Professionals 2: Pundits 0! (The shifting roles of practitioners and state education agencies)
Professionals, Pundits and Evidence Based Decision Making
In Ed Schools housed within research universities, and in programs in educational leadership which are primarily charged with the training of school and district level leaders, we are constantly confronted with deliberations over how to balance teaching the “practical stuff” and “how to” information on running a school or school district, managing personnel, managing budgets, etc. etc. etc., and the “research stuff” like understanding how to interpret rigorous research in education and related social sciences (increasingly economic research). Finding the right balance between theory, research and practice is an ongoing struggle and often the subject of bitter debate in professional programs housed in research universities.
Over the past year, I’ve actually become more supportive of the notion that our future school and district leaders
