“One of our children needed an Individualized Education Program (IEP) for one year -- focused attention during that year solved a speech deficit,” Kaine remembers.
“So, the natural question is, why don't we personalize learning for every student? Shouldn't we strive for an educational model that involves individualized education for all? We don't live in a 'one size fits all' world and our education system should reflect that.”
It’s not as daunting to teach child-by-child as you might think, either.
Kaine himself tried, working at a small vocational school in El Progreso, Honduras in 1980-81. “When I arrived, a fine carpenter was teaching the boys … He would give students projects that were too easy or too hard,” Kaine writes. Kaine worked up a list of about 60 projects for the kids, arranged fromeasiest to hardest and “Within a few months, the kids were all working on different projects, but developing at their own pace in a way that was simple for a single teacher to administer.”
Kaine also writes that his daughter’s experience in Virignia’s Pre-K program convinced him of the importance of early childhood education – a view that Virginians from across the political spectrum have come to agree on, from Kaine himself to Republican former Gov. George Allen, who kicked off the state effort, and now the state Chamber of Commerce, as it unveiled its Blueprint Virginia proposals for the state's economic development at a conference in Williamsburg last week.“My children have all attended schools subject to high stakes tests pursuant to the Virginia Standards of Learning that were adopted in the 1990s as a forerunner of the federal No Child Left Behind law,” Kaine continues.
“Unlike some who dismiss the idea of tests out of hand, or shake their fists at federal involvement, I see value in having standards and having periodic assessments … But there are serious problems," he writes.
One is that tests make a minimum standard the benchmark of success, rather than anything more ambitious. Another is a tendency to test too much too early.
Tests, particularly those elementary school ones were "young kids memorize historical facts and figures or struggle with science concepts" can be counterproductive, he writes. But “The only bad year we experienced as parents of public school kids was during a first year in middle school,” Kaine continues, as he recalls his family’s experience.
Those are tough years, most of his friends agreed as they talked about their kids’ experiecnes. “Part of this is just adolescence. But I think part of the middle school blues is an uncertainty about its pedagogical purpose,” Kaine writes.
He thinks one answer might to be start kids thinking more about what their lives as adults might be like.
“Think about this question--what does the average kid know about the world of work?” he asks.
There’s more to school than sitting in a class sweating over an algebra problem or diagramming a sentence, though.
“All three of our children started instrumental music in the 3rd grade and played for at least eight years. One son became impassioned in high school by creative writing, architecture and digital video instructors … Our other son, currently in the military, benefited from musical education by becoming proficient on the trumpet and absorbing important teamwork skills through playing with school bands,” Kaine writes.
When his daughter wanted to to go to an arts magnet high school, “I was reluctant, thinking that a more traditional academic curriculum would be perfect for her,” he remembers. She went, though. (Kaine is a listener, after all.) “She learned perseverance through endless practices and teacher critiques. She learned flexibility and problem-solving--the stage manager has to adjust on the fly when a prop breaks mid-act or an actor unexpectedly jumps ahead three pages in the script,” he writes.
“The things that really matter for life success don't all fit neatly into today's public school curriculum. Once again, it's about individualization.”