Posted on by James Clements

“Innovation, Competition, Toughness, Patience”

USA Today Editorial: If there was any silver lining to the devastation that Hurricane Katrina wrought in New Orleans four years ago, perhaps it is this: The water washed away one of the nation’s worst school systems and left New Orleans determined to rebuild in a wholly new way.

In related news, New Orleans NBA star Chris Paul (channeling Uncommon Schools Brett Peiser): “If everybody comes back 1 percent better, that will make our team better. So I’ll try to do my part and come back better than I was last year.”

The reason that charter schools are tagged with failing to create “best practices that transfer to other districts” is because so many of the best practices are simply 1% micro-solutions.  Each by itself elicits shoulder-shrugging.  But if you add enough 1% solutions together, you put teachers in a position to succeed.  

 ~ Guestblogger Mike Goldstein

One Reply to ““Innovation, Competition, Toughness, Patience””

  1. I watched some of the Learning Matters clips over the weekend and it’s nice to be reminded of all the little things that charter schools like mine do differently that one doesn’t see when looking at video of schools in DC or NO. Some of the things that rankled because of what I’ve become accustomed to…

    1) Kids wearing backpacks/and or coats in their seats like they are waiting to book out of the room at any moment.

    2) Slouching in seats.

    3) Huge classes where half the kids are absent.

    4) Kids screaming at teachers or each other in hallways with no consequences.

    and the list could go on…

    I’m not criticizing because I know how hard it is to get an entire school on the same page, but it is possible to get many of the little things right. It gives teachers a fighting chance to get their kids to learn…

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