[Prelude: Now that I live in Virginia, I MUST get to know Andy Roterham. He's a powerful insider in many educational policy circles, and he's been edublogging longer than anyone I know. His post today pointed me to the article about which I write below, so here's a tip-o-the-hat to Mr. Eduwonk]

You may be well aware of Clayton Christenson’s theory of disruptive innovations. It has received a LOT of attention in the last couple of years (deservedly so, IMHO) and quite a few researchers/commentators have tried to apply the theory to the institution of public schooling. Well, now Christenson himself has…in a pretty big way. THIS article appears to be a preview for an upcoming book called, Disrupting Class: How Disruptive Innovation Will Change the Way the World Learns.

I have two thoughts before I ask for discussion via comments. First, I always tell my students to “consider the source” when reading “stuff” on the Internet. This article happens to appear in Education Next, the education journal of the Hoover Institution, a notably conservative think tank based at Stanford University. The mission statement of the Hoover Institution speaks to limited government (”Ours is a system where the Federal Government should undertake no governmental, social or economic action, except where local government, or the people, cannot undertake it for themselves”) so it should come as no surprise that his vision hints at privatization of education.

Second, as much as I respect Christenson’s work, I’m not sure how “disruptive” his ideas are. Consider the following:

Is this much different than, for example, the MIT Opencourseware project? I think what Chrisentson writes about will transform learning, but will it, as the title of the article states, transform our schools? It certainly hasn’t yet…

Tags: Christenson, disruptive innovation, education, schools, technology

So, Richmond City Schools will be searching for a new Superintendent.  I haven’t lived here long enough to judge the outgoing Supt., Dr. Deborah Jewell-Sherman, one way or the other [full disclosure: she's an adjunct faculty member of the Dept. in which I work].  One thing I do know though, having taught in classrooms in a couple of Richmond schools and having spoken to a number of educators who work in the district, the facilities are WAY outdated.  Forget about anything digital, I haven’t even seen a whiteboard (yep, I get to teach in classrooms with green chalkboards and actual chalk…remember that stuff?).  Even more striking, these schools sit in the shadow of Henrico County Public Schools, home of one of the earliest and largest laptop programs in the country.  So, Richmond teachers are working with chalkboards and Henrico teachers are working with students, each and every one of whom has a school-issued laptop.  Digital divide, anyone?

So, there will be lots of politics surrounding the selection of the next Superintendent, as there are in any urban district.  And, there will be lots of opinions.  My opinion?  I would love for them to hire someone who is forward-thinking, progressive and who understands the importance of 21st Century skills.  The counterargument will be that there are SO many problems plaguing the schools in Richmond that technology can’t be a priority.  I say hogwash.  One of my students is a special education teacher in Richmond.  He told me that he sees a nearly complete lack of hope or sense of opportunity in the students in his school.  If that’s the case, what better way to remedy that than to give the students access to unlimited opportunity; or to make the students feel relevant, current and hopeful.  A more traditional candidate for Superintendent might suggest that building new facilities needs to be a priority; a technologically-progressive candidate will suggest that building digital bridges to the world is the way.

Tags: leadership, Richmond, schools, superintendent, technology, urban

I’ve been domiciled in Virginia now for over 6 months, and I enjoy learning the nuances of the Commonwealth.  Today, I learned that Virginia is the first state in the nation to mandate that public schools offer Internet safety classes for all grade levels.  I’m now curious to see what the actual regulation(s) look like, and to find out how schools and school divisions are handling this requirement (is it a one-time workshop?  is it ongoing?  who “teaches” this stuff?).  I’m also wondering about jurisdictional issues.  I wonder why schools have become the space for teaching about Internet safety.  Lots of bad things (mass shootings, predation, etc.) happen in malls.  Are schools also required to teach about mall safety?

Tags: Internet, policy, safety, schools