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<p>I prefer the original definition. <a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cohort_(military_unit[/url])”>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cohort_(military_unit)</a></p>
<p>But then again, I’m an anachronism, and not an educator. ;)</p>
<p>Good luck on anything being accomplished from a list like that. Too long to be achieveable. Too vague to hold anyone accountable / measurable. Are these solutions looking for problems? What are the biggest, most urgent problems being faced? What are the solutions to those problems?</p>
<p>Wonder what the district would end up with if they asked the principals and teachers or each school what are 5 specific, quantifiable, tangible measures that could be inplemented in the coming school year to make your school more competitive? </p>
<p>I have had 2 children pass through the schools. A mix of public and private. The great majority of their teachers were dedicated and competent professionals (had a couple of duds over the years). The principals were a little more of a mixed bag but stil the majority was great. There is common sense, expertise, and dedication at the school level but it seems to get lost in the smoke and mirrors of the education industry.</p>
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<p>Jeez, relax. Read between the lines just a little, and you’ll see that I was criticizing the critics, not you.</p>
<p>What I see in this thread is non-educators expressing that the jargon in the OP is ludicrous, and educators getting defensive about it. I’m afraid that if you can’t simply acknowledge how dumb that jargon sounds to the average person, then it reinforces the lay person’s impression that it’s jibberish. I know it’s not entirely jibberish, in the sense that it does mean something to you, but that doesn’t make it seem any less silly to me.</p>
<p>Note that I did not say that anyone here is stupid or incompetent. If you continue to react as though that’s what I said, you’re not going to win any converts.</p>
<p>M-S…I agree that the use of jargon is ridiculous. One needs to communicate so that the audience receiving the information understands it. I am an educator and I am NOT defending the use of educational jargon for information that one hopes the general population will understand. That being said…I agree with others…most TEACHERS I know prefer to communicate in plain, understandable English. The adminstration…oh…and the higher up you go the worse it gets…prefers to use this jargon.</p>
<p>We agree! And I meant no offense. Teachers are generally good people and dedicated professionals; it’s the jargon that rankles me, not the teachers.</p>
<p>The jargon…and all the CHANGING jargon rankles most teachers where I am too!!</p>
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<p>But I think the audience for this particular list was fellow educators, not students, parents, laymen, etc… As an educator, I instantly understood what 2.8 refers to. So the communication was precise and worked for me. </p>
<p>If the list is on a website page for parents/citizens, then it should be de-jargonized, for sure.</p>
<p>Changing jargon - yup, that’s what I hate!!! That, and the acronyms. “Take your LSAT documents to your PLCs and then unpack the new IPGs and reference the TEKS.” Egads! :eek:</p>
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Or it could be called linking subjects from grade to grade.</p>
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Yes you are right, every field uses jargon, there is a small difference. The “education” field, however, is supposed to involve “educators”, parents, and students, but these jargon-laden lists of goal areas and objectives obfuscate what the district is trying to do. There are three reasons that I can think of: the “educators” do not know what they are doing; they are trying to hide their objectives and goal areas from potential political opponents(read: parents), or they think interested parties(read: parents) understand the jargon. Now, this list presented by the OP is so riddled with jargon, one cannot simply read a line and grasp its meaning, no, one must sit there and think about it for a couple of seconds then understand. Now imagine a PT conference you hand a parent a questionnaire on whether he believes the school is meeting its objectives, how is the parent supposed to know whether the school is meeting its objectives. Either the parent will pass the school with flying colors, so there won’t be any feedback, or they sit there and fail the school on everything, so then the school throws out the answers because it bursts their bubble. </p>
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And as a history teacher, you should know that the Crusades failed. Also, while making the curriculum comprehensible to students, are you making it comprehensible for parents?
Given the length of some of your sentences, I would not be surprised if you did use the same or similar language with students, but did not realise it.</p>
<p>I am sorry that you have encountered a few educators whom you believe used language inappropriate for their audience but your generalization shows a bigotry and insensetivity that offends. BTW nice back-peddle but I do believe that in your heart you do believe that “millions” of children are being taught in the way you describe.
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Your repeated ad hominem attacks on people who are concerned about the quality of schools in this country shows a bigotry and insensitivity that offends.</p>
<p>“If the list is on a website page for parents/citizens, then it should be de-jargonized, for sure.”</p>
<p>The list was taken from the “Welcome to the 2009 - 2010 School Year!” email sent to parents of District students.</p>
<p>Hey, as long we’re here … can any of you insiders help me with Objective 4.1?
“Objective 4.1: Establish and maintain a Superintendent’s Advisory Panel”</p>
<p>In our town the Superintendent is already advised by the State Board of Education, the District Board of Education, Boards of Finance for each town within the District (as the Superintendent’s budget comprises 80% of the town budgets), Elected officials in each town within the District, The PTO, The “Friends of ****** High School,” The various Associate Superintendents, the Principals of each school within the District, and the District’s Teachers.</p>
<p>What might this new Advisory Panel be?</p>
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<p>Then I can imagine only two possible messages behind it:</p>
<p>“Look how smart we are! We use big words! You couldn’t possibly understand how to educate!”</p>
<p>…or…</p>
<p>“We’re clueless!”</p>
<p>Oooh! Oooh! Wildly raising hand here. I’ll tell you if you promise, promise to believe me when I tell you that that gibberish was written by people at Central Office, and not teachers. We have one of those advisory panels. It’s made up of volunteer citizens who “advise” the superintendent on local culture and “community values.”</p>