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The theme of the March issue of Principal Leadership, the publication from NASSP, is “Seeing the Future…” and features thoughtful articles by Thelma Melendez de Santa Ana, Richard Rothstein, Diane Ravitch, and George H. Wood.  Each article explores the complexity of the issues facing public education today and going forward and explicates the simplistic approaches currently in vogue to “fix” schools.  In his look at “The Future of Public Education” George H. Wood captures both hope and despair for the institution of public schooling.  The despair is the short term view with subsequent hope for long term change.

Wood’s despair, shared by many of us who have spent our careers working in public education, is around the current rhetoric and policy initiatives labeled as “reform” that redirect funds toward programs that fail to address the core problem and result in the scapegoating of professionals in the field.  While acknowledging that many institutions of teacher preparation are dropping the ball when it comes to turning out the teachers that schools need, what is now being touted as an innovative approach is teachers who come through “quickie” certification programs and who focus on drilling kids to succeed on tests.  Also, the notion that new teachers who come through alternate certification programs are somehow more capable of working with students in high need schools has not been proven.   Judging teachers solely by student test scores will surely keep the most senior and young idealist teachers away from schools where student needs are the greatest because they’ll leave.

Wood also laments the lack of a national agenda for the widespread adoption of innovations that work with all kids.  The evidence is in that students need to focus on higher order thinking skills.  Their success should be measured through performances in equitable environments where well –prepared and supported teachers work.  Expanding the number of charter schools does not move us toward systemic innovation, particularly given that the success rate of charter schools by any measure is statistically poorer than public schools.  As originally conceived, charter schools were to be laboratories for innovation from which others could learn.  After all, charter schools are free from policy regulations traditional public schools must operate under.  If a school can thrive with less oversight from rules that others must adhere to, why not learn from their experience, share the knowledge, and change the policies that inhibit innovation? 

Wood’s final nightmare prediction for short term movement in public education is on the assessment front.  His fear is that assessing the new Common Core Standards with easy to administer (read cheap) testing instruments will push our schools, in the short run, to even more mind-numbing approaches to student learning environments and teacher accountability.

On the optimistic front, Wood (and, being an optimist, I tend to agree) believes that as a nation we have learned from mistakes in the past and can do the same with the current misguided attention on the wrong things.    We have learned lessons from projects such as the Harlem Children’s Zone that how we treat our children matters.  In a recent interview on NPR discussing his new book, The Social Animal, author and political commentator, David Brooks, stated that despite all this movement on standards and testing, what we know is that children (and all people) learn from people they love.  And, good teachers and successful schools pay attention to the emotional health of their students and colleagues as much as ensuring that intellectual and cognitive needs are met.

We also know as a people, though sometimes appear to forget, that our public education system is central to our strength as a nation.  This great 200 plus year experiment called the United States is predicated on a citizenry literate enough to choose their leaders and hold them accountable for equity and justice for everyone.  When we grow weary of using shame and blame to accost our public school system and change the conversation to support and improvement, we’ll regain the collective value system that is a hallmark of our way of life.

Finally, innovation and change in teaching and assessment is vital.  Like George Woods, those of us who have been working in the field for a life time and looking for new and better ways to serve our students and support our colleagues and schools, are anxious to contribute to the ensuring what we’ve learned is shared widely and available across the country.   A critical mass of educators can and will respond to a public demand for schools that build close relationships with students to engage them in challenging learning opportunities inside and outside of school, that use performance assessments that evaluate how young people use what they know and demonstrate they have learned, and that demand school district practices that break down the socioeconomic segregation to lead to a better education for all.