In Defense of Local Expertise
Some thoughts on the trap of fidelity
Let’s begin with an illustrative example from the work I’m engaged in this year. As a member of our school’s General Biology PLC, we have been working to integrate a storyline approach for our unit planning. The details of what that entails are for another time. What is useful to know for this piece is that there are several consortia who offer NGSS-aligned Biology curricula organized by storylines. So, we chose one and started to use it.
And it wasn’t great.
Why this particular storyline approach wasn’t great for us is also for another time. What is important is that once the first unit drew to a close, and the PLC considered where to go next, we had two main options:
Option 1- Continue with unit 2 of the same curriculum that we were not happy with.
Option 2- Change.
We went with option 2.
I expect that choice won’t surprise too many readers. I am many things, but sticking with something that isn’t working is not typically one of them¹. As obvious as that might be, it’s not exactly common in schools. There is a loud stripe of thought in education circles who would relate to the choice that we made to change things with a sense of unease. The logic for that unease goes something…
