Posted yesterday on my other blog. Wish-list to Obama for Public Education -- Parents-Students-Teachers & Technology in Public Education. I've already gotten some responses, which is nice. I knew that by posting my list I was asking for a deluge of other's priorities. The almost universal criticism of No Child Left Behind in no way unifies the suggestions for improvement or starting-from-scratch re-design. We who consider ourselves on the progressive side of educational transformation have not reached consensus easily before and I see no reason why it'll be easy this time. Each group of stakeholders offer their NCLB criticisms of the current law and there are currently a substantial set of proclamations, joint statements and recommendations.
I decided to put my requests out there because, a) I want to suggest some very specific programs, projects & roles that my experience has shown to have direct impact on school transformation and student achievement. b) If NCLB is modified rather than a completely new act developed, these ideas can easily modified existing sections of the law. and c) I wanted to illustrate to my readers the direction taken in our community work, our parent leadership in education experiences, and the inter-generational experiences that illustrate student leadership and community use of technology to assess the strength of their schools.
But the guantlet is thrown, and I expect (hope) to get some spirited rejoinders.
I didn't open by wishing everyone a happy new year. So, I hope that all who read this will have a year of peace & gtranquility, congruence between vision/goals and actions and finally, that everone have the resources to have sufficient healthy food and a decent home.