Instruction
Instruction
At the heart of learning and achievement is instruction.
Educational pedagogy (instruction in how to teach effectively) offers many techniques and processes to help impart knowledge. Many are good and helpful.
However, good instruction goes beyond techniques. Some of the best teachers possess not only a mastery of their subject matter, but also great people skills and instincts that enable them to apply information practically and memorably. Capturing the imagination with useful knowledge is perhaps one of the greatest gifts any teacher can give a student. Good teaching inspires life-long learning.
Consider the following statements about NWEF's approach to instruction:
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Learning and achievement require the foundational skills of reading, writing, and math.
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To educate is to touch and stir the curiosity and imagination of the human spirit and inform it of resources that will enable and satisfy it.
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A well-rounded education requires instruction in reading, writing, math, history, philosophy, literature, and the arts and sciences.
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A good education provides opportunity.
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Teaching is effective when 1.) instruction is relevant and rigorous and 2.) assessments accurately demonstrate a student’s ability to apply knowledge and skill.
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Instruction grounded in teaching “how to think” instead of “what to think” leads to a culture of innovation and “common sense” values.
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Students should have some marketable skill by the time they reach secondary school and should be able to enter the workforce, if desired, upon its completion.
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A properly educated person is likely to be a citizen who supports himself or herself, nurtures others, is engaged in the community, and adds value to society.
Instruction is vital to schools because it is the primary mechanism of education. NWEF chooses to address instruction as one of our five core principles because it is an indispensable focal point for anyone who wants to see schools do a better job at equipping students for life.
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Vision & Mission
Our Vision:
To change education and culture through foundational principles and sound policy.
Our Mission:
To educate and collaborate with individuals and organizations to tell the story of America’s education and culture, identify foundational principles that improve it, and advance practice and policy to change it.
