A comment on comments

"We're always behind metal and glass. I think we miss that touch so much that we crash into each other just to feel something."

--From the movie, Crash

As a relative novice to the blogosphere, I am always amazed that someone, anyone, would take the time to read something I have written and then take the additional time to comment. After all, there are sooooo many blogs out there. By some estimates, there are between 70 and 112 million blogs currently available online and over 175,000 new blogs being created everyday. This does not include microblogs such as twitter and plurk or individual posts to social networks such as facebook or myspace.

That's a lot of content to wade through.

But as I take my first few tentative steps into what is truly the final frontier, cyberspace, I'm learning something invaluable and truly unexpected. Yes, there is merit to having something to say and then having the courage, foresight (or ego) to write it down and click "publish post" (the first time I did that I was terrified; I thought....what have I done? Can I take it back? What if this really sucks?) but I am also beginning to think the real value to blogging isn't the necessarily the addition of more content to the universe of existing content, but the opportunity to create connections and start discussions. Ultimately, a blog represents your point of view. You have a premise supported by reasoning; it's much like making a case in a court of law. But when someone adds a comment to your blog, it is, metaphorically speaking, much like an unknown hand pulling you back as you're about to walk into oncoming traffic. It's a voice, sometimes a whisper, sometimes a shout, saying "yes," "no" or "have you thought about this?" These voices, these connections, unsolicited and unexpected, are the real value because they are the building blocks of knowledge, growth and change.

In "Turning to One Another," Margaret Wheatley writes: “Human conversation is the most ancient and easiest way to cultivate the conditions for change - personal change, community and organizational change, planetary change. If we can sit together and talk about what’s important to us, we begin to come alive. For as long as we’ve been around as humans, as wandering bands of nomads or cave dwellers, we have sat together and shared experiences. We’ve painted images on rock walls, recounted dreams and visions, told stories of the day, and generally felt comforted to be in the world together. When the world became fearsome, we came together. When the world called us to explore its edges, we journeyed together. Whatever we did, we did it together.”

So thank you.

Thank you to each and every one of you who have taken time out of your undoubtedly busy day to comment on something I have written. I am truly honored. But more than that, I have learned much from you. You've pulled me back, made me think, made me question what I think I know. That's a good thing.

Because, in the end, I don't need to be right.

But those of us in the learning business, whether vendor, educator or administrator, can certainly learn from each other and collectively arrive at the right answers. Or at the very least, ask better questions.

So please keep commenting. Let's keep crashing into each other. Because these are the connections that keep us alive, allow us to change and force us to grow.

Birthday wishes....

I'd like to send out a hearty happy birthday to my very first teacher, mentor and role model.

Happy 67th birthday Mom.

Everything I am or will ever be is because of you.

Why do you teach?

It seems to me that this must be a tough time to be a teacher. You're underpaid, largely unappreciated and, as a group, teachers often bear the brunt of criticisms directed at the state of our schools. I can't imagine what it must be like to walk a mile in your shoes.

My mother was a teacher. She taught English for over 20 years at a public high school on the West side of Chicago. For 20 years, she woke up before the crack of dawn, after grading papers and preparing lesson plans into well into the evening, to drive from our home on the South side of Chicago to her school on the West side of Chicago. She never seemed discouraged or sad, yes, there were moments of frustration, but she seemed to believe in what she was doing. I know that she took pleasure in helping "her kids." I know she took genuine pleasure in their success. I know she lamented their failures. I know she cared. She never made much money, but I know her students mattered to her. One of her former students still corresponds with my mother to this day. Mom calls her "the daughter I never had."

But times have changed. Schools seem, I don't know, somehow colder....less personal. It seems to be so much harder to reach students these days. When I visited my mother's former school a few years ago, so many of the kids (if "kids" is indeed the right word) seemed, I don't know, distracted...indifferent...angry. Resources are scarce. Professional development is lacking. The "thank you's;" the pats on the back, seemed few and far between.

When I was growing up we revered our teachers. Now, we seem to revile them. I don't know why.

This morning I read a beautiful post on Terry Shaw's blog reprinting something he found in a newspaper in Galena, Illinois: "Why do you work so hard for your students."

So I'm curious. What about you?

Why do you teach?

I'd really like to know....

Why do you work so hard for your students?

My Fear? A feeding frenzy....

At what should be a time of enormous hope and optimism for schools and school districts, I find myself quietly troubled.

Why?

We have, in President Obama, a president who certainly seems to understand the varied and complex challenges facing our schools today. While stressing the need for greater accountability, he also seems to understand the importance of "21st century classrooms" and the need to develop assessment tools that measure more than just basic skills (the current thrust of NCLB) but also measure "21st century skills" such as creativity and critical thinking, communication and collaboration, technology, media and information literacy and the ability to apply information and knowledge in real world contexts. And now we have the stimulus package and approximately $100 Billion in added (and unexpected) funding for education. Funding that is earmarked, in part, to encourage reform and the creation of "21st century classrooms."

President Obama should certainly be commended for his vision, his foresight and for, quite literally, putting his money where his ideological mouth is. But I'm worried.

Sometimes scarcity and lack are a good thing. It forces you to make better decisions, to focus on what's really important and to make better use of what you have. In the case of technology, some schools and school districts are woefully underfunded and the technology just isn't there or the technology that is there is out of date and hopelessly obsolete. But in many schools and school districts, the threshold issue isn't really the absence of technology, or the amount of technology, but how the technology that is already there is being used. Is this technology being used as a 21st century learning tool to promote deeper, more meaningful interaction with the subject mater, increased classroom collaboration and communication, more student-driven, project-based learning, innovative instructional practices and more differentiated instruction? Or is the technology being used as an efficacy aid; as an electronic tool to do the same things we've been doing in our classrooms for decades, only faster?

I guess what I fear is a feeding frenzy. President Obama says "innovate," "build," "create 21st century classrooms" and what do we do? We go out and buy a bunch of stuff. We spend millions on laptops and desktops, whiteboards and document cameras. We spend, spend, spend, but we don't stop, pause, think and ask ourselves.....why is this stuff here? How does a document camera actually improve the quality of student learning? How will these tools be used to better engage and motivate our children? How will these tools improve the pedagogy? Because if that doesn't change, then all the technology in the world won't change anything.

I recently had a conversation with someone who works as a teacher in a technology-rich district about how technology was being used in the classroom. His response? "Mike, it's all bs." (His words, not mine). He pointed out that every classroom in the middle school where he works has a whiteboard. How were the whitebords being used? When they were being used at all, they were being used no differently than a teacher would use a blackboard; for back-to-the-classroom, teacher-driven, lecture-based, drill and practice instruction, only with really cool graphics and stylus pens that broke with alarming regularity. Most times, however, the whiteboards weren't really used at all because they were covered with hand written notes, post-its and other visual aids.

The use of computers in the classroom was no better. For the most part, the computers sat in the back of the room and weren't turned on. When they were used, they were often used as a disciplinary aid. "If you behave well, you'll get some time on the computer." Or, "if you misbehave, you'll lose your time on the computer." Using a $1,200.00 computer the same way you would use the promise of an extra bathroom break or a stick of gum is hardly a pedagogically sound use of technology. In fact, I think we would be better off just investing in gum. It's cheaper.

Bottom line?

Learning about technology is fundamentally different than learning about what to do with it instructionally. Teaching teachers how to create a powerpoint presentation or how to operate a whiteboard does very little, if anything, to help teachers develop the knowledge they need to use technology to teach more effectively, understand its relationship to curriculum and content, or help students use technology to meet or exceed performance-based standards, deepen comprehension and improve the depth and quality of learning.

So please...let's be careful. Please remember one critical fact before making an investment in desktops, laptops, whiteboards and document cameras. Please remember that technology is just a tool and a tool is only useful to the extent its use is organized in a productive way. Yes, the promise of technology is real but this promise depends on three important steps.

• First, there must be a well-articulated and shared vision for why technology is being used in the classroom.

• Second, there must be a comprehensive plan for how technology will be integrated into the learning environment.

• Third, the use of technology must be tied to an educational purpose: to 21st century standards and the to educational needs and goals of a school and its students.

In sum, let's remember that better educational results depend first and foremost on better pedagogy--on better teaching and more active and engaged learning--not on better technology. So moving too quickly might not be a good thing. Yes, I believe every child in every school should have ubiquitous access to technology. Yes, I believe in the transformative power of technology and its ability, when integrated in a well-planned, pedagogically sound manner, to reshape and improve the nature of teaching and learning. To that degree, it is about the technology. But I encourage each and every one of us, as we eagerly wait for billions of dollars of stimulus money to come raining down, to do something we should have learned in kindergarten.

Let's think before we act.

If we do that, then I am hopeful we will turn an important corner in the course and history of education and take a meaningful step towards preparing this and future generations of students to compete and succeed in the 21st century.

$100 Bilion to Education Under the Obama Stimulus Plan--A Breakdown

Approximately $100 billion has been allocated to education funding under the Obama stimulus plan. (Isn't it interesting how this has become the Obama plan?) This funding is designed to stem huge cuts by states, fund programs for special education, low-income students and early-childhood initiatives, and, most notably for those of us in the business of education technology, provides incentives for education stakeholders at every level to think in terms of reform.

Congress approved the $787 billion economic stimulus bill on Friday and President Obama signed the bill into law today. The money for education will help President Obama make good on promises to help the nation's K-12 schools, though it's about $50 billion less than the first draft passed by the U.S. House of Representatives and leaves open a lot of questions about when and how the money will be distributed—and whether it will be enough. The majority of the difference came from losing school-construction money and decreasing the amount states will get.

Here's what we do know:

Under the bill, states will get $53.6 billion in what's called the state stabilization fund. Most of that money (about $39 billion) goes toward helping states restore cut programs, which, depending on the state, have included early-childhood education, after-school programs, professional-development money, and actual school staff. That money will go out more quickly, based on a formula, so schools aren't left wondering if they have to shorten their school year this year or make staff layoffs for the next school year.

Stripped from the bill is money for school construction. The funding, about $17 billion in the version first passed by the House, was a huge obstacle for the U.S. Senate and stayed out when the bill got through compromise committee. Instead, states can draw from $8.8 billion in the state stabilization fund for high-priority needs.

In what the Obama administration considers its reform piece of the stimulus package, the bill contains $5 billion in incentive grants, which U.S. education secretary Arne Duncan calls "race to the top" money. Logically, this money won't be available until 2010, after states are able to put their stabilization funds in place. To get a grant, a state has to show how it's in compliance with a few measures under the No Child Left Behind Act already required under the law. They also have to put in place a statewide data system to measure student progress and make sure their standards lead students to college or other postsecondary training.

The grant does leave open a few questions, including how states will prove they're doing everything right, and what they'll do with their incentive money. Duncan says it's intended to make students and schools more competitive globally. Also included in the $5 billion is $650 million for more innovative programs, to "scale up what works" in schools, Duncan adds. How that money will get doled out is unclear.

"We have to educate our way to a better economy," Duncan says. "This represents a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to do something."

Other money in the stimulus package for education:

• $2.1 billion for Early Head Start and Head Start, the early-childhood programs for low-income children ages 0-5. It's estimated this funding will affect about 124,000 infants and preschool children.

• $13 billion for Title I, the program that aids schools with a high number of low-income students to help fund extra programs.

• $12.2 billion for IDEA, a program for special education grants.

• $200 million for the Teacher Incentive Fund, which supports programs for teacher-performance pay.

Too many notes...

One of the criticisms (or concerns might be a better word) most often raised about my written work is that it’s just too long. I’m constantly reminded that we are living in a “fast twitch” society, that people have short attention spans, and that no one will actually take actually the time to read something if, well, it has too many words. My response to that is to keep producing works of unacceptable length and to keep using no fewer words than I think necessary to make the point.

When thinking about this, the quagmire of too many words, I am sometimes reminded of one of my favorite scenes from the movie Amadeus. Joseph II, the Emperor of Austria (who, by the way, was not nearly as idiotic in real life) has commissioned a young Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to write an opera. Mozart eagerly accepts the commission and composes the opera Seraglio.

The scene occurs on the stage of the opera house, just after the first performance is over.

JOSEPH

Well, Herr Mozart! A good effort.
Decidedly that. An excellent effort!
You've shown us something quite new today.

Mozart bows frantically: he is over-excited.

MOZART
It is new, it is, isn't it, Sire?

JOSEPH

Yes, indeed.

MOZART
And German?

JOSEPH
Oh, yes. Absolutely. German.
Unquestionably!

MOZART
So then you like it? You really like it, Your Majesty?

JOSEPH
Of course I do. It's very good. Of course now and then - just now and then - it gets a touch elaborate.
MOZART
What do you mean, Sire?

JOSEPH
Well, I mean occasionally it seems to have, how shall one say (he stops in difficulty; to Orsini- Ronberg) How shall one say, Director?

ORSINI-ROSENBERG
Too many notes, Your Majesty?

JOSEPH
Exactly. Very well put. Too many notes.

MOZART
I don't understand. There are just as many notes, Majesty, as are required. Neither more nor less.

JOSEPH
My dear fellow, there are in fact only so many notes the ear can hear in the course of an evening. I think I'm right in saying that, aren't I, Court Composer?

SALIERI
Yes! yes! er, on the whole, yes, Majesty

MOZART
(to Salieri)
But this is absurd!

JOSEPH
My dear, young man, don't take it too hard. Your work is ingenious. It's quality work. And there are simply too many notes, that's all. Cut a few and it will be perfect.

MOZART
Which few did you have in mind, Majesty?

I LOVE this scene!

Now don’t get me wrong, I certainly think there is a time and a place to be quick and concise. We have a marketing department, for example, and their job is to try and say a lot as quickly and as viscerally as they can. Not an easy job. To successfully convey any sort of message with a punch line and a few images is pretty tricky. It takes skill. And for what it's worth, I think some of the best and most compelling "art" in media today can be found in television commercials. (Think about it, a good commercial really is a mini 30-second film). And is it just me or are movie trailers often far better the movies themselves?

So I certainly respect the ability to convey a compelling message in sound bite sized chunks.

But—

Maybe I’m just being old school here, maybe I’m just thinking like a crusty, out-of-date pc loving, VCR owning Digital Immigrant, but I still think there is no more compelling and powerful a method of communication than the written word—even in our fast paced, multimedia age. Talk is cheap. When you say something, it can too often be lost, forgotten or misinterpreted. But when you take the time to write it down, it elevates the discourse; it facilitates thought, it has deeper meaning, it shows that you’ve taken the time to actually think about what you have to say and that you have the courage and depth of conviction to throw it out there.

In his blog, “Web 2.0 is the Future of Education” Steve Hargadon wrote: “The answer to information overload is to produce more information.”

Yes Steve, it is.

So go ahead---write it down.

Throw it out there.

Produce more content—just produce better content.

And if you have to, use too many words.

It's not about the products--it's about the plan and the process

“Learning cannot be designed. Learning happens, design or no design. And yet there are few more urgent tasks than to design social infrastructures that foster learning. Those who can understand the informal, yet structured, experiential yet social, character of learning—and can translate their insight into designs in the service of learning—will be the architects of tomorrow.”

Etienne Wenger
Communities of Practice

I firmly believe that the integration of technology into the processes that support teaching and learning is critical to the future of our schools. Learner-centered classrooms, better engaged and more motivated students, differentiated instruction, increased home/school connections, closed achievement gaps and significantly improved learning outcomes by students at every level in virtually any school are all documented outcomes from technology-rich schools and school districts.

But...

But before we go too far, before we embrace technology as the next new panacea that will cure all of the real or perceived deficiencies with our schools, we must first remember one basic fact: technology is a tool and a tool is only valuable to the extent that a human being organizes its use in a productive way. What this means relative to the use of technology in our schools is this—technology, in and of itself, does not improve test scores, grade point averages or student achievement. Yes, the promise of technology is real—but this promise depends on three things. First, there must be a shared vision for why technology is being used in the classroom. Second, there must be a comprehensive plan for how technology will be integrated into the learning environment. Third, the use of technology must be tied to a clear educational purpose; to performance-based standards and the educational needs, objectives and goals of a school and its students.

So we do something different. We do not focus on the tools. We focus on the teaching. We will not push products. Instead, we are creating a process.

A Smart Solution.

The Smart Solution is not a program. It is a learning architecture. Our goal is to design and support the platforms that support the environments that foster better teaching and learning.

The following is a brief video introduction to what we do, or hope to do, for schools and school districts--design, educate, innovate. But this is an organic process. Like our students, we are continually learning. So your input, observations, comments and thoughts as we share our Smart Solution with you are welcome and truly appreciated.

An Investment in Education--The Ultimate Stimulus Plan (Part II)

They just don't get it!!

Leave it to our elected officials, elected ostensibly to do the will of the people, to then ignore the needs of the people, of John and Jane Q. Public, in the endless and utterly counterproductive debate about liberal vs. conservative fiscal policy and ideology. Last week, the House of Representatives passed a bold and brave economic recovery bill that allocated billions of much-needed dollars to improve and modernize our schools and foster "21st century learning environments." The bill then goes to the Senate, the political wrangling continues, and what gets cut? Much of the funding for education.

I guess an investment in education isn't "stimulating" enough.

Again, I am not an economist so I leave it to people smarter than me to determine where and how stimulus money should be spent. And I certainly acknowledge and respect our collective and individual right to agree and agree to disagree on political issues. But in one man's humble opinion, and I may be baying into the wind, I firmly believe that if we don't invest in schools and in our children, then no amount of money we spend now will save us from an economic and human catastrophe that will make the current crisis look fairly mild by comparison.

Don't the Senators who cut these education dollars understand that, by some estimates, almost 1 million children each year are dropping out of school? Don't they understand that right now less than 35% of our public school 12th grade students are proficient in reading, science and math? Don't they understand that those students who do graduate assess well behind students from other countries in virtually every statistical category? Don't they understand that in a recent study conducted by the Partnership for 21st Century Skills, high school graduates were deemed "deficient" in every one of the 21st century skills deemed necessary for 21st century success?"

If a company like Microsoft is laying off highly skilled employees, what chance does a high school drop out have? In an increasingly global economy where our children are no longer competing with each other but are competing with kids from Korea, China, India and Japan, what chance will they have in learning environments that are antiquated and outdated; where teachers and students are using essentially the same tools that I used when I graduated from high school over 25 years ago? I would challenge any one of the senators who cut the education funding to quit their jobs, forgo their senate salaries, and try and build a business--any business--using only the tools found in most inner city public school classrooms. I suspect most would look at me and think, "Are you insane? We won't have the tools."

Exactly.

Neither do they.

Bottom line, an investment in education is the ultimate stimulus package. It is an investment in our present and our future. It is an investment that can reap dividends for generations. It is an investment in our children that should not, that must not, be compromised.

Lessons from my son

There is much we can learn from our children. Their world is a world of simple and unadorned truths, uncomplicated by the legion of complexities and competing considerations that too often define and dictate our lives as adults. And so it goes with education. By any objective measure, our schools and our students are underperforming. But how we fix our schools has been an ongoing source of national (and international) debate for decades. Learning theories abound. Instructional designs abound. School turn around plans abound. Google "school reform" and you'll pull up over 20,000,000 hits. The volume of time, energy and work placed into answering the question "How do we fix our schools?" is simply astounding.

But there is one simple truth about education that I have learned from my 6 year old son.

Every weekday morning, the alarm goes off at 6:30am and I gently nudge him to wake him up. He looks at me, groans, and often says....."Dad, do I have to go to school today?" I smile, tell him "yes," and turn on the television so he can get his morning fix of Spongebob Squarepants. Getting him dressed can be an ordeal; sometimes, depending on his mood, my son will stage a Ghandi-like sit down protest, but I manage to get him out the door, in the car and into the school.

His mood is generally glum.

Then I pick him up. He is renewed; changed. He comes bouncing out of the school door, smiling, happy, excited. I ask him, "How was your day?" He always replies "good." Then he tears into his bookbag and papers go flying as he eagerly shows me what he's learned today. This is not manufactured. This is genuine enthusiam. For him.....this isn't work. This is actually, dare I say it, fun.

Wow.

So what is the lesson from my son?

It is simply this--that school should be fun. That learning should magical. That the process of discovery should be exciting. If we understand that, if we start there, then, perhaps, we have locked onto one simple truth that will allow us, at long last, to improve our schools and to create social infrastructures (because if you think of it, that's really what school is) that truly facilitate better teaching and learning.

An Investment in Education--The Ultimate Stimulus Plan

I note with some interest the ongoing debate about what should or should not be contained in a “stimulus” package. I am not an economist, so I leave it to people far smarter than me to determine what investments will or will not create jobs and stimulate our economy. But this much I know. If we don’t improve our schools, if we don’t prepare our young people to compete and succeed in the 21st century, none of this matters. We can appropriate a trillion dollars, two trillion dollars, three trillion dollars, we can improve our infrastructure, we can create tax incentives, we can spend, spend, spend…….but if we don’t adequately invest in education, the America that we know will be lost.

We will lose our status as the world leading global superpower.

Our universities will no longer be the global centers of research and innovation.

Our companies will no longer produce the goods and services that fuel the global economy.

And we will be in very real danger of creating a permanent underclass.

On what we’re now referring to as “Bloody Monday,” over 71,000 more job cuts were announced. This brings the total number of announced job cuts to over 200,000 this year. This is a stunning number. A tragic number. These are 200,000 lives that have been, or will be, irrevocably changed.

And yet…

Each year, approximately 1 million children drop out of high school. Right now, 1 child drops out of school every 26 seconds. Right now, the graduation rate in our 50 largest urban centers hovers around 50%.

Right now, there are more African-American men going to jail than to college.

What about these children? Who is fighting for them? Where will they go? If Microsoft is laying off 5000 highly skilled people, where will the young men and women who don’t even have a high school diploma work? How will they ever participate fully in the American Dream? What’s to become of them?

This is not just a problem. This is a national crisis. And yet, there doesn’t seem to be the sense of urgency about addressing these horrendous educational outcomes as there seems to be about fixing other areas of our economy. But the strength of our economy depends on the strength of our businesses, large and small, and the strength of our businesses depends, to a large extent, on the state of our schools.

Baby-boomers are retiring, taking their skills and knowledge with them. The result is a widening gap between the skills required by businesses today and the skills of new entrants in the workforce.

A recent report by The American Diploma Project states: “The [high school] diploma has lost its value because what it takes to earn one is disconnected from what it takes for graduates to compete successfully beyond high school—either in the classroom or in the workplace. Re-establishing the value of the diploma will require the creation of an inextricable link between high school exit expectations and the intellectual challenges that graduates invariably will face in credit bearing college courses or in high-performance, high-growth jobs.”

Employers echo this sentiment. The Conference Board, the Corporate Voices for Working Families, the Partnership for 21st Century Skills and the Society for Human Resource Management conducted an in-depth study of the corporate perspective on the readiness of new entrants into the U.S. workforce by level of educational attainment. The study includes results from both an in-depth survey conducted during April and May 2006 and interviews with a sampling of a dozen HR and other senior executives. Respondents were asked to identify the skills they considered “very important” to success in the workplace. The skills rated as “very important” were: (1) professionalism/work ethic; (2) oral and written communications; (3) teamwork/collaboration; (4) critical thinking/problem solving; (5) reading comprehension; (6) English language (spoken); (7) ethics and social responsibility and (8) information technology application. The respondents were then asked to rate the skill level of new entrants by grade level. New entrants’ skill level could be rated as “excellent,” “adequate” or “deficient.”

Four year college graduates were deemed “deficient” in written communications, writing in English and leadership. Two year college graduates and technical school graduates were deemed “deficient” in written communications, writing in English, lifelong learning/self direction, creativity/innovation, critical thinking/problem solving, oral communications, ethics and social responsibility. However, high school graduates were deemed “deficient” in every one of the “very important” skills necessary for workforce success.

The implications are obvious. As important as job creation is, improving our schools and ensuring that current and future generations of students are prepared to compete and succeed in the global economy is just as important. So politics aside, President Obama is to be commended for making increased funding to education a part of the stimulus package. An investment in education is not one of those “good ideas” that has a laudable purpose, but should wait. Urgent action is needed now. Because if our schools fail, and many of them are failing, then our country will fail.

The stimulus package passed the house and is now before the Senate. The political debate is heating up about what should be in and what should be cut from the package. But we must fight for our children, for our future and for our schools. Don’t be silent. We must let our politicians and policymakers know that the money earmarked for education must not be cut. In fact, dedicated funding for modernizing our schools and creating 21st century learning environments for all of our students should be made a permanent part of our economic recovery plan.

Because an investment in education is the ultimate stimulus plan.

Arnie Duncan it is--but a few thoughts about education and accountability

I wrote this just after President Obama announced his choice for education secretary. But I think the questions about accountability remain relevant and timely. Enjoy....

President-elect Obama has made his choice.

I think it is safe to say that after jump-starting our faltering economy, the next domestic crisis looming over the Obama administration is what to do about our public schools. The enormity of this task is fully evidenced by the fact that Obama has already made his selection for virtually every other cabinet position of note, but just announced his choice for education secretary. The stakes were high as this choice quietly, but pointedly, was simmering into what was (fairly or not) being characterized as an ideological “war.”

In one corner, we purportedly had the teachers and teachers unions. As Libby Quaid from the Associated Press reported (“Obama’s education pick sparks conflict”), teachers wanted someone who would be a strong advocate for their concerns; such as Obama advisor Linda Darling-Hammond, a Stanford University professor, or Inez Tenenbaum, the former state schools chief in South Carolina.

In the other corner we had the so-called “reformers.” As Quaid wrote, “Reform advocates want someone like New York schools chancellor Joel Klein, who wants teachers and schools held accountable for the performance of students.” Arne Duncan, the current CEO of Chicago Public Schools and an Obama confidant, was also a popular choice.

And now we know it is to be Duncan.

Duncan is certainly a thoughtful and pragmatic choice and this selection is receiving generally positive reviews. But there are still concerns, particularly among teachers and teacher unions. At the root of the problem is the proverbial 800-pound elephant in the room when talking about education reform and policy. It can be summed up in one word—

Accountability.

Accountability is, of course, a good thing. In the value-driven private sector, accountability and employability generally go hand-in-hand. You are deemed responsible for the product you create. So when we have an educational system where 1 child drops out of high school every 26 seconds; where the graduation rate in our 50 largest urban centers hovers around 50% and where American students are falling behind students from other industrialized countries in virtually every statistical category, it certainly seems reasonable, at first glance, to hold our teachers and schools accountable for the performance of our students.

But I think we are missing something. Though it seems logical to point to our teachers and schools when confronted with student outcomes like these, if we peel back the layers a bit, something about this seems just a bit unfair. Yes, there are some bad teachers who certainly need to pursue a different line of work. Yes, there are some chronically underperforming schools that probably need to be closed. But the problems go deeper than that. Much deeper.

One analogy keeps coming to mind. Before joining the chorus of voices laying blame squarely at the feet our teachers or our schools, I can’t help but think about this—I find myself mentally juxtaposing our approach towards funding education to our approach towards funding and fighting a war.

When we go to war, we spare no expense because lives are on the line. (The war in Iraq, for example, will cost American taxpayers more than $3 Trillion dollars). We make sure that our fighting men and women have the latest and most advanced equipment, so we spend billions more on research and development. We do this because of the value that we place on human life—each and every human life. To send a solider to war without the tools necessary to save lives and to win the war would be more than an outrage; it would be a crime.

But our teachers are soldiers.

Shouldn’t our teachers be afforded the same right? They are soldiers as well; soldiers on the front line of the most important battle that we as a nation have or will ever fight. No, it is not a battle fought with bullets and guns. This is a battle for the hearts and minds of our children. This is a battle for the future of our nation.

And it is a battle we cannot lose.

But what are the tools that we give them? Worn and recycled textbooks? Overhead projectors? Schools, as noted by David Thornburg, “predominantly driven by the awesome power of a sheet of slate and a stick of chalk?” Classrooms where you might see a few computers scattered in the back of the room, largely unused, while the technology that is so ubiquitous in every other facet of our society is relegated, literally, to the back of the educational bus?

We give our teachers this and then we tell them to leave no child behind or we’ll hold them accountable, hold back their kids or close their schools.

Does that seem fair to you?

I would challenge any of the private sector pundits or talking heads on television to try to open a business, any business, using only the tools you find in most inner-city middle or high school classrooms. I suspect most would walk into the classroom, turn to me with a look of pure panic and say, “I don’t have the tools.”

Exactly.

So it seems to me that it doesn’t really matter who we appoint as education secretary unless we first ask ourselves this—Do our teachers and schools really have the tools they need in order to excite our students, to engage our students and to prepare our students to compete and succeed in the 21st century? If we don’t answer that question correctly, I don’t know if the appointment of Arne Duncan, or anyone else for that matter, will really make a difference.

Charter schools--A choice or a change?

Change.

A word that is both a lightening rod and a litmus test.

We hear a lot of about “change” in education. But we need to pause, reflect and be careful. All too often, the minute something is trumpeted as the next new CHANGE in education, we jump on that bandwagon, start retrofitting our schools, change their names, slap on some new paint, invest a lot of money, wait, hold our breath, cross our fingers, hope……and nothing really changes. Then the finger pointing begins, the blame game starts and in the meantime another generation of children, children who depend on the quality of our schools for their future, have been left behind or lost.

So when we talk about “change” in education, we need to be very clear about a few things.

First, what are we changing from?

Second, what are we changing to?

Third, though we’ve changed the school name, the school structure or the focus of the curriculum, have we fundamentally changed what’s going on in the classroom?

Right now, charter schools are all the rage. But before we jump on the metaphorical charter school bandwagon, perhaps we should ask ourselves this—are the pedagogical practices in charter schools are really any different? What is the "base" curriculum? How are modern, interactive tools being integrated into the curriculum and are these tools being used to promote 21st century skills? Are the documented student outcomes from charter schools significantly different than student outcomes from well-funded, well-staffed and well-resourced public schools? Is classroom instruction primarily lecture-based or student-driven?

Is it more of the same, just done better?

I want to be clear here. I am not against charter schools. I am, in fact, personally aware of a number of charter schools that are doing some outstanding and commendable work, especially with at risk children. But we need to be careful about embracing charter schools as a panacea. Could it be that much of the success of charter schools can and should be attributed to smaller classroom sizes, increased accountability and a significantly more motivated and energetic teaching staff? Is the "better" produced by charter schools really better? Though test scores and graduation rates are generally higher, which certainly creates the appearance of progress, are we simply providing these kids more of what they should not be getting in the first place; an education that fails to adequately equip students to compete and succeed in the 21st century because it is still based primarily on pedagogical practices from the 19th century?

There is, in the end, a fundamental difference between a choice and a change.

My question to you is this—what do charter schools represent?

A choice?

Or a change?

Bailout frenzy--The REAL capital crisis

I wrote this several weeks ago, after the Wall Street bailout, but thought I'd post it anyway. Guess we know how this turned out....

***********

Something about this bailout frenzy is beginning to grate.

$700 Billion to bailout Wall Street? I certainly understand the importance of saving jobs and homes. I’m all for that. People are really suffering out there. But when I see articles like this, I wonder, what have we done?

George White writes:

Wall Street banks won't use bailout money for bonuses

After weeks of pressure from politicians about using bailout money to pay out year-end bonuses, Wall Street banks are preparing to tell Congress that they won't use the recent $125 billion government cash infusion for compensation, but only for shoring up their balance sheets and acquisitions. That, however, doesn't mean the estimated $108 billion set aside for bonuses and compensation in 2008 won't be going out though.

According to a Financial Times report the largest nine U.S. banks -- Bank of America Corp., Bank of New York Mellon Corp., Citigroup Inc., Goldman, Sachs & Co., J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., Merrill Lynch & Co., Morgan Stanley, State Street Corp. and Wells Fargo & Co. -- will pay bonuses from company earnings and their existing cash resources, as in prior years.

Whether legislators will see the distinction remains to be seen.

Banks are slowly being put under siege over the issue of their bonus pools, with the leaders from both the House of Representatives and the Senate critical of the banks' intention to hand out billions in bonus money following the passage of the $700 billion bailout package. The FT said that lawyers from the nine banks that received the initial $125 billion of government funds are holding meeting to gameplan a response to the criticism of the bonus pool. Expect to see the financial services sector start to vigorously present its case in coming weeks as a relatively unpopular bailout package and the end of the hotly contested presidential election threatens to turn political pressure into a full-blown PR nightmare for the banks as Congress and the cable networks find themselves with plenty of free time.

Um……WHY ARE WE EVEN DEBATING THIS? If you lose BILLIONS of dollars, so much so that you require a taxpayer financed BAILOUT, why would you even THINK about a bonus?!

But here’s what really grates. Right now the biggest crisis in our country isn’t the financial capital crisis. It is the HUMAN capital crisis. It’s simmering just below the surface; hidden because we are still the wealthiest nation on the planet, but it is a crisis, if left unchecked, that could make the current crisis look relatively mild by comparison.

We have approximately 50 Million students in our schools today. It is the largest and most diverse student population in the history of our nation. But here are some statistics to consider:

For every 100 ninth grader…
68 graduate on time.

Of those, 40 enroll in college…
27 are still in college the following year.

Of those, 18 earn an Associate’s degree within 3 years…
or a Bachelor’s degree within six years.

What this means is that 8 out of 10 of our nation’s ninth grade students will NOT earn an Associate’s or Bachelor’s degree.

There numbers are staggering. And just what exactly are we going to do with the 80% who do not obtain college diplomas in a value-driven, knowledge-based global economy? Who is going to hire them? GM, Chrysler or Ford? Don’t think so. They may not even be around next year, and if they are, the workforce will be very different and far more specialized.

Think Bank of America would take some of that bailout money and hire them?

We’ve got to wake up and realize that we are on the verge of creating a functionally illiterate, virtually unemployable permanent underclass. This is not speculation, this is happening right now while we focus on banks and brokerage firms.

But think about all the good we could do if we funneled $700 Billion into our schools instead? Our schools should be models of innovation and 21st century learning, not poorly funded, ill-equipped, barely functioning institutional and instructional relics. A quality education should be the right of every child in this country. But right now, that “right” is largely determined by a child’s zip code. An investment in education is an investment in our future—our collective future. It is something that could yield benefits, from Wall Street to Main Street, for generations.

So while we’re busy throwing around billions of dollars, maybe we could throw a few to our struggling public schools. I mean, God-forbid our bankers have to forego a bonus this year.

How ever would they survive?

From Corporate Counsel to Education Evangelist--One Man's Journey (Part II)

Almost three years ago to the day, I was given a charge.

Do not focus on technology.

Research how children learn. Start there. Understand that. Then talk about how technology can be used to support the unique learning preferences of today’s students, if at all.

So I did that. I spent almost a year doing only that. I started with a question and pushed forward to find an answer. (Please note, I didn't say the answer). I had no guides, no limits, no ideological predispositions. I just wanted to understand how we could break through and meaningfully connect to our kids. I thought if we better understood how to reach our children, then we could better understand how to teach our children and to how build instructional practices around that understanding; instructional practices that could, in theory, impact every child in every school, irrespective of background, race, culture or socioeconomic status.

This much I knew. I knew we had to do something. Because we’re losing so many of our kids. Children who, as so poignantly noted by Jonathan Kazol, "have done nothing wrong" and "have committed no crime." These are children after all. We shouldn’t be losing children. We should be preparing them to take the reins, to carry the torch, to lead, and to participate fully in the promise of the American Dream.

So the first and most important fact to understand about our Department of Education Technology is that it really is an education department. Our guiding vision, then and now, is that we can only meaningfully impact the quality of education in our schools, close achievement gaps and improve educational outcomes by focusing on student learning, not on pushing products. IT firms have been notoriously guilty of foisting hardware and software onto schools and school districts for decades, usually accompanied by grandiose promises of “reform” and “change,” but what has really changed? Are our schools any better? Computers have been physically present in our schools for some time. The student-to-computer ratio has dropped from approximately 19-to-1 in 1992 to a nationwide average of less than 5-to-1 now. e-Rate has made it possible for most schools, even in the poorest districts, to enjoy some Internet connectivity. Despite this, the drop out rate in our 50 largest urban centers hovers around 50%.

What does all of this mean?

It means that it’s not about the technology. Technology is just a tool, and if our teachers don’t know why the tool is there (assuming the tool is actually in the classroom at all) or how the tool can be used to impact student learning, then the tool becomes a toy; yet another expensive distraction that does very little to improve student outcomes or the change quality of education available to our students.

So even though I work for an IT firm, I choose to do something a bit unusual. I do not make a case for more computers.

I make the case for constructivist education.

I make a case for change.

Our White Paper

I make the case in our white paper, “1-to-1, The Smart Technology Services Education Initiative” (1-to-1). 1-to-1 provides a detailed outline of how schools can prepare students today to compete and succeed in the global economy of the 21st century. 1-to-1 challenges schools and policymakers to think beyond the same model of education we’ve employed for decades—quiet, teacher-driven, lecture-based classrooms—and consider a more active, constructivist, student-driven approach. Today’s students need to know how to think critically, apply knowledge in real world contexts, analyze information, comprehend new ideas, communicate, collaborate, solve problems and make decisions. 1-to-1 stresses the need to fully integrate technology into our K-12 and to then use this technology to engage our students in deeper, more meaningful and authentic thinking and learning. To support our case, 1-to-1 provides case studies detailing how a school, schools within a district, a district and a state successfully launched and maintained 1-to-1 initiatives and the educational outcomes from those initiatives.

Our case…

There was a time in this country, romanticized in the novels of Horatio Alger, when vision, thrift, hard work, and not necessarily a formal education or cognitive skills, were considered the keys to success. However, in the age of information technology, the “Digital Age,” dedication, desire and even the best of intentions absent education are simply not enough. In the 21st century, children who cannot read, write, reason or communicate effectively will be virtually unemployable. Children without the critical thinking and cognitive skills required in knowledge-based global economy will be lost.

So what’s the problem?

I think a large part of the problem is that we have the problem all wrong.

As a nation, we want to blame someone, anyone, for the failure of our schools. Bad teachers. Lazy students. Uninvolved parents. The one seeming constant is that we tend to view the education problem as a people problem.

But the education problem is not a people problem.

It is, first and foremost, a pedagogy problem.

ped.da.go.gy:

The art or science of teaching; instructional methods; principles of education; the activity of educating; activities that impart knowledge or skill.

Our current method of teaching—our pedagogy—is based on the 3 R's. Not reading, writing and arithmetic, but RAM, REMEMBER and REGURGITATE. This method of instruction is fine for standardized tests which assess students’ ability to repeat discreet bits of information, but does very little to promote actual comprehension, the deep processing of ideas, higher-order thinking, creativity and actual learning.

What does?

Whether a student’s learning preference is visual or auditory, verbal or physical, social or solitary, we now know that the more a student actually gets to experience, the more that student gets to “connect and experiment” with what they’re trying to understand, the more they actually learn.

This is a fundamental tenant of constructivist learning—that we learn by doing, not through the rote repetition of facts. The word “constructivist” derives from the Latin “con struere,” which means “to arrange or give structure.” In a constructivist classroom, knowledge is not taught, but is "created, discovered and experienced." Teacher “push” gives way to learner “pull” as students are encouraged to communicate, collaborate, ask questions, carry out their own experiments, make their own analogies and come to their own conclusions. The teacher, in turn, no longer acts as the “sage on the stage” but as the “guide on the side”—a mediator—who does not control or direct the learning but facilitates the student’s efforts to construct meaning for themselves.

You see elements of constructivist learning at work in many Pre-K through 3rd grade classrooms. These are generally noisy and active classrooms. Children often sit in groups, collaborate and are generally given the freedom to move around and experiment. And there are two things that are truly noteworthy about school during these Pre-K through 3rd grade years. The first is that you simply don’t see the enormous achievement gaps that exist during later years. Yes, there are some exceptional students and there are some students who fall behind. But the overwhelming majority of students, irrespective of race, background or socioeconomic status, fall within a reasonable median range. The other thing that is truly remarkable about school during these years is that most children actually refer to school as “fun.”

But all that changes in the 4th grade. That’s usually when “real” school begins. That’s when we tell these same active and curious minds to sit down. Go slow. Be quiet. Turn the same page at the same time. Speak when spoken to and repeat exactly what you’ve been told in order to succeed on the test.

And what happens? What are the educational outcomes we see as a result of this shift away from active, hands-on classrooms to classrooms dominated by a stick of chalk, a piece of slate and teacher lectures? We get what educators commonly refer to as the “4th grade slump.” We start to see enormous achieve gaps. We start to see frightening numbers of children being left behind.

So what do we do then? How do we respond?

With more of the same.

Walk into almost any middle school in the country and what will you see? You will see classrooms where students are sitting in single file rows while a teacher lectures from the front of the room. No talking in class, no talking in the halls, no talking except at lunch. You will see students that are not allowed to socialize, get together in groups or just talk. You will see young people being ushered from one place to the next, unsmiling, always under constant visual supervision. You will see places that look and feel more like prisons than places of learning. The most notable characteristic about school at this point is the seeming absence of joy.

And the results are truly devastating.

According to the 2004 U.S. Department of Education national technology report:

By the 4th grade…

• Only 36% of our nation’s students are proficient in math;
• Only 31% are proficient in reading; and
• Only 29% are proficient in science.

By the 8th grade…

• Only 31% of our nation’s students are proficient in reading;
• Only 30% are proficient in math; and
• Only 29% are proficient in science.

By the 12th grade…

• Only 10% of our nation’s Native American students;
• Only 4% of our Hispanic students; and
• Only 3% of our African American students are proficient in math.

So why is a shift to student-driven, constructivist learning so important now? Because results like this suggest that our educational system is not getting better, it is getting worse. Because, to quote Thomas Friedman’s “The World is Flat,” our world has changed and there is no going back. Because we no longer live in a world that rewards the ability to remember, repeat or perform the same function over and over again (e.g., think of the millions of manufacturing jobs that have been eliminated, automated or shipped overseas). Employers’ do not need a workforce whose collective ability is defined by the ability to do what they’re told or rattle off discreet bits of information. Who cares if our students can recite the capital of every state in the union? Employers need something they can’t get on Google. Today’s students need “21st century skills” for a 21st century world and these skills are simply not developed in lecture-based “ram, remember and regurgitate” classrooms.

What we have right now is a generation of students who are simply checking out, dropping out or just going through the motions. Many “play” school. They do enough to get by; they remember what they need for the test, and they move on. Then we wonder why our educational outcomes at almost every level are so dismal.

So what do we do?

Keep doing what we’re doing?

If we do that, then we’ll keep getting what we’ve got.

And what we’ve got, in one man's humble opinion, is not good enough.

From Corporate Counsel to Education Evangelist--One Man's Journey

“The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world's deep hunger meet."
—Frederick Buechner

I was a corporate lawyer for almost fifteen years. After graduating from Northwestern University School of Law in 1990, I was recruited by a large insurance defense firm in Los Angeles. I had a lovely corner office with a big mahogany desk in a new high rise building on Figueroa Avenue. My office was right down the hall from the managing partner who liked to tell me with genuine enthusiasm, “Mike, you’re going to be a partner at this firm!” That was gratifying.

But I felt strangely disconnected. Every day I drove by a stunning number of poor, addicted and homeless people (one of the unfortunate realities of life in Los Angeles), people who looked like me, people who but for the vagrancies of fate could have been me, and I thought—What am I doing? Making the world safe for insurance companies? It was a strange, surreal existence.

So I returned to Chicago and began working with small to mid-sized, privately-held corporate clients. While the work was intellectually stimulating, what truly motivated me was the sense (or at least the hope) that I was a part of building and sustaining something meaningful; something good. At our core, I think we all want the same thing—to feel relevant—and I hoped I was at least a small part of maintaining and protecting something that created jobs, opportunity, revenue and, yes, relevance.

I felt good about that.

One of the unexpected benefits of serving as corporate counsel for a small to mid-sized company is that I often worked directly with business owners. This was an extraordinary opportunity. Although working in this capacity is not always easy (business owners are often on the razor’s edge; they have to be), the one constant shared by these business owners, and the trait I most admired about all of them (at least when I wasn’t getting yelled at), was the fact that they were, to a person, visionaries and creators. They were the “big picture thinkers” and “meaning makers” referred to by Dan Pink is his ground-breaking book “A Whole New Mind.” (If you haven’t read this book, you should). What inspired me is that these were people who made something. That takes no small amount of moxie and genius.

As I approached my 40th birthday in December of 2005, this kept gnawing at me. I would lie awake at night, stare at the ceiling and think—what have I created? What have I built? How have I, through my industry and hard work, made an impact on the world? Is this world a better place because of me?

I could only say this—I had tried, as best I could, to be a good son, a good student, a good lawyer and a good father. But the question kept coming around—what have I created? I thought, if called to task for my life, if asked to account for how I spent my time and used the gifts I was given, how would I answer? What would I say?

And the more I thought about this, the more I realized that I didn’t like the answer.

At this point, I knew something had to change. I couldn’t do what I had done anymore. I couldn’t just be a guy who “crafted contracts” (another Dan Pink reference). I had to do more. I had to create something; to build something.

I just didn’t know what.

I didn't know how.

********

Soon after my 40th birthday, I requested a meeting with Steve Baker, the president of my company, Smart Technology Services. Steve and I have known each other and worked closely together for years so I felt fairly comfortable approaching him with what I suspected would sound like a fairly odd proposal.

I remember sitting in Steve’s office, clearing my throat, and saying something like: “Steve, I don’t want to be just the lawyer anymore.” I told Steve about my desire to build something. To create. I told him about my idea.

Smart Technology Services is an IT support firm. One of our biggest clients is Chicago Public Schools. We provide a host of IT support services for CPS, all of which are critically important, but do not necessarily improve the quality of education itself.

My idea, loose and ill-defined, was that we could help bridge some of the educational and digital divides that existed in our city and our schools if we did a better job of integrating more computers into the classroom. I didn’t really know why this would help bridge anything, I just thought—I use a computer everyday, so does everybody else I know, and maybe if our classrooms looked more like the real world that our schools are trying to prepare these kids for, it might make a difference.

I remember getting about halfway through what must have sounded like a disjointed mess of a proposal before Steve held up his hand and said “Stop Mike.” He looked me in the eye…paused….and said…..

“You’re fired.”

Just kidding.

No, Steve said something that really surprised me. He said, “I don’t want you to worry about putting computers in the classroom.“ He continued: “I want you to start with this—start by understanding how children learn. Start there. Understand that.”

He told me to take as much time as I needed and to write a white paper that focused on how children learn and how we could better engage this generation of students in the process of learning. He told me once I understood that—how children learn—we could then talk about how computers supported those educational needs, if at all.

He ended with this. He told me if we were serious about improving education, and not just pushing hardware and software, we had to begin and end by focusing on education. If we focused on anything other than that, we were no more than “empty vessels” and “product pushers.”

The only guide he gave me was this—he told me about some fascinating research on the benefits of “constructivist education.” But that was it. The scope of the white paper would be mine. The conclusions of the white paper would be mine. The product would be mine. My task, my charge, was to create this white paper that focused on how children learn. Then Steve politely kicked me out of his office. He didn’t want me worrying about the technical stuff. He didn’t want me worrying about computers, cables and connectivity. He didn’t want me to worry about how the company made money or would make money with this. He wanted my singular focus on unlocking one door—how do children learn?

I walked out of Steve’s office and clearly remember looking at my hands.

What have you created?

I would create this. This white paper. I would try and understand how children learn. By starting there, by understanding that, I would the better understand how we could help our children, impact our schools and truly make a difference.

And so began my journey. The most important journey of my life.

A journey that continues to this day.

A journey I intend to share with you.

About this blog

“If you can’t read, it’s going to be hard to realize dreams.”
—Booker T. Washington

Dedicated in 1922, the Booker T. Washington Monument,“Lifting the Veil” (pictured above), is located in the center of the institution of higher learning that he helped to found--Tuskegee University. The inscription at the base of the monument reads: “He lifted the veil of ignorance from his people and pointed the way to progress through education and industry.”

One of Washington’s guiding beliefs was that economic independence was earned through self-help, hard work and access to a quality education. I believe that this belief is as true now as it was then--perhaps more so. As noted by former Harvard University president and now Obama economic advisor Lawrence H. Summers when giving a commencement speech about the importance of education, “A fair chance and an unfettered start in the race of life is at the heart of the American Dream.”

And so it is.

But what does it mean to “lift the veil” of ignorance today?

What does it mean to “progress through education” today?

These are the essential questions that I intend to explore in this blog.

Along the way, I hope to facilitate thought, ideas and discussion. I do not promise answers (in fact, I will probably ask far more questions), but I do have a point of view, a point of view that I look forward to sharing with all of you, wherever you are and whomever you are, as I explore what we must do, individually and institutionally, to lift the veil of ignorance and to prepare this and future generations of students to compete and succeed in the global economy 21st century.