The Education Stimulus: Don't Educate Our Children "Out of Creativity"

For a Friday post, I wanted to mix humor with some fantastic "forward-thinking."  You will continue to see me refer to TED as a vehicle to challenge your conventional wisdom about our education system.  A friend reminded me of a TED Talk given by Sir Ken Robinson in 2006 about the need to bring creativity back into how we education our children. When I listen to a talk, go to a conference, or even interview someone for a job, I will write down something in the event they offer a topic or a piece of critical thinking that I think is interesting or can have a profound effect on my career development or that of others.  Sir Ken said something very prophetic in this talk:  "If we are not prepared to be wrong, we won't come up with anything original."     He also cited a very, very accurate quote by Picasso about children and the disconnect between children and education:  "Every child is an artist.  The problem is how to remain an artist." On a Friday before the weekend, when thinking about the education stimulus bill and how we need to fundamentally alter our system and reorient it toward a 21st century society, I hope that the new Secretary of Education and other policy makers here and around the world would at least take 19 minutes and watch this talk.   Our children's future may depend on it.

Three Additional States Pledging To "Reinvent" Education

I recently became aware that there are now six states that have announced their committment to the "Tough Choices or Tough Times" reform agenda.  The article link is below. Last week, Arizona, New Mexico and Delaware joined Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Utah in committing to implement recommendations of the New Commission on the Skills of the American Workforce.  The report offers a dramatic reform process for education, by adopting the kinds of powerful instructional systems used by the most successful countries for many years.    I quote the article by saying that these include

• Recruiting teachers from the top third of college graduates and increasing their pay to make that possible
• Revamping the high school-college transition
• Reallocating education funding to high priority strategies for improving system performance
• Pre-K for all
• Putting more of our education funding behind students from low-income families
• Changing the way schools are managed to give teachers more influence over the way schools are run, while holding them accountable for the results

I do not want to develop a reputation as being a naysayer or a pessimist, so let me say from the start that I applaud these states for taking a proactive approach and pledging to make a radical departure from the status quo.  Our country needs a "model state" that gets it right, and then the rest will surely follow. On the side of skepticism, let me state that change MUST start with the pedagogy.  If I were to draw a series of concentric circles about the "circles of change" for education, the "bulls eye" would be the learning tools.  Everything starts with the learning methods.  All other tactics would come thereafter.  For example, Delaware is touting, "more rigorous and more frequent testing," but if the skills being tested and the learning tools being used are flawed, then all you are saying is that you are testing more of the wrong things. I'm all about "walking the walk," so now that these six states have stepped out front on what may be one of the most critical issues of our time, I'm anxious to see what they do, not what they say.  Nonetheless, I wish them luck and hope they can be a shining example of how to successfully reinvent education in the 21st century.

The Coolest Invention I Have EVER Seen: From TED 2009

While I realize to all of you that this post may have very little to do with education innovation, I just had to blog about it.  I was one of the privileged few to attend TED 2009, and every year, TED showcases a product invention that is "jaw-dropping."  This year was no different. A few years ago, at the Forbes MEET Conference in Beverly Hills, I saw a demo of the Microsoft Surface.  Almost immediately, what I saw was not a future entertainment platform, but an early glimpse at the future student desk in the classroom environment.  Now, two years later, I have seen a derivative that takes the aspirations of of the Surface into the consumer mainstream.   I think this is one of the most disruptive innovative devices I have ever seen. Imagine what it could do not only for entertainment, but for experiential learning. Take a look at this 8 minute video, and then tell me if you are not blown away.  Rest assured that the "packaging" will likely come later. 

The Education Stimulus: An Outsider's Perspective

On Friday, I listened to a webinar that discussed in detail the various components of the education stimulus plan.  The moderators discussed each area and the opportunities that were available in each of them.  They also discussed the timing of the funding, which included an immediate $44 Billion being made available to states in the next 30-45 days.  In theory, this all sounds like a windfall for school districts.  But as a long-time business strategist, I'd like to dig into the mechanics and underlying strategic premise of this stimulus bill. After sitting through the webinar, I found the most interesting point to not  HOW the funds are to be spent, but WHEN they must be spent.  These funds must be spent within two years!  Unlike the NCLB funds, states and school districts must spend these with the concept of "short-term investment for long-term benefit."  The moderators explicitly stated that "any ongoing license fees for educational technology projects would not pertain to this stimulus money, but NCLB money."  That's just not feasible, in my mind, and let me explain to you why. What I inferred from this stimulus bill is that school districts are to assume that they're going to make some quick, large investment and that will be the panacea for their ills.  Change does NOT happen that rapidly, especially in a mature industry, and education is no different.  It will take years of sustained investment and continued innovation for politicians and educators to determine whether our education system is heading in the right direction.  Innovation does not happen overnight, and I would be very skeptical if anyone actually believed that there is a quick fix to our problems.  Many education technology products are not a "buy once" pricing model, but typically are funded through either ongoing maintenance fees and/or license fees, as the products are typically renewed each year and in many cases there may be an annual surcharge for "product enhancements," etc.  I think the education technology community deserves to better understand which products can access the stimulus funds and which cannot. At the moment, I am in a quandary about this process, and based on what I heard on Friday, I continue to share the same skepticism that my colleagues in this "reinvent education" movement have about whether or not the stimulus will be allocated to the right solutions under a logical, effective implementation plan.  I read recently that the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation believes that a large amount of their previous education grants were spent unwisely.  Lets not have the government have this happen with other people's precious tax dollars too. I pray that this money goes to the right solutions and the right people are overseeing its stewardship.

Is A Longer School Year The Answer?

As I was writing my recap post last week, I neglected to mention a topic that I'm sure will continue to get much reaction in the blogosphere.  The new secretary of education has had a strong first month as Cabinet Secretary, evoking many themes that have not gotten much attention in recent years, and have been relegated mainly to the background as the country's priorities remained elsewhere.  However, on February 27th, the secretary announced that he is studying programs that keep kids in school longer to bost their academic achievements.  His initial comment was that American students are "at a competitive disadvantage" because the United States has shorter school years than other countries such as India and China.  While he made clear that this is one of several ideas under consideration,  I think it is critical to make one thing crystal clear:  solve the problem first, not the symptoms of the problem first. Let me explain what I mean by the above statement.  Is more of the old, industrial age learning methods the right answer?  The education system has systemic problems.  It is dysfunctional.  The structure is broken.  The teacher training and compensation plans are not sufficient.  The pedagogy must be updated to reflect 21st century standards and 21st century requirements.  Technology infrastructures must be improved and in some cases, completely rebuilt.  The stimulus package is a strong first step, assuming that the government funds the right programs, in the right order of priority.  To me, it would seem a prudent approach to proceed as follows:

1. Identify the model 21st century classroom and implement it as broadly as possible.
2. Identify 21st century assessment and standards and implement as broadly as possible.
3. Execute a robust quantitative and qualitative research study on the effect of the 21st century learning environment on student performance; compare/benchmark to other countries and other metrics as deemed appropriate by the Federal and State Education Departments.
4. Explore other tactics once the learning environment is re-engineered (extended school year one of many options to consider).

We all realize that the education system requires a major redesign.  However, trying to do too many things at once is not the answer.  It is just going to create more fear and more concern on the part of the American people.  Extending the school year may be an option to consider downstream, but that will be accompanied by the need for increased teacher compensation, and also a possible adverse reaction from athletics organizations and parents of student athletes (and the student athletes themselves) who look to the summer as an opportunity to practice and hone their skills in a manner that is devoid of the day-to-date academic responsibilities.  Other students benefit from other "enrichment" activities such as the arts, music, etc.  So before we open up all of these other "Pandora's Boxes," lets get the core working first.  It should make the other options easier to evaluate and prioritize when you have the engine running smoothly again.