Yes, we CAN make substantial change in even underperforming schools in underserved communities, and the answer does NOT have to lie in longer hours and drilling for tests. The answer can lie in what John Dewey and the other giants of the Progressive Era of education defined more than 100 years ago: student experience, engagement, and ownership [...]
You can now read the full text of my article in Independent School Magazine on the collection and synthesis of the 2,000 "what if" questions I gathered from school communities all over the country in the last 24 months. Here is the key graphic that does not show up in the online article: Hopefully our collective [...]
Doing is SO much harder than saying, pointing, or quoting. Inspired by the prompts in another great #satchatwc, guest hosted by Jay Billy, I ask us to consider the gap between the posters on our wall, the quotes we love to share, the heroes we seek to emulate...and what we do each day. If you [...]
Spoiler alert and "huge surprise": the NY Times did NOT choose to print the following as a guest editorial. Well, let's show 'em how K-12 educators can weigh in on big ideas without the popular press! Amidst the seemingly endless list of polarizing arguments tearing at the American landscape, American K-12 education has high billing. [...]
I have had the unique privilege of visiting more than 100 K-12 schools in the last two years, and in virtually every one I found a spark of what the school leaders called “innovation”. A principal or head of school says “you just have to see what Ms. Jones is doing in her classroom; it [...]
Quick report: Texas public schools are organized around large regions. Today I spent a day with the professional development support staff of ESC Region One, a huge area along the Texas-Mexico border representing about 40 districts and 450,000 students. There is a strong sense that education can really make a difference in the lives of [...]
Quick report: Design 39 Campus in Poway has done some incredible work already in this, their first year. Teachers have created processes that allow students to select areas of interest within which to pursue theme-based content; every day might be a bit different in terms of where students go and what they do...and both children [...]
What are some key steps to ensuring that innovation takes root at your school, that it is not just a spark in the dark or checking-off-the-box on a laundry list strategic plan? In their article in Harvard Business Review (HT Bo Adams), Scott Anthony, David Duncan, and Pontus Siren of Innosight suggest a 90-day framework [...]
As individuals and as schools, do we want to be successful or significant? Great or leading? What are common elements of the disruptions and mutations facing both K-12 and higher education? I was honored to share the stage with Dr. John Fry, president of Drexel University at the annual meeting of trustees and heads of [...]
What are some signals that your school is becoming more powerful, comfortable, and capable of innovation? What are some signals that perhaps you are not? One of the benefits/privileges of NOT working at one school is that I get to observe and synthesize what I see at many schools. Here are a few measures of [...]