Publications Issue All Student-Centered Learning DesignsEducator Talent PathwaysOutcomes That MatterAutonomy and Shared Power Albert Shanker: Reflections on Forty Years in the Profession Memo • January 1991 In this 1991 retrospective, Albert Shanker looks back over 40 years in the profession. He is realistic about the union’s conventional strategy of higher salaries and smaller class size. He looks toward others strategies: differentiated staffing, the individualization of learning through technology, project-based learning, and performance-based assessment. States Will Have to Withdraw the Exclusive Memo • July 1990 Written as Minnesota was in the early stages of thinking about what would a year later become the first chartering law, this paper zeroed in on “the exclusive franchise” as the heart of the K-12 system-problem. No change, no major improvement in learning, was realistically possible, Kolderie said, until the states withdrew the guarantee of success—for the districts and for the people in them—created by the public-utility arrangement traditional in public education. Joe Loftus’ 1988 Proposal for ‘Chartered Schools’ Memo • January 1988 In 1987 the Chicago Teacher’s Union struck for the ninth consecutive time. Joe Loftus proposed a reform idea, but it did not pass. 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. Leased vs. Owned Departments (And Some Implications for Schools) Memo • December 1987 Teachers, principals, superintendents, union leaders listen to an executive describe how a department store is a combination of ‘owned’ and ‘leased’ departments. Ted Kolderie shares his notes from the discussion. “We could organize a high school like this!” Resisting the Temptation to Comprehensive Action Memo • May 1983 Consider a given public policy problem. Everyone sees the problem is complex. From this comes an impulse to control all its elements. Everyone sees the importance of improvement. From this comes an impulse to command improvement. Together these produce the ‘blueprints’ we so often see: lists of actions all of which must be taken, in a certain order, over a period of time. But in the public sector blueprints usually fail. Mechanisms of “mutual adjustment” usually work better. Electronics Technology for Public School Systems: A Superintendent’s View Memo • November 1981 George Young, in 1981 superintendent of St. Paul, foresaw technology as a tool not to replace teachers, but to help them do their jobs. Using technology to individualize education can reform a system where students are lumped into grades and instructed as a group regardless of their learning style and abilities. What Is Innovation… and What Isn’t? Memo • June 2009 The discussion about “innovation” in K-12 education is coming on rapidly, as the sense grows that K-12 requires radical change. But there is confusion about concepts and terms. Partly, this is because we are all still learning. This brief paper will try to distinguish the various meanings of “innovation.” Why President Obama Should Speak to the States Memo • January 2009 The country has 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. President Obama should put the roles right, so that the national government is “pushing buttons that are connected to live wires”. Students Inform Legislators: What’s Important to Understand About Chartered Schools and Student Motivation Memo • May 2005 At the Charter School Student Summit held in St. Paul in December 2004, students discussed the growth and challenges facing the charter movement. Students discussed their own experiences and exchanged ideas for improvement of the sector, and were asked to inform legislators about chartered schools and what motivates them to learn. Post navigation ← Previous 1 2 3 4 5 Stay In Touch Get updates, new publications, fresh analysis, and event invitations in your inbox. First Name Last Name Email Address State What do you want to receive? Monthly newsletter (once per month) Blog posts by email (about two per month) See past newsletters in the archive.