D is for Detrimental Departments
It doesn't matter which. State Departments of Education, University Education Departments, all departures from the unity of the task at hand are detriments. Departments, divisions, commissions, associations committed to the development of one or another aspect of education as though each may be cultivated in a Petri dish and then grafted back onto the whole: all are distractions. All are industries and occasions for careerism. As such, all are understandable. But none ca be said to contribute to student achievement.
To look at just one example: In Oregon, as soon as students are required to receive instruction from highly qualified subject area specialists (generally in 6th or 7th grades) passing rates in reading and math begin to decline. By 10th grade, after several years of departmentalized instruction, 30% of students who met the 5th Grade Math benchmark fail to pass the 10th Grade Assessment. Thirty percent! In Reading, 15% fall by the wayside as the result of departmentalization, and in Science the departmental decline is 23%.
As for those departments of a different sort, those whose primary task is to enforce compliance with policies and procedures that have been proven ineffective, no need to dwell there. Let our motto be: All Departments, Depart Away!
