Five Signs Your Reform Has Become Another Education Fad
I've written before about how these new enthusiasms risk repeating the mistakes that helped turn earlier reforms from sensible efforts into self-defeating fads. In response, more than a few readers have reached out with a version of: "OK, I get it. But how can you tell when an effort is just building healthy momentum—and when it's at risk of turning into a fad?"
It's a great question. While I fear that I don't have a great answer, school reforms tend to stand or fall based on how they're experienced by parents and teachers. The problem for many reforms is that champions wind up imagining that teachers and parents are on board long before they really are.
Making allies of parents and teachers requires getting them on board, which means slowly making them believe that this stuff really works. Among other things, this requires reformers to protect their handiwork from shady vendors, wacky allies, unrealistic hype, and goofy practices—all of which can be hard to do. It's doubly so when reformers are riding high and don't want to create unnecessary conflict. That means reformers can find their handiwork defined by its worst excesses.
So, what are the warning signs that a reform is at risk of being undone? Here are five:
The Vendor Onslaught: Perhaps the earliest sign, but one visible only to those paying close attention, is the way that vendors of all sorts start to bombard school systems, journalists, and any perceived "influencer" with their wares. Vendors who had previously shown little interest in X will CONTINUE READING: Five Signs Your Reform Has Become Another Education Fad - Rick Hess Straight Up - Education Week