OCTELA Position Statement on
Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM)

OCTELA joins the Ohio Board of Regents, the Ohio Department of Education, and the Ohio legislature in promoting the improvement of the teaching of science and math and in encouraging study in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM).

OCTELA believes that the priorities of STEM—problem-solving, independent thinking, innovation, and literacy—are also the priorities of English/language arts (ELA) and that the foundation for building knowledge in STEM disciplines is based in the language arts and human sciences.  Developing communication strategies, navigating texts, synthesizing and manipulating ideas and data, accessing information, and critical thinking are literacies shared with English/language arts and the other core academic content areas in Ohio.  To encourage the strength of interdisciplinary instruction in all academic content areas, OCTELA recommends that STEM initiatives serve to strengthen the relationships among Ohio’s core disciplines, rather than create exclusionary models of STEM-focused curricula.

New STEM-specialized schools are neither necessary nor desired to achieve these goals.  Because technology is important to building knowledge in our global society, access to it must be equitable and not exclusionary.   To fully utilize technology, however, all children must be competent readers and writers, and all teachers must work to integrate, not isolate, the literacy skills of their disciplines that will enable all students to express themselves and build upon their understandings of the world.

For many years, ELA educators have worked to move away from viewing content knowledge as information to be passed on and as a limited set of skills to be mastered in discrete content “silos.”  Instead, OCTELA endorses a constructivist approach to learning where teachers plan active, learner-centered opportunities for students to exercise reading, writing, and thinking processes and problem-solving skills, while engaging in inquiry and innovation in all of the core academic content areas. 

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OCTELA Position Statement on No Child Left Behind

In support of the NCTE Position Statement Recommending Changes to the No Child Left Behind Legislation, OCTELA puts forth the following position statement:

OCTELA joins NCTE in recommending that changes be made to No Child Left Behind through the 2007 reauthorization process.  Specifically, OCTELA believes that federal legislation should provide opportunities and support efforts for local schools and districts to develop effective assessments that best fit their needs.

The kind of high-stakes testing mandated by NCLB encourages “teaching to the test,” a detrimental practice that leaves little time for teaching the kind of critical thinking more appropriate to the challenges of today’s world.  The type of knowledge represented by most high-stakes tests also fails to represent the kind of knowledge, and its application, required in a multitude of modern professions.

Results from statewide high-stakes tests are poor measures of overall school performance.  Rather, local schools and districts should have the freedom to develop a variety of assessments that more fully capture the effectiveness of their schools, their teachers, and their unique students.

Achievement should be measured longitudinally; “growth models” that track learning over time are more constructive to students and schools than simply looking at changes in the percentage of students who pass mandated state tests, as currently required by NCLB.  New value-added models of assessment will help create a more comprehensive picture of the growth of students over time.

Finally, federal legislation should encourage highly prepared, experienced teachers to work in schools with the largest numbers of high-need students.  Frequently, schools with the neediest students are staffed by the least experienced teachers, a practice that leads to students’ failing to meet their potential and teachers’ leaving their profession.

OCTELA urges that the above-outlined problems be addressed in the reauthorization of NCLB, and supports the following NCTE recommendations:

• Use of multiple assessments to determine school and student progress
• Redirection of Title II funding to support teacher professional development
• Implementation of federal programs which support placing highly qualified teachers in high-need schools
• Adoption of a peer review system for grant review and alignment with National Research Council definitions of “scientifically based research”
• Adoption of growth models to replace the current Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) measures

More information and specific recommendations can be accessed at NCTE's website: http://www.ncte.org/about/over/positions/category/gov/126451.htm

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OCTELA Position Statement on the Use of Vocabulary Lists to Improve Assessment Performance

In response to efforts to implement the use of grade-level vocabulary lists to improve assessment performance, OCTELA puts forth the following position statement:

OCTELA believes that state-wide grade level vocabulary lists are counter-intuitive to the natural acquisition of language.  Learning of language in isolation of context is not supported by research-based literacy instruction.  Rote memorization of vocabulary is not authentic learning.  Learning occurs through exposure to rich, multi-modal texts.  Any such lists reproduce social, cultural and linguistic biases that fail to validate the diversity of Ohio students.  In addition, any such lists fail to recognize the rapidly evolving nature of language.  Rather than prepare our students to learn language for their own purposes and real-world experiences, vocabulary lists provide isolated word study which fails to provide students with critical skills necessary for transferability within multiple contexts.  The development of assessment materials must be reflective of dynamic vocabulary and contextually-based word study.

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