School Redesign vs. School Reform
Reform: To return to a good state.
Redesign: A plan for making changes to the structure and functions of a system so as to better serve the purpose of the original design, or to serve purposes different from those set forth in the original design.
I look at the reform movement in education and see a form of insanity that boggles the mind. It is as if the past education structure was good and all we need to do is bring it back to its previous glory by adding more time on task, core standards, professional learning communities, small learning communities, measure math and reading, measure more math and reading, phonics, whole language, tracking, social promotion, class size, blended learning, standards, merit pay, site based management…. I could go on an on and write a book about each of these reforms, in fact many books by respected people have done just that. Yet all of these reforms