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Innovation-based Systemic Reform

In this latest policy paper Education|Evolving urges policymakers, in revising ESEA, to think of strategy as a "split screen". The only realistic approach is to pursue our differing goals at the same time. K-12 education must improve both its performance and its economics. It must work concurrently for equity and for excellence. It must improve traditional school while encouraging innovation beyond traditional school.

Video: Clayton Christensen presents Disrupting Class to Education Commission of the States

Clayton Christensen, business professor at Harvard Business School, says: Improvement requires states to make room for disruptive innovation in public education.

U.S. Army Embraces Informal Learning

As the need for tacit knowledge to address non-routine situations rapidly increases, the U.S. Army has embraced informal, experiential learning that data show accounts for that 70 to 80 percent of the knowledge gained on the job. The pace of operations and the generation of best practices and lessons learned have outpaced any organization's capacity to develop, vet and approve formal curriculum. A new approach, advanced blended learning, allows for rapidly creating current and relevant content and engaging students in courses with learners in units.

New Minnesota Site-Governed Schools Law

The 2009 Minnesota Legislature passed new "site-governed school" legislation, which provides school boards a "charter-like" option. A district board may approve "site-governed schools," which are provided significant autonomy and flexibility to develop new models of schools in exchange for greater accountability... all within the district under the prevue of the board.

Shifting from "What We Spend" to "How We Spend It"

The total cost of the education system is rising at about 5 to 8 percent per year. If schools are not at the same time increasing "performance" or "productivity," their real cost to the public is increasing. This relationship is not sustainable. To reconcile this problem, schools will need to be designed differently.

How Information Technology Can Enable 21st Century School. (pdf)

This paper explains the 'how' of achieving greater innovation with Information Technologies in schools. The problem is one of structure, and requires both a redesign of schools and of the system. Recommendations are made for states and the federal government.

What Is Innovation... and what isn't?

The discussion about 'innovation' in K-12 education is now coming on rapidly, as the sense grows that K-12 requires radical change. But -- as is usual early in any discussion -- there is unclarity about concepts, terms. Partly, this is because we are all still learning; thinking about the idea and how it applies. This brief paper will try to distinguish the various meanings of 'innovation'.

Joe Loftus' 1988 Proposal for 'Chartered Schools'

In 1987 the Chicago Teacher's Union struck Chicago schools for the ninth consecutive time. Mayor Washington's 'Summit' lead to reform legislation in 1988: basically parent-run schools. Joe Loftus, at the Center for Child Welfare Strategy, had a different idea – which he put away after the legislation produced 'local school councils'. In 1993 he called Minnesota. "What's this 'charter schools' I'm hearing about?", he asked. "I proposed that in 1988." Here are the key pages of Joe's proposal, an interesting case of 'parallel invention.'

Transforming the Classroom

Students in most schools are still arrayed in neat rows of desks, all oriented to a focal point where a teacher will provide the content of the day. This situation is not fair nor realistic. By allowing schooling to be, in most places, confined to the traditional classroom model, we are condemning up to half of our children to not reaching their potential. The only chance we have to reach all–even most–of today's youth is through radical personalization of learning.

Why President Obama Should Speak to the States

'Lateral thinking' is a familiar and treasured strategy in public life. If there's fire ahead of you and fire behind you, look for a side door! Something like this is the situation facing the new Obama administration with respect to strategy for K-12 policy and for NCLB specifically. And it makes sense on the merits: The country does have the governmental relationships upside down, with the states setting the targets for results and Washington leaning on the states, districts and schools to make it happen. In this 'draft statement' Education|Evolving suggests how President Obama should go about getting the federal and state roles right -- so that the national government is "pushing buttons that are connected to live wires".

How a Public School Looks When Managed by a Teacher Partnership

There's growing interest in improving (as some say) the "management of human capital" in education: teacher recruitments, teacher-retention, teacher compensation, teacher accountability. Usually this suggests 'better administration' in the standard boss/worker model. Yet it's possible these decisions might be made with greater integrity by teachers themselves within the framework of a professional partnership. This interview with Carrie Bakken is the most revealing look we've ever had at the way a teacher partnership handles the professional and the management issues in running a public school.