Blog posts from 2010

Professor Sugata Mitra’s famous ‘Hole in the Wall’ experiment clearly shows the tremendous potential of motivation on the part of students. When we look at a school, and its design and function, shouldn’t a first question be: Does this school work to elicit or suppress student and teacher motivation?

Recently in the Wall Street Journal and Education Next there were accounts of the origins of chartering. We thought we might take the liberty of adding our version, since the first legislative implementation of the idea occurred in Minnesota and a number of those now in Education|Evolving were involved.

Pathways Early College Innovation High School is one of the two Innovation Schools that opened this year under a new Massachusetts law allowing for the creation of district schools with exemption from many rules and regulations. The school partners with Gateway to College to provide early-enrollment college options for motivated students that seek to expand their limits.

An article in the New York Times this past week pushed back against the caricature of AFT President Randi Weingarten by Waiting for Superman. There is truth to Weingarten’s sentiment that unions have become a scapegoat. That is why (politically) unions have an incentive to take the offense and get out from under this pile. Say, “We'll accept accountability, but give us control.” That can be a game changer.