EdPolicy
Are Edupreneurs Born or Developed?
Fred Wilson’s Friday post explores whether entrepreneurs are born with requisite attributes or whether at least some of can be developed: I also believe that there are “unique and defining characteristics of entrepreneurs.” Here are some of the ones I observe most frequently: 1) A stubborn…
The Weight 2
On a sunset walk after a spectacular day on Poverty Bay with blue sky and fresh snow on the Olympics, I thought of three personal stories that illustrate the weight of leadership. 1. The afternoon I was appointed superintendent, I had coffee at the mall and watched hundreds of…
The Weight of Leadership
Winston Churchill took office the day the Germans invaded the low countries of Europe. Perhaps born a warrior and an idealist, Churchill in some ways relished the epic nature of conflict but never took it lightly. A recent HBO film, Into the Storm, explored Churchill’s leadership and life during…
In Case You Wanted a Rebuttal
EdWeek ran a ridiculous op-ed by David Marshak, of Eastern Washington University. Here’s the brief response: Marshak’s logic is flawed, his data is bad, and his history revised. Over 1200 new schools were funded through dozens of networks with strong design principals including the emergence of CMOS-the…
Gentlemen, Start Your Hearings (But Let the Race Run)
Here we go. McNeil outlines House plans to begin ESEA reauthorization hearings starting with charter schools (great place to start). Miller and Kline are thoughtful and could actually put together a decent bipartisan draft. No word from the Senate where it’s harder to imagine anything thoughtful happening.
Pearson Vision Impressive
Textbook publishers are catching a lot of grief these day, some of it deserved. But I met with a Pearson exec this morning and continue to be impressed by the leadership of this company (with whom I have a business relationship). Long before Obama landed on readiness, Pearson realigned…
Teacher Quality Means Some Must Go
The President and Secretary deserve credit for advancing the teacher quality agenda–a tough thing for democrats to do. Some of the credit for that goes to Jon Schnur and DFER. Because we don’t have very good predictive techniques, it’s important to watch teachers in their first few years,…
A Better Alternative
About two thirds of American students leave high school unprepared for college and careers; almost a third drop out and another third graduate unprepared to earn college credit. There are lots of reasons, but now that there’s agreement that students should graduate college/career ready, it’s clear that American high schools…
Creativity and Accountability
Yong Zhao is back in receptive Seattle this week preaching his gospel of edu-innovation. The anti-standards, pro-creativity Zhao is a Chinese-born prof at Michigan State. Here’s his thesis in a nutshell: In my new book Catching Up or Leading the Way, I mostly focus on issues facing…
RttT Plans: Detailed, Compliant, Insufficient
I spent the last two days reading Race to the Top plans. Here’s a few observations: 1. The plans are comprehensive and detailed. They all slavishly follow the Department of Education scoring rubic. As I’ve repeatedly said, RttT is a great program, but this isn’t ‘loose on means’.