Just when you think you’ve heard it all in the name of curricular relevance and student-improvement strategies, we have SpringBoard. That’s the new Hillsborough County program that aims to teach language arts and math by playing down the traditional lecture role of teachers and playing up group problem-solving and role-playing. There’s even a provision for rewriting some Shakespeare as text messages and hip-hop.
Three points.
First, after a year of pilot programs in four schools, SpringBoard is now districtwide. Not all teachers are comfortable — or on board with the student-centered dynamic. It appears that school-busing wasn’t the only school district area to be communication challenged.
Second, in the tightest of budget eras, the county plans to spend more than $30 million on SpringBoard over the next five years.
Third, in a recent Tampa Tribune story, a SpringBoard trainer, Joanne Patchin, explained the process. “Sometimes students learn more and faster from each other than the teacher,” she told teachers at a county workshop. “It’s noisy, but they have fun and they’re learning.”
That’s a pedagogical red flag.
As a former English teacher, I’ve heard this refrain before. Nobody, of course, wants bored students and unsatisfactory results. But there is a difference between creative and chaotic. The key factor: the quality of the teacher. The best ones combine lectures and discipline with real-world motivation and a sense of humor.
I’d invest that $30 million in trying to lure more of the best and brightest into teaching.