Might we suggest . . .

Here are a few things from the site we think are especially important for the policy discussion. They are ordered by date added, most recent first.

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.

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.

The Other Half of the Strategy: Following Up on System Reform by Innovating with School and Schooling. (pdf)

System-level reforms like standards, accountability, choice and chartering make it more necessary and more possible for schools to succeed with learning. But these reforms do not by themselves affect achievement. Kids learn from what they read, see, hear and do. So success in the effort at improvement requires capitalizing now on the system-level changes with a major effort to create new forms of school and schooling. Those who prefer conventional school should be able to stay with conventional school. But the traditional must not suppress the innovative. The strategy beyond NCLB should be such a 'split screen' strategy, transforming K-12 gradually as new models gradually replace the old models of school.

The national government 'acts' by tying regulations to its grants-in-aid. This has not always worked well.

K-12 education exists in state law; cannot be reached by Congressional legislation or by action of the President. Typically, in these areas of domestic policy, the national government tries to 'do things' by tying requirements to its grants-in-aid. This approach has failed, in the past; as in the 1960s when the national government tried to take control of urban and metropolitan development. Ted Kolderie told the story in his book: Creating the Capacity for Change.

Clayton Christensen Explains Why Organizations Find Major Change So Difficult (pdf)

Clayton Christensen's presentation to a national meeting at Hamline University in fall 2001 shows how hard it is for existing organizations, even in the private sector, to change in more than incremental ways. He explains why significant change requires the creation of new organizations. His research and analysis has huge implications for a K-12 strategy that relies basically on the notion that it will be possible to change and improve the schools we have.

If kids don't want to learn, you probably can't make 'em. (pdf)

If students want to learn they probably will. If they don't, you probably can't make 'em. And motivation is individual.This is where education is failing; in the relationship between teachers and students. Motivating students is a teachable skill: It just isn't very often taught where teachers are trained. Jack Frymier sums up a lifetime of experience in curriculum-and-instruction, in discussions with Education|Evolving.