According to the late Leland Bradford, co-founder of the National Training Labs and author of “The Teaching-Learning Transaction,” the following seven areas are some of those which must be examined in developing an effective teaching-learning theory.

1. What the learner brings to the transaction (in addition to ignorance and abilities)

2. What the teacher (helper) brings to the transaction (in addition to subject knowledge)

3. The interaction process

4. The conditions necessary for learning and change

5. The maintenance of change and utilization of learning in the life of the learner

6. The establishment of the processes of continued learning

7. The setting in which learning and change take place.

Selecting the setting in which learning and change can take place is dependent upon the positions taken on each of the items 1 through 7. If there are updated assumptions and beliefs reflected in the structures and processes of a redesigned system of education, learning would be occurring in a much different but more effective system.

Validated assumptions and beliefs would reflect what is known about individuals, their behavior and how they develop and learn about the principles of communication and group dynamics, especially group/team development, about the nature of knowledge, how it is acquired and what it means to know in every discipline within six interrelated “realms of meaning,” about modern systems theory, particularly the significance of systems design and systems analysis in determining the structures and processes required of modern education, and lastly about the setting required for facilitating learning in every individual.

Today’s efforts in New York state to consolidate school districts to ostensibly save money or to extend or renovate existing buildings at the local level where conventional education is taking place, without examining the prerequisites outlined above, has the cart before the horse — that is, if fundamental change and improvements are to be seriously considered.

It’s not possible to adequately determine the needs for buildings and administrative mechanisms without first defining what is required of the educational programs that respond appropriately to the needs of students at various stages of their development. Not engaging in a re-examination results in maintaining the status quo, or worse, it opens up the school to additional outside interference.

According to Hord, S., et al, in “Taking Charge of Change” (ASCD, 1987), “Change is a process, not an event. … Change is primarily about individuals and their beliefs and actions, rather than merely about programs, materials, technology or equipment [and facilities] (although all of these elements are important).” Changing assumptions and beliefs is a prerequisite to improving educational structures and practices, and the process requires time and a personal, emotional commitment.

What parts of a school system would be changed/improved with updated assumptions and beliefs?

1. Clearly defined goals and objectives for the system and for the learners that reflect updated concepts of the processes of learning and development, group dynamics and “realms of meaning” (Phenix)

2. A defined and compatible, continuous progress curriculum with transactional learning strategies focused on inquiry into “life in all its manifestations” that generates motivation to acquire the language skills for speaking, reading, writing and mathematics

3. Learning groups organized consistent with group process concepts, especially group/team development, and individual needs and abilities

4. Computer-based assessment, evaluation, record keeping and reporting procedures that are individualized, manageable, authentic and compatible with processes of learning and development, with special emphasis on demonstration of relationships understood between one set of ideas and another

5. Active community involvement beyond student selected activities such as theater and athletics to include general education programs

6. Support services required in response to eliminating learning impediments in a redesigned school system

7. Ongoing in-service and pre-service programs for professional development that focus on refining and internalizing a shared foundation for effective education that will guide decision making throughout the school and community

8. Information management and technological innovations that enhance learning opportunities wherever they occur

9. Administration, finance, decision-making and accountability procedures that reflect a balance of power between those who administer and those who execute transactional-learning activities with students

10. Facilities and utilization patterns that take into account modern innovations, especially communications technology that instantly links learners and data bases worldwide

Administrative needs and facility expansion, consolidation or renovation plans should be the last items to be considered for effective change and improvements in public schools. Unfortunately, decision makers too often consider these two items as the first consideration in planning for change.

The result of this strategy is perpetuation of conventional structures and practices that are essentially promulgated by dedicated outside financial interests, while the needs for effective responses to such things as civic ignorance, bullying in schools, violence in the home and in communities, prejudices and hatred, among many other problems, remain unresolved.

If assumptions and beliefs that underlie education are changed as a result of critical examination, the school system will be perceived differently and its structures will ultimately reflect those changed perceptions. If the assumptions and beliefs are valid, a cost-contained system can be built that is far more effective than anything we have seen heretofore. Admittedly, it will take time and patience, commitment and study requiring patience and tolerance for ambiguity during redesign, but huge dividends can result from the process.

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Robert L. Arnold lives in Willsboro and is a professor emeritus of education at the State University of New York at Plattsburgh.