (economic) 1980’s-->2003: Community service (social), character education (social), preparation for a global economy (economic), control of learning through testing. 2: Influences on teaching and learning Considered the founder of the “small schools movement”. Supporter of democracy and equity in public education. Founder of many schools that “focus on the mind of the learner”. 3. According to the National Academy of Engineering, Meier’s contributions have specifically  impacted urban schools. “Meier has spent more than four decades working in public education as a teacher, writer and public advocate. She began her teaching career as a kindergarten and Head Start teacher in Chicago, Philadelphia, and New York City schools. She was the founder and teacher-director of a network of highly successful public elementary schools in East Harlem. In 1985 she founded Central Park East Secondary School, a New York City public high school in which more than 90% of the entering students went on to college, mostly to 4-year schools. During this period she founded a local Coalition center, which networked approximately fifty small Coalition-style K-12 schools in the city. Between 1992-96 she also served as co-director of a project (Coalition Campus Project) that successfully redesigned the reform of two large failing city high schools, and created a dozen new small Coalition schools. From 1997 to 2005 she was the founder and principal of the Mission Hill School a K-8 Boston Public Pilot school serving 180 children in the Roxbury community. The schools she has helped create serve predominantly low-income African-American and Latino students, and include a typical range of

students in terms of academic skills, special needs, etc. There are no entrance requirements. These schools are considered exemplars of reform nationally and are affiliates of the national Coalition of Essential Schools founded by Dr. Ted Sizer and currently led by Lewis Cohen.” 4: A  lthough she herself does not exemplify the words control or power, she does believe there needs to be a shift in the system. A reform. Real educational “reform”, according to Meier, means increasing the power of students, parents, teachers and the community. A  utonomous power over small schools and control of learning through testing are what she continues to fight against. She believes that the goal of small schools is to enhance democracy and equity in public education. This is why I chose the word privilege. Because Meier believes in a world of privilege, where a quality public education is a shared right, common to all children, regardless of race, background, socioeconomic status etc. She believes in a world where students learn for learning's sake, where teachers do not compromise, and the parents and community are involved in helping each and every child reach their potential. 5: Trends: In several interviews, Meier has talked about how painful it is to see the privatization of public schools and the creation of smaller, yet still autonomous schools. Among today's smaller schools, only a few have a democratic leadership model. Many of the small charter schools are run by private management companies where teachers have less power than they did in traditional schools. Consequently, these schools, where teachers teach in compromised ways, the students, are less successful, creating a sense of hopelessness for those who turn to charter schools for a quality education. 6: She is important to education system because of her willpower to reform public education, and her educational philosophies.

Questions: What is your motivation for contributing to the education system? Would you consider yourself more influential to education (in general) or urban education? What or who has influenced you the most? What is your personal educational philosophy? What about the education system has most drastically changed since you were a student? What about the education system has remained the most consistent since you were a student? If you could change one thing about the current public education system, what would it be? In your opinion, what is the most “successful” part of our current system? In your opinion, what was your greatest contribution to education? If you had to choose one word to define yourself as an educator or an advocate, what would it be and why?

References: Chiao, T. (2011).Deborah Meier Strives to Give Education a Purpose—and Hope.  National Writing Project. Retrieved from http://www.nwp.org/cs/public/print/resource/3656

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Klonsky, M. (2011). An Interview with Deborah Meier on the Small Schools Movement. Huffington Post. Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-klonsky-phd/deborah-meier-small-schools_b_859362 .html National Academy of Engineering (2009). Deborah Meier Biography. Retrieved from http://www.nae.edu/Programs/TechLit1/K12stds/WorkshoponStandardsforK-12EngineeringEduc ation/15122.aspx PBS (2001). School: The Story of American Public Education. Retrieved from https://www.pbs.org/kcet/publicschool/innovators/meier.html Spring, J. (2010). American Education. Boston, MA: McGraw-Hill....