"The Vermont DOE is again engaged in studying the efficiency and effectiveness of our public schools. Unfortunately, this is likely to follow the 'predictable failure of educational reform' unless we consider fundamental changes in the governance and organization of our schools."
Despite the hard work of educators to meet countless demands of the educational system pulling them in disparate directions, our schools are failing our kids and our society. By trying to do everything, schools sometimes end up doing little very well. With over 30 percent of our students nationwide not graduating from school, huge numbers not proficient in basic skills, and endless streams of students saying they find school irrelevant, the current system is untenable.
It isn't as if there haven't been innumerable efforts to improve our schools. More testing, new programs, innovation grants, conferences, consultants, new regulations, cutting-edge technology, revised policies, new curricula, and on and on. As educational expert Michael Fullan observes, very few large-scale educational reform efforts have been effective. As Albert Einstein noted, the definition of
