Review of Knowledge Works Map

I found the Knowledge Works Foundations map of forces predicted to affect education in the future to be very interesting, insightful, and perhaps a bit unsettling. The sheer volume of information gathered was almost mind boggling. Reviewing many of the trends, hot spots, and dilemmas left me with a personal dilemma: become overwhelmed with the magnitude of what faces education and bury my head in the sand, or use the information as an educational leader to help deal with the many serious issues we face as we move forward in education. While I must candidly admit that there are times that I truly prefer the former choice, I pray I will be able to have the courage to choose the latter.

Perhaps it is my background in mathematical analysis (or perhaps, as my wife might suggest, it is just my morbidly pessimistic attitude) I found myself drawn to the dilemmas section of the map. I was particularly interested in two of the dilemmas located within the Strong Opinions Driver: Achieving Standards and Personalization and Supporting Teachers' Rights and Changing Teacher's Roles. In my role as administrator, I am faced with these two intertwined issues --and I would agree that they are indeed both dilemmas--on an almost daily basis. It is extremely difficult to meet the legislated demands of our current standards-based reforms while meeting the needs of individual children. While I am a strong proponent of "raising the bar" in terms of our expectations for American students, I am not totally convinced that asking a special needs child to acquire a score of 24 on the science portion of the ACT -- a benchmark standard established by the newly adopted Diploma Project -- constitutes the also legally mandated meeting of the child's individual needs. When effective research-based strategies are identified to help with this issue, we must then deal with the second. How do we ask teachers to change the curriculum, change the method of delivery by introducing technological advancements, and by the way, make meaningful relationships with students, when we have not provided them with the training or necessary equipment to do so? As a servant leader, I believe I am charged to be an advocate of the teacher. As a visionary, I cannot deny that major changes in teacher roles must occur.

To address these dilemmas, I believe we must have at least a two pronged plan of action. We must increase the rigor of our academic programs. We will indeed need to examine the standards we teach, but I advocate making certain we have adopted the correct standards. It appears that legislators have bought into the Diploma Project's connection to ACT standards because these standards are nationally recognized and easily assessed. No one, at least it seems, has bothered to asked if the mastery of these standards are truly what our children need to know to be successful in THEIR futures. Increasing rigor in the classroom will also need to be coupled with the identifying and training of our teachers in the use of effective strategies of differentiating instruction ( like those in the Thoughtful Classroom) to achieve the marriage between personalization and standards-based education.

We must also address the funding of education in these increasingly difficult economic times. I believe we can accomplish both parts of my proposed action plan by a merger of private enterprise and public education. Private companies need a viable work force and are currently spending millions of dollars in the retraining of employees. I believe strongly that, if given a voice in the development of educational standards, these companies would gladly spend these training dollars in our classrooms. In return, teachers receive funding for the tools and training necessary to help the children acquire the skills they need. The results are a more relevant curriculum, more motivated children, and, hopefully, a better tomorrow.