Change for its own sake

Radio Commentary

Will Rogers once said, “Schools aren’t as good as they used to be — but they never were.” The highly respected Michael Norman agrees.
He said there is danger in the common notion that schools are so bad that any change will be for the better.
Norman contends our schools have been asked to do more than any other school system in the world: We are the only country committed to educating ALL children. 
Do we know how to teach students to read, write, and compute? YES, says Norman. 

Do we practice what we know in every classroom? No. And sometimes that’s because social and financial problems prevent it, he says. 

Instead of major change for its own sake, we must narrow the distance between what we know and how consistently we apply it. 
There’s a big difference between change and progress. In fact, resisting certain changes may be more progressive than adopting them. 
Author Michael Fullan studied innovations and changes in American education over three decades.
He believes that any attempt to reform or change schools must be rooted in two areas: what we know about how humans learn — and what we expect all students to know and be able to do as a result of their schooling.
The rest is just glitter. It’s change without progress.