The familiar cliché turns up in a lot of conversations with educators. Normally the emphasis is on the last word, rarely on the fourth. But I believe that “it” is the key word.

I’ll get to it in a minute.

You may have noticed that President Barack Obama all but ignored K-12 education in his State of the Union speech. He made one direct reference to K-12 (to higher graduation rates). He devoted a lot of time to his proposal to make community college free, which is a non-starter for Republicans, and to expanding high-quality early childhood programs, but nary a word about the current effort to reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, now called No Child Left Behind.

He stayed away from the Common Core National Standards, a wise idea given that the Administration maintains that it’s a state initiative, and the forthcoming Common Core tests, a genuine third rail nowadays. He used to tout ‘Race to the Top,’ the initiative that led many states, desperate for dollars, to line up behind higher standards (read “Common Core”), more charter schools, better information, and test-based accountability, but none of that {{1}} crossed his lips in this year’s State of the Union.

Based on that speech, what is the President’s “it” that schools do, alone or in concert? Graduate as many students as possible, I guess.

Here in New York State, Governor Andrew Cuomo is taking a page out of the playbook that the President seemed to abandon last night. He is promising more test-based accountability, more charter schools, and more effective ways of getting rid of ineffective teachers. Some observers believe he has his eye on the White House, which makes others think he’s out of touch with what’s going on in schools and society.

I’m not convinced that the Governor actually has a vision of “it,” though he seems to be convinced that ineffective teachers, obstructionist unions and lead-footed bureaucracies are keeping schools from doing whatever it is they are supposed to be doing.

Now about that cliché, “Schools cannot do it alone.” Most people don’t believe schools should operate alone. Many believe that parents are a child’s primary educators, while others expect parents to participate in their children’s education. Others maintain that it takes a village to educate its children, meaning that education is better when meaningful social services are coordinated and when businesses and community groups pitch in.

Which brings me back to the fourth word and the purpose of schools. Just what is the “it” that schools are supposed to do? Rarely do we examine that question, settling instead for canned phrases like ‘get all children ready to learn,’ ‘educate the whole child,’ and ‘ensure that students are college and career ready.’

For some, the “it” is represented by higher test scores. Get those, and that’s proof that schools have done “it.” For others, increasing the high school graduation rate is evidence that schools have done their job–That was the President’s evidence in his State of the Union speech. Others believe “it” means doing better on international comparisons like PISA, or improving scores on our own National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP).

You may have read “Among the Disrupted” in Sunday’s New York Times Book Review. This powerful and disturbing essay by Leon Wieseltier is not about schools. Rather, he attacks the role that data-gathering plays in our culture, but much of what he wrote is pertinent to the role schools could play.

Especially these lines (emphasis added): “Quantification is the most overwhelming influence upon the contemporary American understanding of, well, everything. It is enabled by the idolatry of data, which has itself been enabled by the almost-unimaginable capabilities of the new technology. The distinction between knowledge and information is a thing of the past, and there is no greater disgrace than to be a thing of the past.”

Mr. Wieseltier has identified, for me anyway, the vital “it” that ought to be the purpose of our schools. They must be organized to help young people distinguish between knowledge and information. Teachers must help students formulate questions and then search for answers to those questions. Schools must prove Mr. Wieseltier wrong.

Think of it this way: young people swim in a 24/7 stream of data. In that world of information-overload, how are young people to know what’s true? Only by challenging, asking questions, doubting and digging. And they ought to be doing that in their classrooms, guided by skillful teachers who are comfortable with giving students greater control over their own learning.

Technology floods our world with information, but the human brain can develop ways of weighing and sorting information to separate the wheat from the chaff. (It should go without saying that we need to encourage–and model–choosing the wheat!)

Some schools do this. “What do you know?” the great educator Deborah Meier would ask of students, “And how do you know that you know it?” I imagine that at Sidwell Friends School, where the Obama daughters are students, the “it” of education moved away from regurgitation and toward inquiry a long time ago–and perhaps that’s why the Obamas chose it for their daughters .

But the Administration’s education policies are reinforcing an unimaginative vision of education, a business model with a bottom line of standardized tests results. Ironically, many forward-thinking business leaders have discarded that narrow view and instead support schools that graduate students who can think critically, make sense out of contradictory information, and work well with people of every age, race, gender, religion and sexual identity.

Unlike its rhyming barnyard relative, “it” does not just happen. These are choices we make, choices that matter.

—-

[[1]]1. One can imagine Education Secretary Arne Duncan and his people sending over suggestions for the speech…and the White House throwing them away as fast as they come in.  After all, these policies, particularly the effort to punish teachers for low student test scores, seriously dampened enthusiasm for Obama and Democrats in the recent elections.[[1]]

For the last 18 months or so, three {{1}} colleagues and I have been immersed in educational technology, trying to figure out how it is being used and abused in our schools.

Technology and the internet changed the rest of our world a long time ago. Now, federal and state government are spending billions to get our schools and classrooms up to speed. While equal access to technology strikes me as a civil right, what happens after access is achieved is just as important. If this marvelous technology is harnessed simply to try to produce higher test scores, then its vast potential will be lost, and those students will be denied opportunities to dig deep, to raise questions and find answers, and to have real control over their own learning.

Unfortunately, there seems to be a lot of what some call ‘electronic work sheets’ and ‘digital drill and kill’ out there.

For this film, we visited schools and teachers in California, Arizona, Pennsylvania, Oregon, New York, New Jersey and elsewhere. We learned a lot about what’s called ‘Blended Learning.’ In fact, I believe we have discovered the recipe for successful blended learning, which we will share in the film.

(Here’s a hint: Effective technology and skilled teachers are necessary but not sufficient, because there’s another vital ingredient.)

It’s been an exhilarating journey for us, and you can now enjoy some of what we have seen.

While you’re on the website, please sign up to follow The School Sleuth on Twitter and to get regular bulletins about our progress, including news of when the film will be seen nationally.

We will be posting ‘clues’ and interesting videos on a regular basis, so please consider bookmarking the site. Thanks.

We recognized a major hurdle from day one: Mention “technology in education” to people outside our wonky world, and their eyes glaze over. To keep that from happening, we decided to bring back The School Sleuth, the film noir detective we created 15 years ago. Back then, he was hired by a beautiful blonde to solve “The Case of an Excellent School” but got beaten up along the way by a thug hired by education’s status quo. {{2}}

“The Case of the Wired Classroom” is also a film noir parody. I play the detective, a world-weary gent who is not as bright as he likes to think he is (type casting!).

The film opens in a bar at 4AM, in the city that never sleeps….and goes from there.

The world premiere of “School Sleuth: The Case of the Wired Classroom” will be Friday, March 13th at 2:30 PM in Washington, DC, as part of Digital Learning Day. This year DLD is being wrapped into the annual Celebration of Teaching and Learning, organized by Ron Thorpe’s National Board for Professional Teaching Standards. This event seems to get better and better every year, and I hope to see many of you there.

If there’s a way to reserve a ticket to see the film that afternoon, I suggest you consider doing it, because the room holds only 250 people.

—-
[[1]]1. Cat McGrath, Jessica Windt and David Wald. Lately we’ve also been helped by Brendan Joyce.[[1]]
[[2]]2. He solved the case and won a Peabody Award, but he didn’t get the girl![[2]]

What kind of year can we expect for public education? I’ve been reading some of the predictions, and most focus on Washington, perhaps because the pundits think that’s where the action is. While predictions are almost always wrong and made to be forgotten, the process can remind us of our goals and values, not a bad thing.

Let’s begin with Education Secretary Arne Duncan’s predictions. He made four, according to Alyson Klein of Education Week. They’re non-controversial, and all in the category of ‘more.’ 1) At least 60,000 more kids will attend quality preschool; 2) 600 more colleges, companies and organizations will commit to help thousands more students get ready for college; 3) 10,000,000 more students will get access to high speed internet; and 4) more students will graduate high school as the percentage climbs above 80. These are admirable resolutions, wonderful goals to aim for.

Counting and measuring was the original federal role in public education. We know our schools are resegregating, for example, because of the Department’s Office of Civil Rights, which, under the strong leadership of Catherine Lhamon, is pushing to wake us up to this national embarrassment.

No predictions from the Secretary about quality, just quantity. Wouldn’t you love to know if he thinks that the in-classroom experiences of most of our kids will be significantly improved in 2015 because of the Common Core State Standards? But he wisely stays away from that.

Nor does the Secretary wade into deep or controversial waters. Will more states walk away from the Common Core and the associated tests? Will more parents join the opt-out movement and keep their children home on testing days? Will more teachers refuse to administer standardized tests? Will more politicians, foundation leaders and others back away from what is called ‘test-based accountability, using scores to judge teachers? Will more parents choose to homeschool their children?

All of those predictions are out there, naturally, from pundits on the left, right and center.

Rather than make predictions, I offer a wish/hope list for 2015: Ten wishes in all.

It’s my hope that Lamar Alexander in the Senate and John Kline in the House will make progress on the reauthorization of ESEA, because the current law, No Child Left Behind, expired years ago but remains in force. That bizarre situation has given the Secretary of Education the power to grant waivers to NCLB’s more onerous provisions, which he has granted to states that have been willing to hew to the Administration’s own reform policies.

I hope that Washington has now, finally, learned the fundamental lesson of NCLB, which is, simply put, “Washington cannot run American public education.” Many learned that during the Bush Administration, but not the Obama Administration. Those folks apparently drew a different conclusion: “Maybe Bush can’t run public education, but we can!” Well, they can’t.

I wish the Secretary would back away from his commitment to tying test scores to judgments about teachers, but that’s not likely to happen. In fact, his choices for Under Secretary (Ted Mitchell, who comes from the market-based education sector) and Special Advisor (former New York State Commissioner John King) suggest that Mr. Duncan is doubling down, not seeking common ground.

It is my fervent wish that the good people within the charter school world will police their own, because it’s increasingly clear that the ‘movement’ is being hijacked by profiteers and other ne’er-do-wells who are in it for the money. If the good folks continue to do very little, charter schools will become another failed experiment. It’s disingenuous for education’s leaders and politicians to say they “support good charters and oppose bad ones” and then do nothing about the loopholes that allow for-profit and not-for-profit charter operators to looti the public treasury.

I hope that the educational approach known as ‘social and emotional learning’ attracts more public support, some new champions, and maybe even a name that doesn’t sound so soft and squishy.

I wish that educators who are using technology just to get test scores up would leave the profession. “Drill and kill” deserves to die. Technology allows students to be producers of knowledge, not just consumers and regurgitators. We owe it to our kids to get it right.

Related to that wish, I hope that the idea of giving students more control over their own learning spreads. When students use technology to do original work, they almost always end up collaborating, a key piece of ‘social and emotional learning.’

I wish that no one ever again use the word ‘rigor’ when talking about education. “Challenging” is good; “rigorous” is bad. Let’s agree to leave rigor where it belongs, with “rigor mortis” and other harsh and unyielding stuff.

I wish that the critics of testing and ‘test-based accountability’ would get together with their opponents and agree on some fair, effective and efficient ways of evaluating teachers. Just being against something isn’t enough, in my book, and teachers deserve to be fairly evaluated.

I wish that we would figure out how to make it harder to become a teacher but easier to be one. Right now a lot of our policies and rhetoric are making it downright unpleasant to be a teacher. Let’s raise entry level standards and improve training, but then we need to make sure teachers are free to teach.

How will we remember 2015? Will it be “The Year of the Common Core” or “The Year of Opting Out”? There are other possibilities: “The Year Preschool Took Off,” “The Year College Students and Parents Said ‘No Mas’,” and “The Year of Blended Learning.”

What do you anticipate 2015 will bring for American education? What are your wishes?

Overlooked in the stories about the shooting death of Michael Brown in August and a Grand Jury’s decision not to indict the white police officer who shot Mr. Brown is the role of the public schools. What to make of public schools in Ferguson, Missouri, closing their doors on both occasions, while the local public library kept its doors open–and functioned as a school? Is this evidence of the depth of disenfranchisement of the Black community in one small city{{1}}, or does it suggest that public schools are no longer the vibrant center of community life?

Early on Monday, November 24, hours before the Grand Jury announcement regarding the possible indictment in the shooting death of Michael Brown, Ferguson-Florissant, six other nearby school districts, a charter network, two Christian schools, two pre-schools, at least two private schools, and the local campus of Washington University announced that they would be closed the next day. The seven public school districts enroll more than 55,000 students, including the 11,600 who attend the 24 schools in the Ferguson-Florissant school district.

The Ferguson-Florissant decision–made by an all-White school board–released those 11,600 young people from the obligation to go to school the next day, and it’s a virtual certainty that some of them ended up on the streets of Ferguson, where rioting and looting took place after the Grand Jury’s decision was announced.

By contrast, Ferguson’s public library kept its doors open, announcing in a tweet, “We are open 9-4. Wifi, water, rest, knowledge. We are here for you. If neighbors have kids, let them know teachers are here today, too.” {{2}}

This was a repeat performance. Schools closed for a week in August after Mr. Brown was killed, while the library remained open.

Ferguson’s Head Librarian Scott Bonner had no problem staying open to provide an alternative for parents with school-age children: “We had about 60 volunteer teachers come in here to help,” he told me. They were retirees, Ferguson district teachers and Teach for America corps members. That day only about 40 kids, ranging from preschool to middle school, showed up, but in August, when during the week schools were closed, more than 200 children came to the library every day to ‘do school.’

When news of Mr. Bonner’s decision went viral, donations began pouring in. Within a week, the library {{3}} received over $300,000 in donations, 100 times what it receives in a typical year–and 75% of its annual budget of just $408,000, according to Bonner. (The library is independent of the community and has its own taxing authority, so the local City Council will not be able to reduce its budget for next year.) As of this writing, the $400,000 barrier has been crossed.

Peter Sagal of NPR’s “Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me,” author John Green, and venture capitalist Marc Andreesen are among those who used their influence to support the library. Andreesen has 223,000 followers on Twitter, Sagal 114,000, and Green an astonishing 3,470,000.

The American Library Association sent this tweet to its 56,800 followers: “So proud of the @fergusonlibrary staff. Truly the heart of the community, serving everyone. #whatlibrariesdo.”

When I reached out to Tony Marx, the President of the New York Public Library, for his thoughts, he was on Staten Island, urging local librarians to remain open in the aftermath of another Grand Jury non-indictment, the Eric Garner case. Mr. Marx sent this email: “What the Ferguson Public Library did was an inspiration to us all and indeed relevant to library leaders across the country. By keeping open in a difficult moment for the community, the library displayed for all that libraries are indeed the centerpieces of civic space.” And, by the way, the Staten Island public libraries remained open.

But what about the schools? Back in Missouri, only one school district in the Ferguson area went against the trend and kept schools open. Rockwood Superintendent Eric Knost explained his decision in a letter to the parents of the district’s 21,500 students:

We believe it is important for us to provide the opportunity for a regular school day for our Rockwood students. In times of unrest and uncertainty, children need the security of routine so we want our families to have the ability to send their children to school. We completely understand that not everyone will agree with this decision, but we remind parents that it is ultimately their decision as to whether their children attend school today.

Regardless, we will be there, very visibly greeting kids and providing the option of a school day.

Why was “shut down” the default position for Ferguson-Florissant and so many other schools in that time of crisis? I reached out to a Ferguson High School Principal and the Board but was only able to talk with a PR person, who promised to get back to me. I’m still waiting.

I want to ask someone out there about the school’s obligation to its community and its students and teachers. Are libraries somehow different? Although no one from Ferguson would talk with me, three experienced superintendents responded to my emailed question.

Paul Vallas, who led the schools in Chicago, Philadelphia, New Orleans and Bridgeport: “I don’t believe in closing schools unless it’s absolutely necessary, because kids need a safe place to be.”

Dan Domenech, whose 40 year career in education includes 27 years as a superintendent: “If I was anticipating that riots would break out and kids would be safer in school, I would have kept them open. If my concern was with the anticipation of the no-indictment and how that might lead to confrontations in the school, I would have closed them.”

Jack Dale, formerly of Fairfax County, Virginia, the nation’s 12th largest district, wrote, “I would tend toward not closing schools unless I believed there were safety issues for students — that to me is the only reason to close schools. If we were open, I’d also be prepared to use the decision as a teachable moment. I remember doing so during 9/11 and other major events of our nation.”

When Superstorm Sandy devastated the New Jersey coast, some schools reopened so that teachers and administrators could distribute blankets, food and warm clothing or provide shelter for suddenly homeless students. The generosity of teachers toward homeless kids is well documented.

One can only hope that the Ferguson-Florrissant School District, with its seeming disregard for its civic responsibility, is an outlier and that most public school leaders would not shirk their responsibilities to build community.

—-

[[1]]1. That’s basically a rhetorical question, because of Saint Louis’s and Missouri’s dismal history of race relations, including education.  The grim story is here: http://www.propublica.org/article/ferguson-school-segregation?utm_source=et&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=dailynewsletter&utm_content=&utm_name= [[1]]

[[2]]2. The library’s twitter feed is fun to read and follow. https://twitter.com/fergusonlibrary [[2]]

[[3]]3. Librarian Scott Bonner posted this virtual tour (long before the Michael Brown shooting): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XtrUgdJZMQQ [[3]]

Because I believe that books are a great gift for those interested in public education, I’ve compiled a list of suggestions, with the caveat that I do not have time to read most of the hundred-plus education-related books that come to me during the year.

2014 has been a good year for books about education. Two made the prestigious New York Times list of 100 Notable Books of the Year. Not surprisingly, they are two of my top four.

1. The must-read book of 2014 is Dana Goldstein’s The Teacher Wars: A History of America’s Most Embattled Profession. She writes well and has a great story to tell. If you are at all like me, you’ll find yourself thinking, “I didn’t know that” quite often. She draws compelling parallels between things that have happened recently or are happening now and events and people from the distant past, reminding us that, if we fail to remember the past, we are doomed to repeat it. The Teacher Wars made the Times’s list. {{1}} (Doubleday)

2. Building a Better Teacher: How Teaching Works (and How to Teach It to Everyone), by Elizabeth Green, also made the list of 100 Notable Books. It’s an engaging tour of the worlds of teaching and teacher training, with an exceptionally talented young reporter as the tour guide. (W.W. Norton)

3. Speaking of Fourth Grade: What Listening to Kids Tells Us about School in America, by Inda Schaenen, is an eye-opening read because Ms. Schaenen does what reporters and writers don’t do enough of: she interviews young children. The author is a teacher who took a year off and interviewed 166 fourth graders–(white, black, brown; urban, suburban, rural; wealthy, middle class, poor; and Christian, Jewish, Muslim) across the state of Missouri, where she teaches {{2}}. She has arranged the book according to the questions she asked: What is your school like? What’s the purpose of school? How do kids here treat each other? How do adults here treat kids? How do you feel about standardized tests? Do you ever feel bored? If so, when? And so on…. I think you will find it engaging and illuminating. (The New Press)

4. Teaching with Heart: Poetry that Speaks to the Courage to Teach is the most poignant book that has come across my desk in a long time. The editors, Sam Intrator and Megan Scribner, asked teachers to explain how their favorite poems have affected their teaching. Full disclosure: When I was asked to provide a blurb for the jacket, I did so with pleasure. This is what I submitted: “I am having trouble finding the right words to describe my feelings about this book. I opened it at random and was drawn in. Hours–and a few tears–later I emerged, feeling stronger personally and more optimistic about education’s future. I wish I could afford to buy copies of “Teaching With Heart” for all the teachers I have interviewed in my 40 years of reporting. My budget can’t handle that. Instead, I recommend that all of us non-teachers buy copies of this inspiring book for teachers we know. You will probably want one for yourself too. {{3}}” (Jossey-Bass)

Other education books from 2014 that you might enjoy:

It’s Complicated: The Social Lives of Networked Teens, by Danah Boyd, comes highly recommended by Greg Toppo of USA Today;

Fear and Learning in America – Bad Data, Good Teachers, and the Attack on Public Education: John Kuhn, a veteran school superintendent in Texas, criticizes the ‘test and punish’ policies of Arne Duncan, Michelle Rhee, Joel Klein and others;

Lessons of Hope: How to Fix our Schools. The aforementioned Mr. Klein, former Chancellor of the New York City Public Schools, defends his record and argues for policies that he believes will transform public education;

Strugglers Into Strivers: What the Military Can Teach Us About How Young People Learn and Grow, by the always thoughtful Hugh Price, former president of the Urban League;

How We Learn, by Benedict Carey, is a book that Greg Toppo and I believe will astound you;

Excellent Sheep, by William Deresiewicz, has made waves in higher education;

The Marshmallow Test, by Walter Mischel, confirms the positive effect of learning to defer gratification;

Hold Fast to Dreams by Beth Zasloff and Joshua Steckel is one of New York Times reporter Motoko Rich’s recommendations.

While these books are available on Amazon, I urge you to patronize your local bookseller this holiday season (and throughout the year). Happy Holidays.

—-

[[1]]1. If there’s a revised edition, I will ask Ms. Goldstein to change an entry about me: Although I wrote about the Teacher Corps in my doctoral dissertation, I did not serve in the Teacher Corps.[[1]]

[[2]]2. Michael Brown, who was killed in Ferguson this summer, graduated from the high school where she taught.[[2]]

[[3]]3. They used the last four sentences on the book jacket.[[3]]

After 40+ years of reporting about education, I am absolutely convinced that, in the very best schools, the students are the workers and the work they are doing is meaningful. What they do–their product–depends upon their ages and stages, but the concept doesn’t change.

In these schools, teachers are conductors, directors, supervisors, guides or docents.

This observation flies in the face of conventional wisdom, which holds that teachers are workers whose job is to produce capable students. That gets further bastardized when ‘capable’ is defined by test scores until we end up thinking, “The work of teachers is to add value, which is measured by higher test scores.”

If you had been traveling with me the past few weeks, you would have seen three examples of outstanding education: My 3-year-old granddaughter’s pre-school, a 12th grade science class in a public high school in Philadelphia, and a journalism class at Palo Alto High School in California.

The 3-year-olds were working on a project designed to help with fine motor control and decision-making (with some American history mixed in, I imagine). My granddaughter and her classmates took the work seriously. {{1}} The product, a Thanksgiving turkey, has value (perhaps priceless to the parents who receive the fruits of the labor).

The Philadelphia 12th graders were also serious workers. Their assignment was to design age appropriate toys for babies and infants, toys that will amuse and stimulate brain development. Stage two of the task: come up with an advertising campaign to sell the toy they designed.

That’s a serious project, with a real product. Science teacher Tim Best designed it in broad strokes, with some clear goals, including learning a great deal about brain development. By 12th grade at this school, students are accustomed to working together on projects; they hold each other accountable, although Mr. Best is also monitoring their progress.

Tim Best and other teachers at Science Leadership Academy told me that projects are designed to teach both content and process.

Tim explained, “I learned by memorizing science words, but I don’t ask my students to memorize science words. I’d rather them experience the science and learn science by doing science, and, therefore, they’re learning science process in addition to science content. And science process, you could argue, is almost more important for the general person who is not going to be a scientist.”

He added, “‘Reading chapter two and answering the questions at the end of the chapter’ is not teaching either science or process.”

I think the journalism students at Palo Alto High School must be the luckiest kids in the world. Their brilliant teacher, Esther Wojcicki {{2}}, and her talented colleagues {{3}}, give them the opportunity to produce meaningful journalism in a number of formats: a newspaper, radio programs, a daily television program and five magazines.

This is real-world work: The print {{4}} publications are advertiser-supported, and none can come out until the students have the signed advertising contracts in hand. “This is not selling Girl Scout cookies,” she told me. “This is how the real world works.”

With opportunity comes responsibility. At Paly the journalism students hold each other accountable, the faculty is paying attention and–most powerful of all–their work is public. Among Esther’s former students is James Franco, the actor-painter-writer. Recalling her class, he wrote, “(T)he important pedagogical aspect of working on the paper, that I understood subconsciously then, and that I understand explicitly as a teacher now, is that my work was being seen by a public, and that that changed the work. I wasn’t writing for a school grade as much as I was writing for independent readers.” {{5}}

What’s essential in all project-based learning is the absence of a ‘right’ answer or ‘right’ product. It truly is a journey, one which may also teach the instructor a good deal. Tim Best told me that projects that have a predetermined answer are merely recipes, not a journey of discovery. Good journalism is by definition an inquiry: Journalists are supposed to ask questions they don’t know the answers to.

In ‘faux projects,’ the work quickly loses meaning, and most students do not retain what they were supposed to learn. They may absorb material and regurgitate it successfully on tests, but that’s not genuine learning.

Those students in Philadelphia and Palo Alto are engaged in what’s called ‘blended learning,’ a mix of technology and human teaching. The machines and the teachers are interdependent, truly blended. Think of a chocolate milkshake, as opposed to putting oil and water in the same container.

The popular phrase, “Learning by doing,” is an incomplete thought, a phrase lacking an essential object. Doing WHAT is critical. In the three good schools I just visited, kids don’t get free rein to do whatever they feel like doing. Adults design (or help design) the projects, and they monitor progress. Teachers help students formulate questions and give guidance when they go off track or get discouraged.

“Time on task” is another incomplete phrase. What’s the task? Is it meaningful or trivial? Are students memorizing the periodic table and the major rivers of the United States, or are they measuring air or water quality in their neighborhoods and sharing the data with students in other places in order to make sense of it? Many educators make the mistake of focusing on the amount of time students are spending on the assignment (believing that more is better, of course) but fail to think critically about the tasks they are assigning.

The best schools {{6}} are serious about the ‘what’ and the ‘task,’ because the adults in charge of those schools are not obsessed about control.

Unfortunately, too many schools focus on regurgitation of information, a process that is encouraged and rewarded by the testing regime and the public focus on scores on standardized tests. It takes courage to swim against the tide, to challenge the conventional wisdom.

We need to celebrate and encourage teachers like Tim Best and Esther Wojcicki and their like-minded colleagues.

And maybe our K-12 schools should emulate what happens in the best pre-schools.

—-

[[1]]1. If it hadn’t been Fathers/Grandfathers Day, she would have had time to add more feathers. I’m sure her Thanksgiving Turkey will be resplendent before she takes it home to her parents.[[1]]

[[2]]2. Full disclosure: Esther is a friend and the Chair of the Board of Learning Matters, my non-profit production company.[[2]]

[[3]]3. Paul Kandell, Paul Hoeprich, Brett Griffith, and Margo Wixom.[[3]]

[[4]]4. They are also on line, of course.[[4]]

[[5]]5. Taken from the foreword to her forthcoming book, “Moonshots in Education.”[[5]]

[[6]]6. Tom Vander Ark has published his list of 100 schools worth visiting. Palo Alto HS makes the list, along with a lot of ‘no excuses’ programs and some ‘blended learning’ and project-based programs.  It’s quite a mix, and ‘worth visiting’ seems to be a carefully-chosen phrase, stopping short of a full-throated endorsement. http://gettingsmart.com/2014/11/100-schools-worth-visiting [[6]]

Suppose Jesse James were to return to earth today. Would he pick up where he left off, robbing banks and trains, or would he find a better way to try to make money? Would he give up crime and go straight?

If I were a gambler, I’d bet that Jesse would abandon his native Missouri and move to North Carolina. There’s money to be made there–legally–and not just in tobacco, textiles and hogs.

Jesse James, meet Baker Mitchell.

Of course you’ve heard of the notorious criminal Jesse James {{1}}, but you may not be familiar with Baker Mitchell. He’s a businessman who has figured out a completely legal way to extract millions of dollars from North Carolina in payment for his public {{2}} charter schools.

I read on the internet that Mr. Mitchell is the salt of the earth, a successful entrepreneur from Texas who decided to devote his retirement years to improving the lives of disadvantaged children, when he might have chosen to go fishing and play golf. He’s a “Liberty Leader” who uses “his energy and charitable dollars to change education for the better — to drive education paradigms back to more traditional, classical methods with their proven records of accomplishment and success.” All that must be true because I read it on the internet. {{3}}

So Mr. Mitchell, now 74, moved from Texas to North Carolina and opened some charter schools to help children. He now has four and has been talking about opening more.

And why wouldn’t he? Even though none of his publicly-funded schools is set up to run ‘for profit,’ about $19,000,000 of the $55,000,000 he has received in public funds has gone to his own for-profit businesses, which manage many aspects of the schools. That information, and more, can be found in Marian Wang’s brilliant reporting for Pro Publica.

Here’s a short excerpt:

Every year, millions of public education dollars flow through Mitchell’s chain of four nonprofit charter schools to for-profit companies he controls.

The schools buy or lease nearly everything from companies owned by Mitchell. Their desks. Their computers. The training they provide to teachers. Most of the land and buildings. Unlike with traditional school districts, at Mitchell’s charter schools there’s no competitive bidding. No evidence of haggling over rent or contracts.

The schools have all hired the same for-profit management company to run their day-to-day operations. The company, Roger Bacon Academy, is owned by Mitchell. It functions as the schools’ administrative arm, taking the lead in hiring and firing school staff. It handles most of the bookkeeping. The treasurer of the nonprofit that controls the four schools is also the chief financial officer of Mitchell’s management company. The two organizations even share a bank account.

Pro Publica reports that Roger Bacon Academy rents land, buildings and equipment from Coastal Habitat Conservancy LLC, which Mr. Mitchell also owns. Until last year, he also sat on the charter school Board of Trustees.

Mr. Mitchell seems to have experienced a learning curve. At first he billed his own charter schools for only two line items: ‘Building and equipment rental’ and ‘Management fees,’ for a total of just $2,600,878 in FY2008 and $2,325,881 in FY2009.

But apparently he was learning how the system works. In FY 2010 he added an innocuous sounding line item, “Allocated costs,” for which he billed $739,893, cracking the $3,000,000 barrier.

In FY2011 he added more line items:

Staff development & supervision: $549,626
Back office & support: $169,357
Building rent-classrooms: $965,740
Building rent-administration offices: $82,740, and
Miscellaneous equipment rent: $317,898.

The grand total for FY2011 was $3,712,946.

Jesse James was shot by a member of his own gang; if he were alive today, he might be dying from envy.

Mr. Mitchell broke the $4,000,000 barrier in FY2012, when the same line items totaled $4,137,382.

According to the audited financial statements for FY2013, Mr. Mitchell’s companies received $6,313,924, as follows:

16% management fee: $2,047,873
Administrative support: $2,796,943
Building and equipment rental: $1,474,108

Dig into the audited statements (here and here) and you get some idea of where the $6,313,924 did not go. For example, the schools spent only $16,319 on staff development {{4}}, which works out to less than three-tenths of one percent. They report spending just $28,060 on computers and technology, which is also about three-tenths of one percent.

Are you curious to know where the money comes from? In FY2013 Mr. Mitchell’s schools collected nearly $9,000,000 from North Carolina and the federal government. Local school districts paid Mr. Mitchell’s schools anywhere from $4095 to $1,712,328, depending upon the number of students from that district.

Don’t forget charitable contributions. Mr. Mitchell’s schools report receiving a whopping $93 in donations.

Of course the entire $15,000,000 that has gone to Mr. Mitchell’s companies has not been profit; surely there were legitimate expenses, such as building maintenance, insurance, utilities and so forth. That’s a logical leap, but we have to infer because he does not have to disclose spending. These are public dollars (all but that whopping $93 donation), but the public has no right to know how its money is being spent because the charter schools aren’t actually spending the money; his for-profit businesses are. Non-disclosure is fine with him, as Pro Publica reported.

Mitchell has also expressed frustration with a state law passed this summer that requires charter schools to comply with public records laws. Still, the new law does not apply to charter management companies such as Mitchell’s. (emphasis added) The board of Mitchell’s charter schools has repeatedly tangled with local news outlets that have made public records requests seeking salaries and other financial details from the schools. Last month the StarNews of Wilmington filed a lawsuit against the schools’ nonprofit board, alleging that it has violated the state public records law. (The board chair for Charter Day School, Inc., John Ferrante, did not respond to requests for comment.)

Mitchell himself has taken a hard line against disclosures of financial information concerning his for-profit companies. For private corporations, he wrote on his blog in July, “the need for transparency is superfluous” and is simply a mechanism for the media to “intrude and spin their agenda.

(At this point please go back and reread footnote #3, perhaps the key takeaway from this piece.)

How the great state of North Carolina, once known for its pro-child education policies under the leadership of former Governor James B. Hunt, Jr, became a playground for canny profit-seekers {{5}} is carefully explained in sharp detail by Ted Fiske, the former education editor for the New York Times, and Duke Professor Helen Ladd. Read their piece, and you will understand that I am telling the truth when I say that, while Jesse James was an out-and-out criminal, Mr. Mitchell is operating within the law.

I’m guessing that Jesse James, wherever he now resides, is wishing he could return to earth, renounce his criminal ways, move to North Carolina, and open some charter schools {{6}}.

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[[1]]1. “Jesse Woodson James (September 5, 1847 – April 3, 1882) was an American outlaw, gang leader,bank robber, train robber, and murderer from the state of Missouri and the most famous member of the James-Younger Gang. Already a celebrity when he was alive, he became a legendary figure of the Wild West after his death.” This is taken from his Wikipedia entry.[[1]]
[[2]]2. Charter watchers often write about the difference between for-profit charter schools and non-profit charter schools. I am wondering whether this may be a distinction without a difference.[[2]]
[[3]]3. You can find more lavish praise for Mr. Mitchell on the same website, the John William Pope Foundation. [[3]]
[[4]]4. He does keep an eye on his teachers, Marian Wang reports: “Mitchell’s company has managed the schools’ staffs with similar rigor. A strong sense of hierarchy took root as the schools expanded. When a new corporate office was built to house the management company, teachers jokingly began calling it the “White House.” From the “White House,” Mitchell and other top administrators could watch teachers in their classrooms via surveillance cameras installed in every classroom, in every school. During a tour of school grounds with this reporter, Mitchell and the school’s IT director discussed surveillance software called iSpy. “We need to call it something else,” Mitchell offered with a chuckle. “Call it iHelp or something.” Mitchell said the cameras give administrators the ability to observe teachers in action and offer them tips and coaching.”[[4]]
[[5]]5. They can be found in other states, of course. Some citizens in Buffalo, New York, are concerned that Carl Paladino, an elected member of the school board there, has a conflict of interest because of his investments in four charter schools. [[5]]
[[6]]6. Remember that scene in ‘The Graduate’ where an older adult male gives young Dustin Hoffman career advice? “Plastics,” he tells Hoffman, that’s where the money is. If that movie were remade today, the adult would be whispering, “Charter schools.”[[6]]

What do schools produce? And who are the workers in schools? The familiar answers to those old questions are 1) “Teachers are the workers,” and 2) “Their job is to turn out capable graduates.”

Both answers are wrong for the 21st Century. In 21st Century schools, students must be the workers, and their work product must be knowledge. Teachers play a vital role, of course, but as docents/conductors/managers/coaches/guides….and learners.

In 21st Century schools, students do work that matters to them and engages them in the moment. They are not assigned tasks that ‘will help them later in life’ or that supposedly ‘will be important when they are in college.’ No hollow assurances or deferred gratification, but genuinely valuable work instead.

In the course of doing work that matters, they also acquire skills they will need to navigate life successfully, such as writing and speaking clearly and persuasively, manipulating numbers, formulating questions, and working with others.{{1}}

Most of our schools haven’t gotten the memo, unfortunately. They practice ‘regurgitation education’ where students memorize the state capitals, the elements, the great rivers of the world and how Congress enacts legislation. {{2}}

Choosing the work in a 21st Century school is a collaborative process led by adults. In other words, kids don’t get to do whatever they feel like doing (or not doing). The work has to be directed toward serious learning goals, and it has to be challenging. {{3}}

One day last week I watched a (public) high school science teacher work with 12th graders setting up a project in their “Science and Society” class: Teams would design toys for an infant or toddler that would facilitate brain growth and stimulation. Each team could choose the age they were designing for, but their work would have to be based on neuroscience. Once they designed the toy, their next job would be to create an advertising campaign for their product.

Smiles all around from the workers, even though this would not be a walk in the park.

Over the next few weeks they will produce designs and plans for new toys….and in the process they will sharpen and grow a valuable skill set that will help make them successful adults.

What’s particularly interesting is that the project does not have a ‘right’ answer. In creating the assignment, the teacher didn’t have a ‘recipe’ in mind or a specific outcome for the project, although the learning goals were clear.{{4}} But he’s on the journey with his students, trusting them to take responsibility for their learning, even as he monitors their progress and helps whenever necessary.

Are we as a nation moving to create schools like that one? Sadly, no. We aren’t ‘rethinking’ schools. Instead we are ‘reforming’ them to improve test scores, close achievement gaps, lower the dropout rate and beat Finland.

I think that’s the wrong direction, but change is in the air.

The backlash against excessive testing, which seems to be growing stronger, now threatens to sweep away the Common Core State Standards and the Smarter Balanced and PAARC tests that have been designed for it.

The establishment is fighting back. This from the President last Wednesday:

I have directed Education Secretary Arne Duncan to support states and school districts in the effort to improve assessment of student learning so that parents and teachers have the information they need, that classroom time is used wisely, and assessments are one part of fair evaluation of teachers and accountability for schools. {{5}}

Two pillars of the establishment, the Chief State School Officers and the Council of the Great City Schools issued a joint statement of concern that acknowledged that some students are taking too many tests and that something had to be done about it.

That general view was soon echoed by the Center for American Progress, Chiefs for Change, and others.

Secretary Duncan soon issued his own statement:

Educators, parents, and policy makers need to know how much students are learning; that’s why thoughtful assessment of student learning and student growth, including annual assessments, is a vital part of progress in education. Assessments must be of high quality, and must make good use of educators’ and students’ time. Yet in some places, tests – and preparation for them – are dominating the calendar and culture of schools and causing undue stress for students and educators. I welcome the action announced today by state and district leaders, which will bring new energy and focus to improving assessment of student learning. My Department will support that effort.

The gist of these “Yes but” messages seems to be “Don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater.” Which some translate as “We need testing to determine how our teachers are performing.”

Secretary Duncan followed with his own op-ed in the Washington Post, which begins by suggesting that test scores tell him how his children are doing: “As a parent, I want to know how my children are progressing in school each year. The more I know, the more I can help them build upon their strengths and interests and work on their weaknesses. The more I know, the better I can reinforce at home each night the hard work of their teachers during the school day.”

Just one paragraph later, he writes, “Parents have a right to know how much their children are learning; teachers, schools and districts need to know how students are progressing; and policymakers must know where students are excelling, improving and struggling.” The gist: scores are being used to help students do better.

As I read it, the Secretary’s op-ed skirts the issue on the table: the use of scores to punish {{6}} teachers. That policy, and the consequences for education of excessive amount of testing, are what many people are concerned about.

I think the establishment is either fighting the last war or, worse yet, deliberately refusing to confront the inherent contradiction of trying to build a better education system without including teachers in the design process.

President Obama’s statement focused on ‘the effort to improve assessment,’ which would seem to mean ‘better tests,’ but what protesters want, right now, are fewer tests and backing away from what’s called ‘test-based accountability.’ {{7}}

And the protesters also want a serious conversation about the purposes of schooling.

Not talk about ‘school reform’ but a serious effort at ‘rethinking’ schooling’s purpose.

The Secretary’s and the President’s comments notwithstanding, this is not Washington’s issue. All it can do at this point is back off, because it’s too late in the President’s second term for this Administration to take leadership. However, small states (Delaware or Vermont, for example) or somewhat larger ones (Colorado, Tennessee, Washington or Oregon, perhaps) could decide to own this issue. Wouldn’t that be interesting (and refreshing)?

The first question for any statewide conversation is “What do we want our children to become and be able to do when they are adults?”

Then comes the hard but important work of creating more {{8}} schools that will help them get there.

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[[1]]1. 21st-century skills include “interpersonal” skills (complex communication, social skills, teamwork, cultural sensitivity, dealing with diversity); “personal” skills (self-management, time management, self-development, self-regulation, adaptability, executive functioning); and the “cognitive” skills of non-routine problem solving, critical thinking, systems thinking.[[1]]

[[2]]2. For an eye-opening look at what high school is really like, please read Grant Wiggins’ blog post, written by a veteran teacher who shadowed a student for one day:  Then read this to discover the identity of the author. As of this writing, about 650,000 people have read the article, so read and share please.[[2]]

[[3]]3. But not ‘rigorous’ please, because that word ought to be anathema to anyone who’s serious about learning.[[3]]

[[4]]4. Specific scientific knowledge, testing hypotheses, using the internet to search for information, collaboration, et cetera.[[4]]

[[5]]5. Notice that the word ‘test’ does not appear anywhere in his statement.  That’s becoming a toxic word because of its association with bubble-testing. Apparently ‘assessment’ remains safe to use because it connotes sophisticated, even individualized ways of measuring learning.  Chiefs for Change also avoid ‘test’ and ‘tests’ in their statement, opting for ‘assessment.’ [[5]]

[[6]]6. You may find that word judgemental, but I would argue that it is accurate. Scores aren’t being used to reward teachers, just to ‘evaluate’ them.  Keep in mind that most everywhere else tests are used to diagnose student progress, not teacher performance.  That is what they were designed for. [[6]]

[[7]]7. That’s not all they want. Here’s a report from a publication on the left: http://truth-out.org/news/item/26851-the-movement-for-public-education-at-a-crossroads [[7]]

[[8]]8. ‘More’ is the operative word, because these schools exist.[[8]]