The Eighth International Literacy & Education Research Network Conference on

SPETSES, GREECE
4-8 July 2001

Abstract

Several years ago, the American Society for Quality Control, publishers of most of the literature for Total Quality Management (TQM), asked Steve Rubin to write a book about his experiences applying "systems theory" to the design and solution of the educational challenges faced by all schools trying to provide for their students' "individual differences". The book describes the operation of a system where instructional groups are formed on the basis of students having mastered critical learning prerequisites; "time" rather than "ability" becomes the critical variable to be manipulated. These are not "ability grouped" classes but ones where students are brought together because they share the same need to learn the same objective at the same time, thus forming the basis for authentic collaborative learning. A non-linear cognitive hierarchy, constructed as a relational database that operates on a Novell network, is at the heart of the data management system which one of the school principals describes as " a pleasure since we are able to score assessment results, update the database of student learning outcomes, and relocate a student in the next eligible class in less than sixty seconds".

Bionote

Dr. Steve Rubin, Director of Educational Administration at Sacred Heart University in Connecticut, received his B.A, M.A, MSEd. and Ph.D. in General Systems research from New York University at the age of 24. At 25 he became the youngest principal and worked at Center School in New Canaan, CT. which NEWSWEEK described as the "School of the Future".

Presentation Type
30 min. Paper

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Country
USA