Comments on: Charter news & views http://www.varpartners.net/?p=762 Supporting the most important work in the world… yours. Wed, 02 Jun 2010 19:24:36 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.1 hourly 1 By: Tom Sundstrom http://www.varpartners.net/?p=762&cpage=1#comment-583 Tom Sundstrom Fri, 18 Sep 2009 01:11:49 +0000 http://www.varpartners.net/?p=762#comment-583 Tom - I was about to ask why charter schools bear the responsibility for R&D and innovation, then I saw Joan's post. Joan - I think teacher colleges and universities are an untapped resource. I don't see the same forces moving education forward in a continuously improving fashion like other fields including medicine. Following Joan’s thread, what if educational R&D took place at embedded K-12 schools at education colleges and universities analogous to embedded hospitals? Isn't that the intellectually rich environment to develop and demonstrate new ideas? Don't colleges and universities have far more resources than charter schools to actively engage in R&D? I'm not against charter schools, but let's optimize the education model. Maybe we need to look outside the box. Tom – I was about to ask why charter schools bear the responsibility for R&D and innovation, then I saw Joan’s post.

Joan – I think teacher colleges and universities are an untapped resource. I don’t see the same forces moving education forward in a continuously improving fashion like other fields including medicine. Following Joan’s thread, what if educational R&D took place at embedded K-12 schools at education colleges and universities analogous to embedded hospitals? Isn’t that the intellectually rich environment to develop and demonstrate new ideas? Don’t colleges and universities have far more resources than charter schools to actively engage in R&D? I’m not against charter schools, but let’s optimize the education model. Maybe we need to look outside the box.

]]> By: Joan Jaeckel http://www.varpartners.net/?p=762&cpage=1#comment-569 Joan Jaeckel Wed, 16 Sep 2009 23:50:53 +0000 http://www.varpartners.net/?p=762#comment-569 Hello Tom, I like your thought-through ideas, even when mine are different. You don't offer pre-chewed thinking. Appreciated! About the charter school authorization bottleneck. Predictable, no? When old-school practitioners try to authorize new-school practitioners, the molasses will set in of course. If the oldies had the goodies they would have played the tune themselves. Why not ask ourselves, Who, in the field of education would be the ideal authorizer of charter schools? Betcha 'school boards' would not spring to mind. A more fruitful direction, I think, lies in university schools of education. They already train the teachers and, I presume, have on hand the latest doodads on how young human minds learn best. By being given the right to authorize charter schools, schools of education around the country would intersect with the cutting edge of grass roots initiative. Eventually this marriage between schools of education and schools could result in a bona fide learning community culture for U.S. education. Schools of education would connect to schools sort of like schools of medicine connect to hospitals - with interning and mentoring and feeback loops between classroom and research and teacher training. What do you think? Is there such an example someplace already? Keep up the fun! Joan Hello Tom, I like your thought-through ideas, even when mine are different. You don’t offer pre-chewed thinking. Appreciated!
About the charter school authorization bottleneck. Predictable, no? When old-school practitioners try to authorize new-school practitioners, the molasses will set in of course. If the oldies had the goodies they would have played the tune themselves. Why not ask ourselves, Who, in the field of education would be the ideal authorizer of charter schools? Betcha ’school boards’ would not spring to mind. A more fruitful direction, I think, lies in university schools of education. They already train the teachers and, I presume, have on hand the latest doodads on how young human minds learn best. By being given the right to authorize charter schools, schools of education around the country would intersect with the cutting edge of grass roots initiative. Eventually this marriage between schools of education and schools could result in a bona fide learning community culture for U.S. education. Schools of education would connect to schools sort of like schools of medicine connect to hospitals – with interning and mentoring and feeback loops between classroom and research and teacher training. What do you think? Is there such an example someplace already?
Keep up the fun!
Joan

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