The Futures of School Reform
The members of the Futures of School Reform Group represented leading thinkers from the academic, business, philanthropic, government, and public-policy sectors. Organized by the Harvard Graduate School of Education, they contributed to a seven-part opinion series on education reform published in Education Week’s Commentary pages. In this opinion series, they expanded upon and discussed their visions for the future of schools. This blog is no longer being updated, but you can continue to explore these issues on edweek.org by visiting our related topic pages: education reform.
Education
Opinion
If we divide up the work of teaching, who watches the whole kid?
By formally defining and assigning the role of watching out for the whole student, and providing this role with the right time and tools, teaching teams can make sure that no student falls through the cracks no matter how the work of instruction is divided.
Education
Opinion
Differentiated Instruction and the Bionic Man
This piece argues that asking lone teachers to create highly differentiated instruction requires almost superhuman skill, and suggests that a mix of technology and differentiated teacher roles can better achieve the task of high quality instruction for all students.
Education
Opinion
A Blast from the Past with Differentiated Staffing
By Olivia Meeks
Over the last several weeks, this blog has featured dozens of insightful pieces which gaze into the future of education, but today we're going to take a look in the rearview mirror. Rick, Greg, and I have sketched out a vision of education's future in which schools shift from the do-everything teacher model to a model which leverages staff specialization and new technologies. For those who haven't had a chance to read the Ed Week piece yet (no time like the present!), a major component of this more tech-centered, specialized system is the adoption of differentiated staffing. While this practice is commonplace in the medical, legal, and engineering professions, it is largely absent from today's schools. However, as education history buffs may remember, this wasn't always the case.
Over the last several weeks, this blog has featured dozens of insightful pieces which gaze into the future of education, but today we're going to take a look in the rearview mirror. Rick, Greg, and I have sketched out a vision of education's future in which schools shift from the do-everything teacher model to a model which leverages staff specialization and new technologies. For those who haven't had a chance to read the Ed Week piece yet (no time like the present!), a major component of this more tech-centered, specialized system is the adoption of differentiated staffing. While this practice is commonplace in the medical, legal, and engineering professions, it is largely absent from today's schools. However, as education history buffs may remember, this wasn't always the case.
Education
Opinion
Problems with One-Size-Fits-All Pay
By Frederick M. Hess
Any meaningful effort to redefine the teaching job, as Greg, Olivia, and I suggest in this week's Ed Week piece, will inevitably raise questions of how to redefine compensation. As cash-strapped states and school systems wrestle with tight budgets, it's vital to recognize that one-size-fits-all pay is insensitive to questions of productivity. Although the term productivity is regarded as an irritant in most education conversations, it refers to nothing more than how much good a given employee can do. If one teacher is regarded by colleagues as a far more valued mentor than another, or if one reading instructor helps students master skills much more rapidly than another, it's axiomatic that some teachers do more good than others do (that is, that some are more productive than others).
Any meaningful effort to redefine the teaching job, as Greg, Olivia, and I suggest in this week's Ed Week piece, will inevitably raise questions of how to redefine compensation. As cash-strapped states and school systems wrestle with tight budgets, it's vital to recognize that one-size-fits-all pay is insensitive to questions of productivity. Although the term productivity is regarded as an irritant in most education conversations, it refers to nothing more than how much good a given employee can do. If one teacher is regarded by colleagues as a far more valued mentor than another, or if one reading instructor helps students master skills much more rapidly than another, it's axiomatic that some teachers do more good than others do (that is, that some are more productive than others).
Education
Opinion
Getting Off the "More Great Teachers" Treadmill
This post argues we should stop looking for more "superhero" teachers and instead try to differentiate roles in a way that takes advantage of differences in teachers talents and capabilities.
Education
Opinion
One Size Fits All
It seems to me that a key challenge for policy makers in any arena is to implement policies that help make the worst cases better while simultaneously avoiding making the best cases worse.
Education
Opinion
On Technology in Education
One technology that I believe offers an intriguing possibility for teachers to create more authentic learning opportunities for students is the relatively new micro-publishing industry.
Education
Opinion
Multi-Tier Attendance Intervention Plan
The inquiry project involved the creation of a three-tiered intervention plan to support all students but provides more focused support and parent communication for students who do not meet attendance/performance expectations.
Education
Opinion
It Is Not What Reformers Say; It Is What Educators (and Students) Hear
We must recognize that educators tend to be two peoples divided by the same language. The best example is the word, "Standards." It sounded too much like "standardized." So, a movement to teach fewer concepts for mastery morphed into a rush to cover standardized test questions.
Education
Opinion
Voices From the Field Challenge
This post invites readers to contribute experiences from the field to the discussion about the futures of school reform.
Education
Opinion
Teacher Headhunting?
If you believe, as I do, that the field is way too steeped in ivory tower theory, and not enough research from the best schoolteachers, research on teaching methods will advance if we can get past the "whole school" level and think more deeply about the individual teacher level, in part because the transaction costs will be lower to find teachers who, based on imperfect data, at least seem to be unusually effective.
Education
Opinion
Hidden Human Capital: Parents
I would submit the Parent-Teacher Berlin Wall can be significantly dissolved with proactive teacher phone calls to each parent.
Education
Opinion
The Coming Age Of Teacher Choice
A future is where individual teachers who are proven to be successful have five types of choice they don't currently have: 1) 100% control of his/her share of the professional development budget; 2) super-easy to move from state to state; 3) easy to choose a workplace based on its "true" working conditions; 4) option to reject certain tasks in customizing the job; and 5) option to run one's own micro-school, getting rid of the b.s. and keeping the stuff teachers love.