The change we seek in education too often seems like a game of inches.
If we truly believe in two sides of education reform (I don’t, but let’s go with that for now), one side seems to get most of the big players, complex plays, the largest stadiums, and folks to fix the rules for them. The other side relies mainly on running plays and, when united, can get a few points here and there. The common person (that’s us) is that latter team. Sadly, every inch towards progress seems to detonate another mass offensive against us. Want to close the funding gap between poor and rich districts? Create private schools so rich folks can pay for only rich kids to go and keep the funding gap disparate. Want to desegregate schools? Undercut funding for those programs and create false narratives through the media. Want to opt out of over-standardized testing? Pretend to care and launch bills that assure only the more wealthy districts can opt out of those tests.
Divide. Conquer. Win-win-win, except only the winning team keeps winning.
Which reminds me. Chris Lehmann and Zac Chase, friends to the program, came out with a book recently that I’ve endorsed entitled Building School 2.0: How to Create the Schools We Need. You should know how long this stew took to brew, and you should also know how much I admire their thinking, even when we disagree. And we disagree like 2% of the time. Zac is more a bow tie whereas I’m the long tie, and Chris roots for Philly teams whereas I’m from New York.
Otherwise, this book nails it. 95 edu-theses, and each of them worth understanding as school leaders, builders, and visionaries.
I’d pay close attention to the chapters on educational colonialism (2), disrupting disruption (12), and being deliberately anti-racist (36). More importantly, I’d pay attention to the subtext. The idea that we don’t have “all” the solutions often suggests that only the solutions proffered by a specific (wealthy) set of folks is worth mentioning. All the while, people who have done school as educators want solutions that both embrace democracy and banish the theory and practice dichotomy. Chris and Zac put out a book that doesn’t just come from their experience building Science Leadership Academy with their bare hands (hyperbolic, but you hear me), but also from conversations with folks across the country and the world on what works best in schools. They’ve got skin in this game like very few educators do.
This game we call K-12 don’t have to move in inches. We can move in leaps and bounds. Just not in the ways we have in the last 15 years, but a path that’s truly forward. If we know anything about Chris and Zac’s work, it’s that we can both be hopeful and realistic at the same time. Let’s listen.
Thank you, my friend!
Jose, this is the first I have heard of Chris Lehmann’s book. I will certainly be reading it, but my initial gut reaction is you can truly see where a person is coming from by their actions, not just what they say. As a veteran teacher in Philadelphia public school, I acknowledge Mr. Lehmann has indeed done some innovative work for education with his Science Leadership Academy. However, you should be aware that he has joined the corporate reformers. He has joined the new leadership team of Philadelphia Superintendent Hite (Broad Superintendents Academy Class of 2005). At the recent meeting of the School Reform Commission, Mr. Lehmann sat with the new administrators that Hite has brought from the world of corporate education reform to privatize Philadelphia public schools. See the most recent post on my blog, “The Siege of Philadelphia Public Schools”. http://www.defendpubliceducation.net
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With all due respect, Ken, you should celebrate Chris’ appointment. He’s not only anointed by Deborah Meier and me, he’s been at the forefront of getting administrators all across Philly to be better at schooling AND helped drive attention to Helen Gym for her eminent Philly win. But I don’t have to speak for his bonafides. It’s probably best to have good conversations with folks before lambasting them for no reason.