JOHNSON CITY OBE FAILURE z42\doc\web\2000\07\johnfail.txt Date sent: Thu, 08 Jun 2000 18:41:53 -0400 To: 71524.2205@compuserve.com From: "Aldo Bernardo" (by way of Fred Battey ) Subject: OBE All: The letter below from an Australian, and Dr Bernardo's response I felt would be of interest to the loop. I have deleted the address of the originator of the discussion (in order to protect the innocent and misguided). The Johnson City program continues to be a disaster, but now they are proposing a totally new centralized combined school at megabucks and that will cure all of their problems. :-( Fred __________________________________ Dear Mr. Day, I became interested in public school education reform about 10 years ago after retiring from 40 years of university teaching. I have my BA and MA from Brown University, and my PhD from Harvard in Romance Philology. My interest was aroused by the Johnson City Program which suddenly appeared in the local newspaper as a world-class accomplishment. Since 1 of our grandchildren had graduated from the Program, we knew that it was not as the paper described it. He had gone on to college, but had to drop out because his reading skills were so poor and because he did not know how to study. My wife and I had tried to help him in his junior and senior year, but it was obvious it was too late. He simply had no conception of how to learn. Somehow he had been convinced that just going through the motions of attending classes was enough. Be that as it may, I started to research ODDM and discovered that it not only lacked discipline, but considered basic academics a waste of time. As long as students knew how to argue and discuss, there was no reason for expecting them to possess actual knowledge. What is more, the program had been going on since 1971 and no one knew that it was basically experimental. The more I examined it, the more I discovered what a sham it was. The principal motivation was that administrators and teachers were being asked to travel throughout the country for large stipends to describe how the program worked. The description, as you know, is appealing. The results simply are not there. Johnson City has constantly scored below the average of the 12 school districts that compose the area in almost any kind of test or assessment. To make a long story short, the founder of the program, Dr. John Champlin, who has been championing it since 1971 through a journal now enititled Journal of Quality Learning, has declared the program a failure for lack of leadership. His opinion appears in the final issue of the journal which appeared in Spring of 1999. Of course there was scapegoat. As he describes it, "The fact that the zealous Extreme Christian Right eventually took it down after 25 years of tremendous productivity and effectiveness is more of a commentary about the bitter hostiliy and rancor that was brought to the table." What he does not say is that OBE has been declared a failure throughout the land as state after state has turned back to standardized tests that measure what a student has learned rather than what he thinks he has learned. As for the systemic approach, there also seems to be a consensus that schools cannot be run like businesses. On the other hand, parts of the OBE approach have managed to survive, especially the idea of performance testing (actually essay questions) and the School-to-Work program which has also begun to limp. If at all possible, I would suggest that you try to locate copies of the Champlin journal in which he defends the program in issue after issue, before admitting defeat in the issue cited previously. If there is anything more you would like to know, please don't hesitate to ask. A.S.Bernardo __________________________ Dear Sir, My name is Garry Day and I am an Education Adviser for the Queensland Department of Education in Australia. My current portfolio requires me to instigate "change" in Queensland schools towards undertaking a "process of school renewal", enveloping an Outcomes Approach to Education. Admittedly I am an enthusiast of the philosophy of OBE and its potentional for student learning, however after reading your paper entitled "THE JOHNSON CITY STORY: FACT OR FICTION", I am concerned about a number of issues raised that I would like some clarification of. The survey indicates an overwhelming dislike by teachers of ODDM. Is this dislike purely for the model that has been imposed on them or is it a genuine dislike with the philosophy of OBE? I ask this as some schools have been toying with ODDM as a possible format. An effective Behaviour Management system is essential in any school setting and should reflect the nature of the school and its clientele. Has an effective model of behaviour management been developed and successfully trialled in the US to complement an Outcomes Approach? With regard to the statement by an ex-student, "as a theory Outcome-Based Education is an undeniable failure, for it is completely detrimental to a student's cognitive process.", her statement is somewhat justified in the context of her schooling experience, but is it reflective of all schools that have taken on OBE? Some of the key factors identified in our approach to change are negotiation, a shared vision and ownership of the process. In developing their model for change, were the key stakeholders ( parents, staff, students) involved in the process or was it simply a case of "this is the way and this is how"? Your paper has given me much food for thought, particularly in the areas of the ground level preparations that must be considered in any educational change process. I look forward to your reply. Regards