Waiting for the Transformation

Gary Obermeyer, Tuesday Mar 10, 2009, 12:00 am

That's the title of a commentary by Arthur E. Levine, published by Ed Week (Feb 25, 2009). It helped crystallize my own beliefs and intentions with regard to school transformation.

"Waiting for the Transformation" makes the point that the two main camps in the education reform movement (traditionalists and radicals) are more alike than they are different in that they both advocate reforms that leave the fundamental structure of industrial-model schooling intact.

Levine describes the reasons for and the characteristics of the "individualized, time-variable system" that we need, and then asserts that the nation is not ready to move in this direction.

Levine seems optimistic that the system will evolve, but he does not see the change coming quickly enough even for the "radicals" (the younger of the two reformer camps) to witness the transformation. Rather, it will "fall to the next generation," says Mr. Levine.

In one respect I am in total agreement with Mr. Levine's commentary -- that the practices and policies advocated by both major reformer camps ignore a glaring disconnect between what is known about learning and what happens in schools, and leave us with a system that would be unacceptable in other aspects of our lives.

However, I do not accept the premise that the educational transformation must wait for the next generation. I believe that the requisite tools for transformation already exist -- in the form of professional learning communities and continuous school improvement (especially if facilitated and augmented through information technology).

I believe that there is more than enough creativity and commitment in today's schools to transform them from the inside out. Rather than expecting a handful of gurus to design new schools to gradually replace traditional ones, we should be embracing and nurturing genius throughout the system -- NOW!

Anyway, that was my reaction to the commentary. If I have piqued your interest in reading the full article, I'd love to hear what you think.

Gary

p.s. Waiting for the Transformation is the third installment in a yearlong, occasional series examining the impact of the 1983 report A Nation at Risk. View the complete index of stories in the series at – http://www.edweek.org/ew/collections/nation-at-risk-25-years/index.html

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