Tout le blogs, following Politics K-12’s lead, note that Linda Darling-Hammond will not be joining the Obama administration as many expected, but has instead opted to remain at Stanford. Another interesting LDH note appeared in the form of a letter to the editor of this morning’s Boston Globe. Titled “Knowledge, skills are not mutually exclusive goals” Darling-Hammond responds to a recent op-ed by Kathleen Madigan of the Pioneer Institute:
We note that many of the Core Knowledge schools of E.D. Hirsch, whom Madigan cites in her attempt to polarize, develop solid knowledge and rigorous thinking skills through a project-based curriculum, defying the silly idea that we can’t develop both knowledge and skills in our schools.
I’m not sure where Professor Darling-Hammond (and DFER’s Joe Williams, who helped author it) got the idea that the Core Knowledge curriculum is “project-based” (it’s up to teachers to use their professional judgement to decide how to teach the material), but her observation that solid knowledge and rigorous thinking skills are not mutually exclusive is certainly welcome–as is her citing the accomplishments of Core Knowledge schools.
Alas, several reports cite a seriously ill family member as a prime reason for Darling-Hammond staying in California. We pray it proves to be not serious, and wish her well.
It seems Linda Darling-Hammond has become a convenient bogeyman for too many self-styled reformers. If you don’t like something, just say she espouses it. That’s just flabby thinking.
When we caricature people and their arguments, we make constructive discussion of important education issues all the more difficult. This tendency has, I think, prompted some commentators to pit knowledge against skills.
If you look through your curriculum, you’ll find plenty of projects. I suppose whether or not this makes the curriculum “project-based” is a matter of semantics.