Consultant gets tough advice from Grayslake school parents 

Daily Herald, April 25, 2001

By C.L. WALLER
Daily Herald Staff Writer

The promoter of a controversial way of teaching faced off Tuesday night in Grayslake with an audience of about 300, most of whom told him to go home. 

William Spady has been hired as a consultant by Grayslake Elementary District 46 to lead a strategic design process in which school district staff and community members outline what students in the district need to know. The fear expressed by audience members Tuesday night is that Spady will steer the process toward a program called outcomes-based education, which he has been involved with for many years. 

Outcomes-based education, which is similar to the total quality movement in business, was tried at many school districts in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The belief is that people reach their goals by first deciding where they are and then where they want to be. Though supporters say the program promotes high expectations with students demonstrating their knowledge, opponents say it conflicts with admission practices of most colleges and focuses too much on attitudes rather than facts. 

Spady told District 46 residents he was not hired to bring outcomes-based education to Grayslake elementary schools. He said he is working as a consultant to facilitate a central committee of district staff members and residents, frame questions for committee members and put information gathered by the committee into understandable terms.

"I consider myself to be a powerful wordsmith," Spady said. 

Resident Ann Morrison said people need tangibles for the $23,000 the district is paying Spady. 

"If I gave Wal-Mart some money for fabric, I get some fabric back," she said. 

One resident, who said he teaches at Trinity College in Deerfield, questioned why a plan is being put upon teachers from the top down. "The driving force needs to be the teachers, not the administration, not the school board, not a consultant," the resident said. 

Spady disagreed, saying: "It's the top-down stuff from the state that's drowning people."