I love big, new bold ideas for education. Anything John Seely Brown writes, I eat it up. Disrupting Class, couldn't put it down. The best books I've read lately about professional learning have been written by corporate trainers. I enjoy a wide variety of perspectives and experiences.
Despite this, lately I've begun to get a little wary of the "education outsider as reformer" story line. What do they really do? Michele Rhee made a lot of noise, but wasn't able to keep her job long enough to see things through. She railed that the unions ran her out of DC, and now she spends her time raising money to elect school board members who are in line with her vision for change. Seems more like influence via Citizens United style tactics rather than reform. For all the talk about what Joel Klein did in NYC, there are plenty questions about the actual achievement that occurred during his rein. I don't know many teachers who are flipping over the Obama/Duncan agenda for education. Michael Horn who co-wrote the above mentioned Disrupting Class has many great ideas. I agree we need to offer more online options for students. The book's vision of blending online learning in brick and mortar schools is something I work to put in long-range planning in my current district. But when nuts come to bolts, what's Horn doing about it? What have any of these folks proven they can do as leaders? Most give good speeches, posts or give interviews on reformy ideas. At the end of the day, none of these folks stack up to Ramona Pierson who has both the ideas and the company to provide the tools educators need.
We need big ideas. We need people to help us look beyond what we're doing or what we even think is possible. What I believe we don't need is to see another new person to do dazzling, engaging speeches, set up think tanks or provide talking points for politicians who haven't got a clue. What we need are folks that can make great speeches, get the ear of politicians by engaging them in what is happening in students learning and get great things done in schools - private, public, charter, whatever - in some school setting so we can find the scaleable solutions all kids need. As I see more and more fellow educators finding voice in social media, I feel we're moving in the right direction to get our narrative heard. Right now we just lack the microphone these other people have that grabs enough attention. I have hope we'll get there soon.
Despite this, lately I've begun to get a little wary of the "education outsider as reformer" story line. What do they really do? Michele Rhee made a lot of noise, but wasn't able to keep her job long enough to see things through. She railed that the unions ran her out of DC, and now she spends her time raising money to elect school board members who are in line with her vision for change. Seems more like influence via Citizens United style tactics rather than reform. For all the talk about what Joel Klein did in NYC, there are plenty questions about the actual achievement that occurred during his rein. I don't know many teachers who are flipping over the Obama/Duncan agenda for education. Michael Horn who co-wrote the above mentioned Disrupting Class has many great ideas. I agree we need to offer more online options for students. The book's vision of blending online learning in brick and mortar schools is something I work to put in long-range planning in my current district. But when nuts come to bolts, what's Horn doing about it? What have any of these folks proven they can do as leaders? Most give good speeches, posts or give interviews on reformy ideas. At the end of the day, none of these folks stack up to Ramona Pierson who has both the ideas and the company to provide the tools educators need.
We need big ideas. We need people to help us look beyond what we're doing or what we even think is possible. What I believe we don't need is to see another new person to do dazzling, engaging speeches, set up think tanks or provide talking points for politicians who haven't got a clue. What we need are folks that can make great speeches, get the ear of politicians by engaging them in what is happening in students learning and get great things done in schools - private, public, charter, whatever - in some school setting so we can find the scaleable solutions all kids need. As I see more and more fellow educators finding voice in social media, I feel we're moving in the right direction to get our narrative heard. Right now we just lack the microphone these other people have that grabs enough attention. I have hope we'll get there soon.
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