The cat is out of the bag: The EAC
Are you about to buy a pig in a poke?
Most of us have probably heard the idiom about buying a “pig in a poke.” The idea is that, if one is shopping in a wildly unregulated market, a salesman (they often are men) might offer a bag with what appears to be an animated actor in it. The salesman may firmly assert that the contents of the bag is a succulent piglet that will make a fine meal for your family, encouraging you to think of it on the table for a special meal, and suggesting visions of leftovers for many more meals.
Do you buy the poke? Should one give up her shekels to purchase a nice, succulent bundle of young pork (or whatever) without verifying that the contents of the offered bag of young porcine does contain an actual piglet. If one buys an unexamined pig in a poke, one risks getting home and, when opening the poke, discovering that one is letting the “cat out of the bag.”
I have related this connection between idioms, because I think it has a strong parallel to the way educators often adopt methods, practices, procedures, curricula, policies, and such. Too often educators adopt an approach to teaching without knowing whether it actually is effective. Along with many other educators whom I admire, I am happy to be contributing to an effort to help educators examine the contents of the pokes they are considering adopting.
Education Advocacy Center
Since the fall of 2023, a group of educators have been developing the Evidence Advocacy Center. Readers may follow the link to the home page and learn lots more, but here are a few previews:
What’s the EAC about? The goal of the EAC is to help educators deliver instruction that is highly likely to help them help their students succeed. (See the EAC mission.)
Who’s behind the EAC? The EAC is guided by a group of respected educators. Readers of Special Education Today will recognize many of these people.
Where can I find products to purchase? The EAC does not have a curriculum or similar products to sell. Contributors to the EAC are not there to sell their own curricula, books, materials, or tests. The EAC is there to “sell” what helps educators help students learn, not someone’s products.
I encourage readers to spend a few minutes reviewing the EAC’s Website. The site will grow and change. I shall remind readers about the project repeatedly over the coming posts on SET.
Summary
The big idea here is that educators who don’t want to buy a pig in a poke will benefit from following the EAC. If outcomes for students matter, let’s not get distracted by sales pitches, pretty pictures, and promos. Let’s go for what produces good outcomes for our kids.
Exciting!