What we can learn from the 20 biggest tech failures of 2010

The end of every year is all about lists. Lists that list the good stuff. Lists that list the bad stuff.

Lists.

They are as ubiquitous to the advent of a new year as Dick Clark, cheap champagne, college football and those unspeakably bad Kay's jewelry commercials.

Every kiss begins with Kay's.......

Somebody shoot me. Please.

In any event, one such list making the rounds though the cyber universe is the "20 Biggest Tech Failures of 2010." There are a number of variations on this list; I've selected just one. But there is one surprising fact common to every list. Browse through each list and you will find some of the most successful companies on the planet. Companies like Apple, Google, Facebook, Blackberry and HP. These are the billion-dollar big dogs of the technology universe. In fact, the long time king-of-the-IT-hill, Microsoft, is routinely credited with the dubious distinction of having the biggest flop of 201o, the Microsoft Kin.

Here are some other "flops" from 2010:

Google Buzz.

Apple Ping.

Google Wave.

Facebook privacy.

Palm Pre.

Google Nexus One.

As I read through these lists, and perused through some of the smug, sardonic comments posted from readers about these flops, I felt an odd sense of....

Inspiration.

That's right.

I was inspired by these failures.

And anyone who takes the idea of school reform seriously should be inspired by these lists as well.

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Greatness requires both the willingness and the ability to fail...and fail spectacularly. You will never, ever, achieve greatness by being safe. Safety is great for car seats and little girls. It is not great for those who would change the world. You must be willing to experiment, to push beyond the known, to risk scorn and humiliation, to fall flat on your face, often publicly, in order to achieve the unachievable. I am reminded, for example, of Christopher Columbus.

The world is round, he said.

You are wrong, was the retort.

The earth is not the center of the universe, he said.

You are a heretic, was the retort.

I will discover a new world, he said. A world overflowing with gold.

The reply?

You will fail.

Greatness requires failure. Greatness requires persistence. Greatness requires boldness. You've got to make mistakes to make successes.

Greatness is not neat, orderly and sanitized.

Greatness is messy.

But how many of these words would you use to define our public schools or anything that's associated with current efforts at "school reform?"

Is it bold?

Is it persistent?

Is it messy?

How often will you find lists documenting "the top 20 educational failures" of the year?

The answer? You won't.

Ever.

Because if one word could be used to define our schools, it would be safe. Our public schools absolutely practice what they preach, there's no hypocrisy there, it's all about writing in the margins, respecting time-honored traditions and waking in a straight, orderly line.

It's all about safety and sameness.

Am I wrong?

C'mon folks, let's call a spade a spade. Let's take off the kid gloves for a minute, shall we?

Why do most efforts at school reform fail to reform anything? 400 billion dollars in funding at the state and federal level each year and our public schools are being outclassed and outperformed by Guam. Why? Because lofty rhetoric and grandiose promises aside, most school district administrators and school boards simply refuse to push the pedagogical envelop. Risk is a word you will rarely hear in their vocabulary. Everything is close to the vest, easy does it, let's form a committee and talk about it so we can then invest in something like whiteboards, lie to an ill-informed public, call this school reform, and then sit idly by while our ill-prepared, under trained teachers proceed to use these pretty, shiny, new whiteboards in exactly the same way that teachers have been using blackboards for the last 100 years.

How's that for a sentence?

Ok.....try this one.

If public education was a car, it would be a 1986 Chevrolet Caprice Classic.

Yeah, it runs.

Yeah, it will get you from point A to point B.

Yeah, at about 4000 gas-guzzling pounds, it's relatively safe.

But a Caprice Classic? Really?

It's big, bloated, inefficient, unresponsive and slow.

Who in their right mind would want that?

***********

But let's be fair here. Because the one thing those of you familiar with my blogs should know, I do not take pot shots at educators. I'm not a member of the howling masses, I'm not here to hit below the belt or to throw stones. My mom was a career educator. I love my mom. I'm not throwing rocks at my mom.

Dirty laundry, yes.

But not stones.

So I must acknowledge, in the spirit of complete candor, that while some of the intellectual giants that are school district administrators would be better served as greeters at Walmart (if Walmart would have them) most school districts don't change...

Because they can't.

They can't risk innovation. They cannot play what they consider educational Russian roulette with the lives of their children. What if the next great effort at school reform doesn't work? What if, after all of the time, money and promises, it fails? This risk-adverse fear of failure leads to a "not on my watch" approach towards change in education. Everyone seems to want it, everyone seems to need it, but no one seems to do it. No one wants their kids to be the guinea pigs. Don't believe me? Try to rattle the cages in most school districts, try to suggest something truly different, and here's what you'll get....

"GREAT idea! We've got to run it by the principal."

So you go to the principal.

"GREAT idea! We've got to run it by the superintendent."

So you go to the superintendent.

"GREAT idea! We've got to run it by the board."

So you put on your best suit and go to the board.

"GREAT idea! But our curriculum is mandated by the state. So we've got to run it by the state ."

So you get in your car and travel to the state capital.

"GREAT idea! But we've got to run it by the politicos because their constituents don't want us messing with their schools."

By this point, you have retired. Or you are dead.

And therein, folks, lies the problem.

Public educators understand, and understand implicitly, that they are beholden to a captive audience. There is a undeniable sense of obligation that hangs over every decision. Schools must make AYP. Schools are required to fulfill certain curricular mandates. Schools have to reach certain benchmarks. There's simply no time, and no room, for experimentation. Educators can't risk mistakes. Because they know the kids from their community depend on their local schools for their educational future. That's a heavy duty responsibility folks because most educators know, and will tell you openly when challenged, that their kids don't have a choice. If you live in this area you WILL go to this school. End of story. So what happens?

Educators play it safe.

Because they have to.

These are our babies.

We are beholden to these kids.

They've no where else to go.

We can't risk.

Because they can't fail.

We can't change.

Because they can't choose.

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It was then, with this realization, that I had an ah-ha! moment. An epiphany.

What drives our economic engine? What spurs ongoing innovation in the private sector?

Choice.

The fact that we can choose to buy a Palm Pre or not. And if we choose not to buy a Palm Pre, then the good folks at Palm can do one of two things.

They can do nothing, sit on the sidelines, and let the market pass them by. Or they can say, this doesn't work, there is no demand for what we're producing, so let's do it better.

Freedom of choice, or in economic parlance, demand, fuels innovation.

It's absence fuels....

Complacency.

Stagnation.

Inefficiency.

Redundancy.

And sadly, these are the words, along with the word obsolete, that too often characterize public education.

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So where am I going with this?

Here it is.

One recurring question in education is "what would you change about our schools if you could?" or it's close conceptual cousin, "where does change begin?"

My answer to this question has changed over the years.

When I was introduced to the wonderful world of education technology, I would have said "by providing all students with 1-to-1 access to technology."

After a few years, my answer changed a bit. While I am still an ardent advocate for the ubiquitous integration of technology into our curriculum and classrooms, my approach has softened and broadened a bit. I grew to think, and have said as much, that before we could change minds about school reform generally and technology integration specifically, we had to change hearts. I thought that we had to base our pleas for reform less on logic and more on love; in other words, we had to tell better, more emotionally resonate stories.

I still think that.

But here's my answer today. An answer that evolved, strangely, while I considered the greatest tech failures of 2010.

Where does change begin?

I don't think change begins with 1-to-1 access to technology.

I don't think change begins with increased funding.

I don't think change begins with changing hearts.

Systemic change...

...I think...

...begins with and requires...

Choice.

Or to be more precise, educational choice for all public school students.

The absence of choice is the 1000 pound gorilla in the room. The absence of choice will forever bog down meaningful efforts at educational reform.

Why do charter schools seem to work so well? Why are they all the rage? Is it because there is something pedagogically revolutionary about charter schools?

Nope.

Charter schools are essentially privatized public schools where administrators get to choose how their school will be run, get to choose their curriculum, get to choose their teachers and most importantly, where the students who attend the school are the students who choose the school. Because the parents and student choose this school, they are vested in its success and have assumed the risk of its failure. If I should decide to open a charter school, and my great idea is to have teachers rap their lectures to their students, and you decide to send your child to my school because you like the idea of teachers who rap....well, you've made the choice. If it works, God bless. But if it doesn't, or you find the idea of hip-hop education horribly stupid, then you don't have to send your child to my school.

What if every child had that kind of choice?

What would that mean?

For students?

For teachers?

For communities?

It would mean that educators would have far greater freedom to try new things. To experiment. It would mean that a local school could make educational decisions based on the unique cultural needs of their local community. It would mean that school administrators could say to a community, "Look, we're scrapping everything. We're starting over. We're going to try this and this and this. And this this doesn't work, we're going to try that and that and that. If you're okay with that, if you believe in what we're going to try and do, please join us. Send your children here. We cannot guarantee success. There may be missteps. It may get messy. But we're determined to turn this school around and we're not going to get there doing the same old, same old.

But...

If you're uncomfortable with any of this, we understand. Don't send your kids here. You can send your children to a school that you think is best for them. We're just an option. One of many.

The choice is yours."

How often, good people, in the history of public education have you heard something like that?

Would that freak you out?

Or would you say, "It's about time."

Our public schools are not great. Not because there aren't great people in education. There are.

Our public schools aren't great because greatness requires the ability to fail. Greatness requires the ability to risk.

Greatness requires choice.

And there is no choice in public education.

So isn't that where the discussion should begin? How do we create more choice in public education? How do we encourage the same relentless push for innovation that fuels the private sector? What do we do?

Vouchers?

Do we make every school a charter school?

Do we separate school funding from school administration?

Do we privatize public education?

I don't know. This is virgin territory for me.

But we need to figure this thing out.

So let's talk.

Do you agree that focusing on educational choice the right place to begin any discussion on educational change?

And if you do, what do you think is the proper means for encouraging that choice?

Is this an idea whose time has come?

Or am I just baying into the wind?

**********

And so this is Christmas
And what have you done
Another year over
And a new one just begun

2010.

It's been a heck of a year, hasn't it?

I've certainly said my fill.

I've got a cool new website.

I'm recharged and renewed.

It's time to look forward.

But before we say a fond farewell to 2010, I'd like to leave you with this:

Choice before change.

That's my take.

Any thoughts?

A School for the 5th Ward

One morning you wake up, look out of your window, and discover that your world has changed.

You're told "our world is flat" and that we are all connected by a "global economy."

You're told that we live in a "digital age;" in an age "fueled by technology and shaped by the speed of innovation."

You're told we live at a time when anything is possible.

By anyone.

But when you look around your community, you don’t see any of that. What you see are fewer businesses, fewer shops and more homes that are abandoned or in need of repair. The local school where you learned how to read, write and forged your earliest friendships is gone. The local hospital where you were born is gone. The local drug store where you bought ice cream, Dr. Pepper and penny candy as a child is gone. Jobs are scarce. The population is becoming older and grayer, with fewer and fewer young people remaining in the community. Those young people who do remain seem disconnected, discouraged or detached.

Many seem angry.

Many seem lost.

The most important elements of the community that you knew and loved, a neighborhood school, family-owned businesses, trusted, longtime neighbors and friends, a sense of place, belonging and community pride, seem to be eroding away before your eyes.

Time has not been particularly kind.

You find yourself paying more taxes.

But you lock your door at night.

You begin to wonder if the community you knew will survive.

And if it does survive, you wonder—

What will survive?

You love this place.

You were raised here.

Your children were raised here.

This is your home.

But you begin to think about something that was once unthinkable.

You begin to think about leaving.

**********

Does any of this sound familiar to you?

It should.

Because this is the plight facing a host of communities, both urban and rural, large and small, across our great nation.

On a more personal note, this is the plight facing the community where my grandmother and my father grew up. The community where my brother and I once played as boys. The community that my uncle and many of my cousins still call home.

This is the plight facing the 5th Ward of Evanston.

**********

Right now...

The 5th Ward is home to the City of Evanston’s largest African-American population. The 5th Ward is also the only community in the City of Evanston that does not have its own elementary school. Every other child in every other community in the City of Evanston can attend a neighborhood school of their choice. But not the children of the 5th Ward.

Right now...

Over 600 children are being bused out of the 5th Ward in order to attend elementary school. They must stand on darkened street corners, shivering and cold during the dog days of winter, in order to be bused away from their families, away from their friends, away from their community. The burden of busing falls disproportionately, almost exclusively, on the backs of 5th Ward children.

The question we should all be asking is why this? Why now? Why at all?

The answer will come fast and furious. Diversity. Busing is necessary for diversity. Children of the 5th Ward historically had to be bused out of the 5th Ward, and must continue to be bused out of the 5th Ward, in order to desegregate other area schools.

And yes...

There was a time when this might have been true.

A time when children of color were forbidden from living in certain neighborhoods.

A time when when little black boys and little black girls had to march down the streets of the City of Evanston with banners held high urging the good people to “desegregate now.”

But times have changed.

The needs of our communities have changed.

The needs of our children have changed.

Because our world has changed.

Think for a moment of what it says to the children of the 5th Ward right now, and to the community as a whole right now, when the words “you have to go to school” mean “you have to go somewhere else.” What does this do to the sense of belonging, the sense of self, so critical to the continued survival of any community?

I think it shatters it.

It says, we are less than you.

It says, we are not enough.

The problem?

You never see these psychological wounds.

You only see the damage left in their wake.

**********

The 5th Ward, like so many communities across our great nation, is a community at a crossroads. It is a community rich in tradition and history. It is also a community struggling against violence, unemployment, underemployment and deteriorating institutions; a community where a valued way of life hangs in the balance. Too often, “solutions” or efforts to "fix the problem" center around economic revitalization or the creation of jobs. Economic revitalization is certainly important. But to view the issues faced by communities like the 5th Ward solely in economic terms grossly underestimates other equally-important facets of community well-being. These include the value of place, the quality of environment, one's history as a member of a community, and, perhaps most importantly, a sense of belonging and affiliation among caring friends, neighbors, and relatives.

So here's the critical query...

Could it be that this psychological sense of community provides the foundation upon which successful community development efforts should be built; not the other way around?

**********

A neighborhood school is constructed of brick and mortar.

Most neighborhood schools are equipped simply and functionally, some almost sparingly, with chalkboards and shelves, desks and chairs, windows and lights. The paint may be cracked and faded. The structure may be decades old.

But it is the neighborhood school—as much if not more than any other public institution—that is the heart and soul of a community.

Can there be any doubt that the strength of a community is inextricably linked to the success of its schools? That families move to and choose to remain in a particular neighborhood because of the school located in that area? That a good school is considered an essential part of any thriving community?

Yes—a neighborhood school is constructed merely of brick and mortar.

But it is so much more.

It is here, in our neighborhood schools, where we come together, grow together, forge our collective constitution, shape our civic and social values and, most importantly, where an aggregation of people otherwise linked only by geography truly become a community.

There was once a neighborhood school in the 5th Ward of Evanston.

Foster School.

It was the school my grandmother attended. It was the school my father attended.

It was closed in 1979.

30 years without a school in the 5th Ward is long enough.

**********

The City of Evanston is currently grappling with the issue of school overcrowding and how best to address this issue. The District 65 School Board recently approved a $13 million bond issue which included $8.2 million specially earmarked for additions at the schools where overcrowding is most severe. We think the present need certainly justifies the expansion of existing facilities. But the school board is also forming an 11-person committee to examine the merits of building a 5th Ward school. The job of this committee, at least at this early stage, is to conduct a feasibility study and make a recommendation to the full board. Pending the outcome of this recommendation, the question of building a school in the 5th Ward might be put to public referendum as early as March of 2012.

The District 65 School Board should be commended for taking this important first step. The issues associated with building a new school are varied and complex. Information, public input and community feedback are key. So I intend to do my part. I intend to take the time between now and whenever this matter is put to referendum—the next year and a half if need be—to make an open, public and Socratic case for a 5th Ward School. A disclaimer is necessary. My work is purely voluntary and completely independent of the District 65 school board. I am speaking merely as a concerned citizen. But this is a cause that I deeply believe to be just.

How will I make my case? I will use my website and multimedia tools such as Facebook, Twitter and Blogger to inform, engage and encourage open discussion and debate. Everything will be done openly; I intend to take my case directly to the people of the City of Evanston. Because ultimately, the choice is theirs. Without public support, there will never be a school in the 5th Ward.

But I am confident. The City of Evanston is a city that has consistently risen to meet the needs of all of its residents. This is a city of visionaries, leaders, educators and critical thinkers. This is a city that has a long history of fighting for what is fair and equitable.

The people of the City of Evanston, simply put, know how to do the right thing.

Martin Luther King once said, “Take the first step in faith. You don’t have to see the whole staircase. Just take the first step.”

This is my first step.

But not alone. 

You can support this effort by visiting our A School for the 5th Ward home page at www.michaelesummers.com/E3 or by following us on Facebook or Twitter. I need each and every one of you, whether you live in the 5th Ward or not, to step up, speak out and to join this cause. Because every child in every community deserves the right to attend a neighborhood school of his or her choice. Right now, every child in every neighborhood in the City of Evanston enjoys that right.

Every child—

Except the children of the 5th Ward.



Attribution:

Much of this blog was inspired by on based on "Rural Distress and Survival: The School and the Importance of Community" by Bruce A. Miller. Though Mr. Miller's work focuses on rural communities, I believe many of the principles contained in his excellent essay are equally applicable to urban school districts as well.

A birthday wish for you...

My birthday was a few days ago.

December 14th.

It was a good day.

My mother called from Atlanta. My brother called from Wisconsin. My uncle called from Illinois. The long distance calls rocked.

But what really rocked, because they were so surprising and unexpected, were all the "Happy Birthday" wishes I received on Facebook. Beginning just after midnight PST on December 14th, I started receiving emails like this one....

"You totally suck. You're old. Your best days are LONG gone, bro."

Nah...

Most of the emails went something like this.....

"Happy Birthday Mike. Have a great day."

Nothing fancy. Nothing elaborate. No declarations of unrequited love. No poetry. No Shakespearean sonnets. Just a simple "Happy Birthday," typically followed by a wish for a good day.

Sure, I know that Facebook prompts your friends that it's your birthday. I know it doesn't take all that much effort to type "Happy Birthday" (or in one case "I wish you happiness").

I knew all that.

And didn't care.

Because it made me feel pretty darn good.

**********

Most of these birthday wishes came from folks who live hundreds (if not thousands) of miles away from me. In some cases, they came from people I haven't seen in almost 20 years. College buddies. Frat brothers. Old friends...

Relationships lost through the slow but inevitable ebb and flow of time.

Isn't it funny how people can slip through our hands like sand? Time does that. It marches steadily on as we wage our daily little wars, raise our children, pay our bills and watch the hour hand fly by faster and faster. Time moves on and we just lose...people. Not through some act of omission or commission. Not due to some cataclysmic event. Not with a bang.

Or a whimper.

They just...go away.

One day you wake up and realize, "My God. It's been 20 years since I've seen [you fill in the blank]. Where did the time go?"

Time and connection.

The heat miser and snow miser of our lives.

*********

Make no mistake, the fact that I am a "technology education advocate" does not mean that I am a "tech guy."

I don't salivate at all things Apple.

I don't think on the 8th day God made the iPad. (Though it is a pretty nifty little machine).

But I do believe in the power of the pc. I am continually amazed by its ability to change the world for the better.

The pc?

Sorry Bill Gates....I don't mean the personal computer. I mean the personal communicator. Because that's what modern technology has become, whether you're talking about a smart phone, a laptop, a netbook or a desk top. These sleek little little devices are our own little personal communicators. And while some people think that our world is going to hell in a hand-basket because of all this "[expletive deleted] technology," and decry all things technical because of all the time our children seem to be spending tappidy-tap-taping on their cell phones or playing video games, I choose to look at all of this stuff through a slightly different lens.

We fret because our children are texting too much. We worry about the loss of real world experiences. We condemn because we think technology cold and impersonal. We fear a techno-centric society. All fair concerns. But hit the pause button for just a second. What are our children doing when they're tappidy-tap-tapping on these machines? What are we doing with our laptops, desktops and cell phones virtually all day?

We're communicating! We're connecting!

We're sharing.

We're doing it in a very real way, in real time, to real people. Yes...the medium has changed. We're not using a pen and paper or land-based telephones, but we are communicating. And we're doing it more often, in more ways, with more people than at any point in the course of human history.

Isn't that a really good thing?

**********

Think about this. I can talk to almost anyone, anywhere, anytime. This isn't space age stuff. I can do it right now. And here's the real kicker. Many means of communication are (be warned, I'm about to drop an F-Bomb).....free. Take skype for example. You can download it for free. You can use it for free. If your computer has a camera (and most do), you can use skype to make free computer to computer video calls. Folks, this is very cool stuff that requires absolutely no "technology" skills. Last year, my nine year daughter skyped my sixty-seven year mother to wish her a happy mother's day. They had a 30 minute video conference...each sitting in front of their respective computers from 3000 miles away. C'mon people, this is James Bond stuff; simply unimaginable when I was a child.

**********

A few years ago, I received birthday wishes from about four people. These birthday wishes came from people who could reach me by telephone or who lived in my house. This year, I received over 20 birthday wishes from people living in 10 different states. So don't tell me technology is cold and impersonal. Don't tell me we're losing each other and we're sacrificing meaningful connections because of technology. Don't tell me technology drives us apart.

Time is often the true enemy. We're always so busy; so pressed, so stressed, that we lose so much. We lose people. We lose old friends. We lose out on the ability to connect. But "to connect" today doesn't mean a handshake or a hug.

It can be an email.

It can be a birthday wish on Facebook.

All it takes is some small gesture that says, I'm thinking about you.

You matter.

So I'm throwing down the gauntlet.

I am declaring myself now and forever more to be a pc guy.

And my birthday wish for you...

Is that you should be one too.

The heart of the matter

I've been out of the game for a while.

Oh....I've been busy.

Building websites that no one has seen.

Writing materials that no one has read.

Creating videos that no one has watched.

I've been in my own self-imposed creative space. (Perhaps "box" would be a better word). I create it, read it, then put it away. But I think it's time to come out of the shadows. Good, bad or indifferent, I've still got a lot to say. (HUGE surprise there).

So I'll say it....and share it.

Sound good?

Cool.

So here we go.....

***********

I am a card carrying member of Kelly Tenkely's bloggers alliance. Now mind you, while I was a busy little bee creating stuff for my own viewing pleasure, I hadn't read (or written) an edublog in some time. This morning, I made a P90X type commitment. I committed to reading, commenting or blogging about something each and every day. So I opened up my google reader at long last and started to wade through my overflowing inbox.

At the top of my inbox was a blog titled, Blogging About The Web 2.0 Classroom by Steve Anderson. My first thought, in the spirit of complete candor, was oh no. Not another one of these. I've read about 4000 "edublogs" on "School 2.0."

But I'd made a commitment. Read, Michael. Read. So I plunged ahead nonetheless.

The first blog was Passion for Real Education Reform.

Good title, I thought.

So tell me about "real" education reform Mr. Anderson.

What do you have to say?

To my surprise, the post wasn't really about education reform at all. It was about passion. Mr. Anderson writes, "No matter what, the key to any type of change or reform is passion." He then goes on to describe (not define) what he means by passion. He writes:

Passion is arriving in the classroom before the sun rises and leaving after the sun sets to plan a lesson, set up a lab or take part in professional development, to provide the best learning experience for each kid.

Passion is spending thousands of dollars out of pocket each year on the supplies we know kids need but districts have decided to cut in their never ending search to trim budgets all in an effort to provide the best learning experience for each kid.

Passion is knowing inside that you really work 13 months a year, even though some might say you are lucky you have “summers off,” because you know what you learn and do in your free time helps provide the best learning experience for each kid.

Passion is working and learning with kids.

When I finished reading, I was moved. I thought, "YEAH! You GO Mr. Anderson!" And I found it hugely ironic that the first ed tech blog that I'd read in some time wasn't about technology at all (thank goodness), but about passion.

About a matter of the heart.

Because I have been of the opinion for some time that the battle for meaningful technology integration, and for school reform in general, is less an intellectual exercise and more about appealing to the heart. Move people and they will act. Appeal to the heart, not just the mind, and change, however slow or incremental, will come.

***********

I wrote the following blog almost two years ago, but I'm sharing it again because it seems on point.

Please enjoy.

***********

Meaningful Technology Integration--The heart of the matter

"It's time to get down to the heart of the matter."
Don Henley

Why haven't we been more successful at integrating technology into our curriculum and classrooms? Why is technology, and all its power and promise, still relegated to the back of the educational bus by many school boards and district administrators? Why hasn't there been a howl of protest from outraged parents demanding that schools integrate 21st century learning tools into our schools right now?

Yesterday, I read a plurk from "Beth," a teacher with 27 years experience who might be losing her job along with 14 other technology integration specialists because their jobs were considered "non-instructional." This would leave, I believe, approximately 1 technology integration specialist for every 1500 students in this particular district.

The reaction was one of shock and outrage while "Beth" lamented over what she could do. As I tried to sleep last night, I was haunted by something Beth wrote: "It will be the students who suffer the most."

So what do we do?

Beth's plight, and the plight shared by so many teachers, principals and administrators across the country trying, with varying degrees of success, to meaningfully integrate technology into our schools and classrooms is rooted, I think, in one core cause.

It's time to get down to the heart of the matter.

It's time to appeal to the heart.

When we are moved, we act. When we feel, we respond. Right now, those of us "in" education technology do a great job....of talking to ourselves. I'm continually inspired and informed by the leaders and visionaries of the ed tech movement. I marvel at their use of technology and ability to identify new and clever widgets, gadgets and applications. NECC is a blast (loved Nashville, wasn't so hot on San Antonio), but after two years of attending, is it just me or does it seem like we're primarily still just talking to each other?

I think what we need to do is tell a better story. We need to get people to care. We need to find a way to engage that fifth grade teacher in Indianapolis who doesn't give a damn about computers but who is sick and tired of looking at bored and blank faces every day. We need to better engage school boards who see us coming, clutch their wallets, and think: "Oh no. YOU just want us to buy a bunch of computers and we have MUCH bigger fish to fry. We don't have money for teachers or textbooks and you want us to invest in laptops?"

The foundational issue isn't the merit of our cause, but how we share and frame our message. How do we reach our audience? How do we effectively share our vision with our school boards, administrators and the thousands of teachers who have never heard of NECC and will never attend? Too often our message gets lost, diluted or muddled. Or it becomes confusing and technocentric.

So do we do that?

How do you do that?

What I have found, for what its worth, that the least compelling way to talk about technology is to talk about technology. It's boring. Cold and boring. And in my humble opinion, presentations that involve pointing and clicking through an application in front of a large roomful of people are painful to watch. (Organizers at NECC, please take note). If the people pointing and clicking would simply turn around and look at the people in the room, they would often see a room full of confused and disengaged faces (and these are teachers we're talking about). Process and applications should be addressed in smaller, more hands-on sessions. Inspire people about why. Make the case why technology is important; why technology is meaningful, why technology engages our students and why technology improves student outcomes. Because if we don't get beyond why, we'll never get to how.

One of the best presentations that I've ever attended was by Dr. Tim Tyson and it was one of the least technical presentations I've ever attended. But it was beautiful; moving. It made we want to act.

My challenge to you is make us feel it. Make people care. Appeal to the heart, not just to the mind.

How you do it is up to you.

But if you have ideas, share them. Because if we're going to win this fight; we're going to win it together.

Our world has changed (Part I)

Every now and then, just to lighten things up a bit, I will share personal stories or little bits and pieces of information that prove one thing.  Thomas Friedman was right. Our world has changed.

I'll start with this.

My six year old son has discovered YouTube.

I repeat.

My SIX year old son has discovered YouTube.

And what little gems did we unearth?

How about this.

The official White House Barack Obama Inauguration video (stuff I like to watch): One million, two hundred forty seven thousand, four hundred and sixty eight (1,247,468) views.

Alvin and the Chipmunks sing Crank That Soulja Boy (stuff HE likes to watch): SIX MILLION, TWO HUNDRED THIRTY SIX THOUSAND, NINE HUNDRED AND SEVENTY ONE (6,236,971) views.

I'm not making this up.

Folks, our world has changed. 

The power is yours--seize it

Drums keep pounding rhythm to the brain

La-dee-la-dee-dee

La-dee-la-dee-da

Wait till you have reached the age,

History has turned the page,

We still want to hear a brand new thing,

We still need a song to sing,

 And the beat goes on.....

And the beat goes on.....

And the beat goes on.....

And the beat goes on.....

And the beat goes on.....

And the beat goes on.....

(Sonny Bono, “The Beat Goes On”)

 

Yes it does.

The debate rages on, hot and heavy, about the relative merits of NCLB and national standards. And so it should; these are important issues that merit careful consideration and conscientious, well-informed debate. For what it's worth, I think the idea of national standards has merit (after all, 2+2=4 whether you're in Georgia or California) and I think that all schools should be held to a measure of accountability. But this post isn't about that. We'll save that particular debate for another day.

This post is about power.  

It's about what we do (or don't do) to arm ourselves with information and place ourselves in a position to make well-informed decisions about what is, and what is not, in the best interests of our schools and our children.  

It's about not allowing ourselves to be swayed by hype and hyperbole. 

It's about knowing.  

Because knowledge, as they say, is power. 

**********************

Have you heard it?

There has been a great deal of talk of late about improved NAEP test scores, particularly among African-American and at-risk students, as "proof" that our current efforts at reform are working.  Words like "unprecedented, " "historic highs" and "steady progress" have been bandied about in official press releases and in print media with such regularity that it would be easy to assume, given these glowing and optimistic reviews, that we have turned a corner and that we're finally making meaningful and substantive progress in public education. I don’t think anyone expects perfection from our schools.  But we do want to know, or perhaps it might be more accurate to say that we need to believe, that we’re moving forward.

But faith is not enough.  Faith must be supported by facts, so rather than rely on an executive summary or someone else’s characterization of these scores, I decided to go to the best available source when I needed the most up-to-date data on the current state of student achievement.

I went straight to the New York Times.

Nah…

I went to the official Nation's Report Card.  This is raw data, straight from the Department of Education, breaking down NAEP results in a surprisingly clear, concise and readable fashion. No hyperbole.  No characterization.

Just the facts.

And I couldn't believe what I read. 

*******************

First of all, let's talk about the word progress.  It means, generally speaking, to move forward in some way.  But when you carefully examine NAEP data, what will you see?

You’ll see:

• A two point increase in the average 4th grade reading score from 219 in 2005 to 221 in 2007.  But this is progress, right?  Not really. Because the average score in 2002 was 219. The biggest spike in reading scores actually occurred between 2000 and 2002, when the scores went up by six points. But that was before NCLB was enacted into law.       

• Eight grade reading scores were up by only one point, from 262 in 2005 to 263 in 2007.  But here’s the rub. The average score was 263 in 1998.  That means in spite of spending hundreds of billions of dollars on reforms targeted at improved literacy, we show no statistical improvement over the course of the past decade.  This data also shows that the gains our students make in the 4th grade are lost by the time our students reach the 8th grade.

• Fourth grade mathematics scores show steady progress from 1990 (average score 213) to 2007 (average score 240).  But, again, there’s an issue. The biggest gains occurred before NCLB, when scores rose from 213 in 1990 to 235 in 2003.

• The same is true of eight grade mathematics.  Scores were up by two points, from 279 in 2005 to 281 in 2007. However, once again, the pre-NCLB gains were larger, when scores increased from 263 in 1990 to 278 in 2003.

But here’s the real story. None of these improvements persist through to the end of high school. NAEP long-term test results show that since 1990, the scores of 17-year-olds have stagnated in math and fallen in reading.

So is this progress? 

Decide for yourself.  But here’s one more statistic.  And this is the one that pushed me over the edge.

Over and over and over again, we hear about how our African-American children are doing better.  That’s wonderful if true.  But is it?

Here’s one stat.  The Nation’s Report Card webpage documenting average 4th grade reading scores starts with the headline: “White, Black, Hispanic, and Asian/Pacific Islander fourth-graders scored higher in 2007 than in 1992.”  Okay, fair enough. Read further. In 2007, the average 4th grade reading score for African Americans was 203.  This is the “historic high.”

But then download the full report card.  Go to page 21, where you’ll find the 4th grade reading scale. Then note where an average score of 203 places you.

An average score of 203 is below basic!

I was so dumbfounded, so utterly flabbergasted by this, I asked my mother, a retired teacher, to look at the report.  She saw the same thing, shook her head and whispered “My God.”

Then I got angry.  Really, really angry.  (And I will try, gentle reader, not to have this blog devolve into an expletive-laced tirade).  A 203 is NOT progress.  It’s pathetic.  It’s appalling.  This is AMERICA not Guam! I don’t care who you are or where you’re from, 4th grade students in THIS country should NOT have an AVERAGE reading score of below basic. Ever.  And then to have the temerity, the unmitigated GALL, to characterize this as progress, insults even the most basic notions of reason or intelligence.

(See, no expletives.  I’m proud of myself).

Imagine this.  Imagine if a teacher said to you of your child, “We are sooooo very proud of your child.  S/he’s made soooooo much progress.  S/he’s now IMPROVED to below basic.  You must be very proud.  We are.” 

What would you do?

I’ll tell you what I would do.

X-Box…..gone.

Cable television……out.

Television……off.

iPod…….forget about it.

Air Jordan’s……don’t even look.

Jeans....from Sears.

Play time…..limited.

Bed time……8 o’clock EVERY night.

Homework…..constantly, all the time, every day until you leave my house, get a job or win the lottery.

Fuzzy wuzzy, feel good tolerance of woeful academic performance…not in my house.  Not ever.

Folks,  when I see scores like this, I’m reminded of a scene from the movie Armageddon where the Bruce Willis character is informed that the only way to save the world is to send his team of deep sea drillers into outer space to drill a hole in an asteroid and drop a nuclear bomb in the hole.  The Willis character looks at the NASA rep (played with surprising restraint by Billy Bob Thornton) and says (as only Bruce Willis can), “You’ve got to be kidding.  That’s the best you can do.  You’re NASA. You’re geniuses.  And this best you can do?  Oh God….”

That’s what I think about education.  Public education is full of, well…educators.  You guys are really, really smart.  You have PhD’s.  You write textbooks.  You study the human brain.  You passed statistics.  You get billions and billions of dollars and year, and this is the best we can do?

It is at this point that I can almost understand (almost….) some republican concerns about increased education spending. Trillions of dollars and this is our return?  A generation of functionally illiterate kids who are hopelessly ill equipped and ill-prepared to compete and succeed in the world as it exists now? This is what you give me?  And then you have the nerve to look me in the face and characterize THIS as progress?

Oh man……

So one of three things is true.  We either:

• cannot fix public education because the problems are too deep, too entrenched, for systemic change, and no one has the gumption, the courage, to say so; 

• can fix public education but don’t know how and no one has the gumption, the courage, to say so; or

• can fix public education, and we know how to do it, we just don’t choose to do it.  And why should we? Public school is for poor kids anyway.  As long as our talented tenth is thriving, we still need someone to bag our groceries and to sell us Jimmy Choo shoes.  So pumping out ill-informed, uneducated worker bees into our economy suits us just fine. (Of course, we can never, ever say that…that would be positively un-American).

Whatever the cause, the effect is the same. There’s not enough work for the worker bees anymore. And with about 50 million illiterate Americans and climbing, who do you think is going to pay for all these unemployed and underemployed worker bees? Look at your paycheck.  See all those Federal, state and local deductions?  That’s right.  YOU will.  YOU will end up paying for our failure to educate our children.  Or more likely, our children will end up paying this debt.  A debt they didn’t create and don’t deserve.

Didn’t like the bailouts?  Stimulus package tick you off?  Well, if we keep this up, if we don’t fix our schools, if we keep characterizing average scores of below basic as “historic highs,” if we don’t start calling it like it is, then the looming crisis, both human and economic, will make our current economic travails look like a hiccup by comparison. 

Believe me, I am, by nature, an optimist.  I do not ascribe to the politics of fear and polarization.  But this is real folks.  It’s real and it’s happening right now. 

But please, please, please, don’t take my word for it. Don’t blindly accept my characterization.  That’s the point of this post.  Agree with me, disagree with me, tell me I’m full of it, it’s cool—but check it out for yourselves.  Arm yourselves.  Inform yourselves.

Then decide.

There are many forms of power; most unattainable to the common citizen.  But some forms of power are yours and can never be taken away should you choose to exercise that power.  One is the power of the mind.  It’s yours.  Use it.  The other is the power of information.  One of the great benefits of living in the Digital Age is that information is readily available.  There is simply no excuse for not knowing.

So take it. 

Power. 

It doesn’t belong to Obama, or Duncan or your elected officials.

It’s yours.

Seize it.

The power to think, the power to decide, the power to act and the power to shape our individual and collective future.