From the "Factory Model" to Student-Centered

The current “factory” model of public education prevents students from being viewed as individuals. If one were to step foot into a Chicago Public School classroom, one is likely to see about thirty-five desks in rows, facing a whiteboard. Further, when reading class begins, the teacher is faced with instructing 35 unique individuals with different ability levels how to read. This is a difficult, if not impossible, task even in a classroom with 35 students who read at the same or similar level. In most regular, non-select enrollment CPS high schools, a reading teacher is faced with teaching to an entire spectrum of reading abilities. Surely, in this type of setting, students, regardless of their ability, will probably never receive the individualized attention that they need to improve themselves as readers. Adding to this already difficult situation is the fact that we currently live in an age of data and accountability. Students, teachers, and entire schools are being judged by high-stakes, standardized tests. Consequently, principals and teachers are feeling the pressure to improve reading test scores by changing their focus from content based curriculum to a test-prep based curriculum. This is significant because relevant, engaging reading selections are being replaced with test-based reading passages and questions. As a result, instead of reading instruction that promotes divergent and critical thinking, students who already struggle with reading and writing are forced to converge on one “right” answer. With the age of accountability has come prescriptive, unidividualized, literacy instruction.

The opposite of the “factory” model of teaching would be a student- centered approach to reading instruction. Instruction that is truly student-centered affirms the life experience, multiple-intelligence, and learning style of each student in class. In a student centered classroom, reading passages with questions would then be replaced with engaging, relevant, and thought-provoking texts that take into account the background of the specific student population. The only way to truly honor individualism in the classroom is to make students co-creators of the curriculum. Only when students have ownership over what they learn will they truly be engaged in their own literacy development. Engagement with meaningful texts, then, is a major prerequisite to literacy achievement.