This paper offers a structured chapter-by-chapter review of Janet R. Murray's Achieving Educational Standards Using the Big 6, examining how Murray applies the six-step teaching and learning framework to national content standards, information and communication technology literacy, and critical thinking development. The review evaluates the book's practical strengths — including sample lesson plans and clear overviews of educational standards — while identifying gaps such as missing empirical evidence and limited depth on the interrelationship between the Big Six and ICT education. Overall, the reviewer finds the text a useful, practical resource for educators and administrators seeking to align instruction with defined educational benchmarks.
The paper demonstrates effective evaluative synthesis: rather than simply summarizing each chapter, the reviewer consistently identifies what Murray does well, what is missing, and why those gaps matter to the intended audience of educators and administrators. This moves the review beyond description into genuine critical analysis.
The paper opens with a brief introduction to the Big Six framework and Murray's purpose, then proceeds through four chapter-by-chapter sections before closing with a short evaluative conclusion. Each chapter section follows the same internal pattern: describe Murray's content, assess its clarity and comprehensiveness, and note any weaknesses. This consistent structure makes the review readable and methodical, though the writer acknowledges the book's own organization is somewhat haphazard.
There are a great many teaching methods and styles currently described and advocated for in academic literature. Many educational theories appear to be in direct opposition to each other, while others form a more inclusive framework that permits the incorporation of a variety of specific styles and practices. Many research articles have been written regarding the merits and drawbacks of these various approaches, and many volumes exist with the purpose of teaching specific methods of education to educators and administrators, some with greater degrees of success than others.
One of the most direct teaching and learning methods currently developed is known as the "Big Six." The title refers to six large-scale steps in the teaching and learning process. Though these steps are defined with subtle differences from scholar to scholar, they essentially involve: defining the task, choosing a strategy for obtaining information, locating and accessing information sources, extracting information from sources, synthesizing the various pieces of information obtained, and evaluating the results of that synthesis and the overall learning process. These six steps do not represent a larger educational framework; rather, they are meant to provide a direct and practical way to facilitate more effective education and learning. As such, they can be incorporated into many different classrooms, different overarching theories, and different general practices.
In Achieving Educational Standards Using the Big 6, Janet R. Murray bends this teaching tool and learning method toward the specific purpose of achieving explicit educational standards as laid out in various pieces of legislation, directives, and related documents. This book provides an excellent overview of the standards themselves, of the Big Six teaching method, and of how this method can be applied to those defined standards. By providing such a direct roadmap, Murray demonstrates both the practical usefulness of the method and the malleability and adaptability of its six steps. The organization of the book seems somewhat haphazard and is perhaps not as fluid as would be desired in what essentially serves as a manual for educators and administrators alike, but the information presented is clear and comprehensive.
Murray devotes the first chapter of her text to a description and definition of the various standards to which she applies the Big Six teaching method throughout the rest of the book. In her discussion of the different educational and learning standards typically used as measures of performance across the nation — including the national content standards current at the time of publication and the implications of the No Child Left Behind Act — Murray also includes an overview of how these standards developed. This historical context helps to present the standards as practical and concrete benchmarks rather than the semi-abstract goals they often appear to be.
In addition to outlining the current state of expectations and standards regarding education in this country, Murray wastes no time in demonstrating the direct practical applicability of the Big Six system. The last section of this chapter includes specific sample lesson plans utilizing the Big Six steps to achieve the knowledge necessary for specific items on standardized tests, demonstrating how the method can be used for almost any educational purpose, however general or specific. At the same time, the discussion of standards and the presentation of sample lessons makes the Big Six system appear almost formulaic in its application. Though the ease of use and indeed the formulaic nature of the method is a large part of its success, one questions whether more open-ended lesson plans could be as easily derived from the method.
The second chapter of Achieving Educational Standards Using the Big 6 follows much the same pattern as the first, describing and defining the educational standards that exist regarding information and communication technology (ICT) after first discussing this relatively new area of knowledge and theory. Murray is both succinct and comprehensive in her description of how specific information and communication technology literacy standards developed, and in discussing their importance for today's learners. This chapter provides a clear overview of the importance of this growing area of educational focus and the impact it has on education and continuing opportunities for students and populations overall.
The last section of this chapter is again devoted to an application of the Big Six method to the issues outlined in current ICT literacy standards. Murray is less direct in her approach here, presenting a discussion of the method's merits in achieving the identified educational standards rather than providing specific sample lesson plans geared toward specific pieces of typically tested knowledge. This yields a somewhat less clear picture of the Big Six method's direct practical applicability in the area of ICT learning when compared to other standards, though it remains quite apparent that these methods are practical and that they developed largely in tandem with the ICT educational perspective. More depth regarding the interrelationship between the Big Six and this area of knowledge would be a useful addition to the text, however.
Janet Murray's Achieving Educational Standards Using the Big 6 provides a highly practical overview of current educational standards, the Big Six method, and how the latter can help to achieve the former. The author also ventures deeply enough into theory and historical development to offer genuinely solid understandings of the complex educational issues surrounding her central subject matter. Throughout the text, a clear desire for educators and students to get the most out of the Big Six method and the educational experience is apparent, and this quality more than any other makes this text worthwhile for educators and administrators alike.
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