Brainless Sameness: The Demise of One-Size-Fits-All Instruction and the Rise of Competency Based Learning

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This book offers a careful look at how we came to have our traditional education system, and how it met the needs of a different time. By looking back at the past we can take on the task of change without casting blame, but with understanding. We will consider the systems design of the curriculum driven one-size-fits-all educational model, why it no longer meets our needs, and how to devise a system which can deliver a better future for our children and for ourselves as educators.

Reviews

In his new bookBrainless Sameness,Bob Sornson nails his heartfelt, profound, and powerful thesis squarely on the doors of the education establishment. My sincere hope is that this book will be widely read by everyone involved in contemporary education K-16. As required by his task, Sornson pulls no punches in this book, being clear about the reasons for so called education reforms failure, while also offering an inspired vision for helping students and schools fall in love with 21st century learning that really mattersto the learner and to society itself. -- Joe Brooks, Executive Director, Community Works Institute (CWI)
Teachers have been marginalized during the decades of "school reform'.They are told what to "cover", at what pace, and using which materials.Bob Sornson offers us a much better way. In a personalized competency based instructional system teachers must know their students, maintain data systems so that we absolutely know what students are ready to learn, and find ways to give students high-quality instruction for as long as needed to achieve deep understanding. Instead of cogs in a failing system, we could be professionals again. -- Gail Frey, Principal, Morenci Elementary School Morenci, Michigan
Do not read this book if you are committed to keeping schools pretty much as they are. But if you want more children to fall in love with learning, build a strong belief that they are capable learners, and build skills for the 21stcentury, then by all means embrace every word inBrainless Sameness.Let's not look back years from now and say that we wish we had listened more closely to these words from Bob Sornson. -- Jim Fay, Co-founder of the Love and Logic Institute
Brainless Sameness describes a genuine path to school reform. Sornson helps the reader understand how the underlying design we use for schools, with its emphasis on same-age students learning the same content expectations, is a relic of the past. One-size-fits-all instruction can never produce the outcomes we need for our society, and consistently fails to give vulnerable kids a fair chance to become successful learners. Treasure this book, and use it to re-shape our schools. -- Tom Watkins, Michigan's State Superintendent of Schools, 2001-05
The transformation of education is grounded in a passionate drive to move beyond the shackles of traditional education. Bob Sornson's new book captures this passion and provides the answer to why we do this work. This book describes the history of competency education while providing the relevance for every educator to think deeply about the pedagogical changes needed to provide high quality education which meets the needs of each child. This is a must-read for educators, professional learning communities and leaders as they embark on their journey in moving to competency based learning. -- Rose L. Colby, Author, Competency Based Learning: A New Architecture for K-12 Schooling
While the demand for innovation accelerates, public education runs the risk of being made irrelevant by clinging to aone-size-fits-allstandards based curricular model. How can schools survive if they resist personalization, rigor, and the creation of inviting environments forlearningBobSornsons new bookBrainless Samenesshits this topic head-on, acknowledging both the need to change our schools and offering apathway to do so. Its an aspirationalyet altogether practical book that will allow each reader to join this fighta fightto give students the skills and thepower to shape the world we live in today. -- Casey Reason, Ph.D., author of Leading a Learning Organization: The Science of Working With Others

Author Bio

Bob Sornson is a best-selling author and international consultant to schools and communities. His work focuses oncompetency based learning, early learning success, and parent engagement.Bobs books include Over-Tested and Under-Prepared: Using Competency Based Learning to Transform Our Schools,Essential Math Skills,The Juice Box Bully,and many others.