Let them eat cake. It is a phrase associated with telling poor, starving French souls to go eat something even more expensive than bread(which they didn’t have). In other words, the queen was so out of touch, she didn’t even realize they couldn’t afford cake. To quote Britanica, “She was oblivious to the daily conditions and lives of ordinary people.” Now that we established that, welcome to the bizarre world of pacing guide accountability.
It is said that assessment drives instruction. Well, pacing guides will drive you crazy. In order to make sure that teachers get the curriculum taught on time, they are handed a pacing guide. They are told to get x amount of standards taught before benchmarks, writing assessments, TCAP, or NAEP. They are told which day to teach it. And if you don’t get those standards taught, the red light will go off next to the standards which didn’t get taught during that nine weeks. Sounds like fun, right? Nope.
Definition: NAEP assessments are federal, normed assessments. TCAP assessments are state level. NAEP is the National Center for Educational Statistics. I imagine a place with that name as being filled with stuffy, self-absorbed intelligencia who have to wear hip waders to work. Maybe they have never taught in a classroom. NAEP assessments are often delivered to some random, unlucky grade level in an unsuspecting district. It is administered right after TCAP is over, and right after students think they are done for the year. Nope, here is one more assessment for ya! So much fun.
Pacing guides are great tools if flexibility is built in. A pacing guide without flexibility is bringing an industrial mass production principle into the classroom, and it just doesn’t work. We are teaching people, not putting a catalytic converter in a car. I know this comes as a surprise to parents out there(sarcasm intended), but sometimes students just don’t get it the first time around. Sometimes they don’t get it the second time around or even the third. Things like the “day after Halloween” are just not great teaching days. Then there are abbreviated days – nothing gets done. Then, there are days where we have to give literacy benchmarks or math benchmarks or science benchmarks or social studies benchmarks or DRAs (Developmental Reading Assessments) or TCAP or RTI probes. Those are like abbreviated days. Then there are holiday programs, band programs, fire drills, evacuation drills, and intruder drills. Then there are days where teachers have to go to district level training. Then there are just days where the material is hard, and it takes longer for a class to reach mastery. And sometimes, again I know this is a surprise, students just don’t listen well that day. Get the picture?
So, it is super fun when academic coaches(instructional design experts) show up for classroom walk throughs or data conferences in order to talk about why teachers aren’t in the right spot on their pacing guide. This is moment of disconnect is brought to you by – Let Them Eat Cake. Can you imagine an offensive coach in football calling a play that his quarterback didn’t understand, but said, “Hey, buddy, that was on the pacing guide. You should have known that.” Good football coaches don’t call plays that their players haven’t mastered. Why? Disaster awaits if they do. Good teachers teach for mastery, and they don’t move on until their students “get it.” Why? Disaster awaits if they don’t teach for mastery. Students develop gaps in their learning, and that snowballs into bigger problems later for both the class and individual students. I am convinced that good teachers know this. I am also convinced that many academic coaches and district/state level pacing guide creators either don’t know these things or just don’t understand “the why” behind teachers deviating from the almighty pacing guide.
I get it. We all have deadlines. But I am telling you…strict adherence to pacing guides doesn’t work in practicality. Sometimes students get it when they get it – not when the pacing guide tells them to get it. Now, what do I mean by that. Have you ever heard the phrase in sports, “The light bulb came on for that kid.” Sometimes students will struggle, and then struggle some more (after being taught something repetitively). But as teachers, if we don’t give up, something magical often happens when we persevere. They walk into school one day, and they know how to do it -> the lighbulb came on.
Pacing Guides are not patient. They are rigid. And ya’ll, most learning is non-linear. Let me say this one more time, most learning is non-linear. Runners will often set a personal best, and it might take them a month or two before they can replicate that PB consistently. Often times, as learners we move forward, take a step back, and then surge forward again. Runners do this all the time. Pacing guides don’t account for this, but good teachers will…..even if that means they have to sit in front of an inquisition asking why they aren’t on lesson 5.3.2.
