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Flypaper

Is it time to throw in the towel on education reform?

9.11.2009

That's the title of a rather bold speech Checker gave at Rice University's Educational Entrepreneurship Program on Sept. 9. In the speech, he suggests that perhaps the focus going forward should be less on education reform and more on education reinvention. Essentially, the old system isn't working; ??tinkering with it and altering it (however well-intentioned) may not do a whole lot of good at this point. He observed several developments that appear to be weakening consensus around standards-based reforms and school choice, and he described some of the problems with traditional K-12 education structures and governance arrangements, from the way schools are controlled and financed to the way educators are prepared, licensed and deployed.

Yet, he said, "American education may not need or benefit from more reforming. It may need something more like the "Miracle at Philadelphia," some coming together of forward-looking leaders able to conceptualize and construct a whole new set of arrangements."

It's an incredibly interesting speech; you can read it in its entirety here.

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