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Public education in the United States resists change. That schools look much now as they did in the 1950s and the entrenched interests that resist change is old news. The story less often told and much more provocative is how gatekeeping to school heads hinders change.
Big new grants announced recently by the feds seek to remedy fears of over-testing students. The current political fight misses the big picture. There is plenty of reason for optimism in more testing.
Organizations can transform, whether it's a $17 or $25,000 change.
Education is loaded with insiders, and for outsiders, education is often a monolith. Insiders know education is highly fragmented. Addressing fundamental challenges in education is the central mission of any leader’s work. With that in mind, here are the top four pain points across the education space.
Education needs to be untethered from measuring success based on how long students spend in a chair. But the same logic applies to people working in schools. Top talent values being allowed to work at a time, place, path and pace of their choosing. Schools need to remember to untether its employees as well as its students.
The right size of a school the smallest size necessary to ensure it achieves its mission. To be at the right size, leaders need clear answers to two questions. First, what is the school's purpose? Second, how do we know if we're being productive? Until purpose and productivity are defined, schools will always be bloated or baby-sized.
The public and private education sectors need to talk more, and trust more.
It's time for the US to ratify the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.
Rethinking use of a common, vague word can help school leader decision-making.
The way to a guaranteed and viable curriculum is through principals. Principals must be instructional leaders with the power to run their schools independent of oversight from either district-level managers or school boards.
If culture eats strategy for breakfast, culture must not have many friends. Culture can be moved withstrategy carefully matched to culture.
Androids won't replace teachers any time soon. Ed tech is in it infancy. Insights from data have plenty to offer traditional education.
Diversity is touted among talent experts, but few can articulate the hard organizational advantages to seeking leaders with diverse backgrounds. Hyper specialization is an asset for managers. Hyper diversity is the asset for leaders.
