Professional Development

For the last several years, the state of NC has not allocated money to school districts for professional development. Based on your own experiences participating in various kinds of professional development, do you think that this was a bad decision? Should schools and districts put money into professional development activities, or is professional development usually a waste of time?

Human Resources

Which teacher would you rather hire: a teacher who will most likely be moderately effective in the classroom, but is likely to follow school rules and not create any waves on your staff, or a teacher who will most likely be highly effective in the classroom, but is likely to be a controversial and "difficult" person to work with? Why?

School Improvement Planning and Data

"The real strength in using a data driven decision making process for school improvement is that numbers are objective. The data just don't lie."

Do you agree or disagree with the statement above? Why?

Technology and 21st Century Skills

Much is made these days of "21st century learners", "21st century skills", and "21st century classrooms". Invariably, technology -- and the use of technology in classrooms by students and teachers -- is an assumed component of these 21st century phenomena. But does technology really make a difference in teaching and learning? Has the use of technology in classrooms led to improved teaching and learning? Is a 21st century education that different from a 20th century education?

The changing legistlative landscape

In the article "The End of the Education Debate", Checker Finn makes the following statement:

"The education-reform debate as we have known it for a generation is creaking to a halt. No new way of thinking has emerged to displace those that have preoccupied reformers for a quarter- century — but the defining ideas of our current wave of reform ( standards, testing, and choice), and the conceptual framework built around them, are clearly outliving their usefulness.

The problem is not that these ideas are misguided. Rather, they are just not powerful enough to force the rusty infrastructure of American primary and secondary education to undergo meaningful change. They have failed at bringing about the reformers' most important goal: dramatically improved student achievement.

The next wave of education policy will therefore need to direct itself toward even more fundamental questions, challenging long-held assumptions about how education is managed, funded, designed, and overseen."

I have two questions (you could answer both in the same comment, answer one and ignore the other, or write two separate comments). The first is: Do you agree with Checker Finn's statement that the primary external reforms of the last quarter-century (standards, testing, and reform) have outlived their usefulness? Why or why not?

The second question is: What external reform do you think will have the largest impact on public education over the next quarter-century? Why?

Mission, vision, values, and change

Are clear and compelling mission and vision statements necessary for an organization (school, business, non-profit) to be highly successful? Why or why not?