Too Many Projects!

In a meeting I had with a set of parents recently, I was struck by a comment that was made.  Before I go any further, this is not an attempt to discredit or criticize the parents for their comment.  Rather, I am going to use it to make a few points that I believe are very important relative to education as we now know it and as we go forward.  Basically, their comment was “Why are their so many projects?  What is going on with all of these projects?  Why aren’t kids just taking tests?”

The disconnect was a bit surprising because we school folk had apparently not done as good of a job as I thought we had of sharing information about what works and what doesn’t in education to parents and the community.  There are a number of different kinds of assessment, but one type that is being used more and more in the classrooms is project-based assessments.  They take many different forms, but the bottom line is that in most instances they give students a better chance to demonstrate what they have learned.  There is a purpose to traditional pencil and paper tests, but it is just one type of measure and some kids just don’t do well with that kind of assessment.

However, what really struck me was the reason that was given for being upset about the number of projects their child had to do: the burden on the parents!  This brought up a whole new set of issues that started running through my mind.  How is this a burden on the parents?  Are they doing the projects?  Are they writing the papers?  Do their kids stay up later at night working on a project than they do studying for a test?  Are the students grouchier working on a project than when they have to take a test?  The reality is that a child must be responsible for his or her education.  It is my opinion that teachers in our school are working hard to integrate better methods of instruction that lead to better learning.  We aren’t there yet, but we are getting closer.  At the same time, I have always said, learning is a partnership and if students do not own it, then they are not going to learn.  If there is a concern about too many projects, the reality is that this type of learning and assessment is only going to become more common.