I'm here at the Education Writers Association conference in lovely San Fran (though it's cloudy at the moment). This morning I listened to a panel discussion about innovation in education and the fed role. Peter Cunningham of the Education Department kicked it off by talking about the administration's efforts a bit. He noted that there is a body of research on what works in education and you have to look at the evidence, look at the need, and be willing to try new ideas. Our friend ?Ricky H? (a.k.a. Frederick M. Hess) cautioned however, against the notion of trying to fix everything with one swing or to ?oversell, overhype? certain things.
Charlie Barone of Democrats for Education Reform said one change that's needed is a new system of teacher training and development that's outside of the current one ? in order to build an entirely different culture.
The panel was also asked to recommend some stories that they think should be written. Among the answers, Rick said he'd like to see more stories about how schools and districts can spend less/cut costs, including how technology can be used to deliver education more cost effectively, etc. (Fordham and AEI actually hosted a day-long forum on this topic in January). Ed Haertel of Stanford University said he'd like to see more about the disconnect between the lofty rhetoric of education standards and the test items that actually get written to implement those standards. Standards can be great, he said, but then the test item is just a multiple choice question.
?Amy Fagan