Sunday, December 29, 2013

V.A.M.: Value Added Measure: What's In A Name, Or A Title?

V.A.M.: Value Added Measure: What's In A Name, Or A Title?:

What's In A Name, Or A Title?




Once you label me, you negate me                Søren Kierkegaard

Who wouldn’t want to quote both Wayne’s World and a great 19th century Danish philosopher? 

So, what does it really take to become a leading voice in the 21st century educational reform movement? Well, while sitting in my kitchen; overlooking the Atlantic, it dawned on me. Suddenly the answer materialized, an epiphany, my satori, I realized what it is that I’m missing if I’m ever to be a serious educational reformist.

Now, I can provide a simple answer, or I could go on some longwinded and highly tangential screed, a tirade where I primarily lambast all of the men and women (et al Nitwits) that comprise the great educational reform movement, complete with their grand design and best intentions to restore America’s school system to that exemplar of excellence that it once held within the pantheon of all the other trailblazing nations that have pioneered educational gains and milestones. (That sentence will rack up a myriad of *lexile points) However, I have very little interest in ridiculing the many unrealistic, pedantic and all too tiresome excuses put forth by the deformation of the reformation.  
*See Lexile Dysfunction V.A.M. (12/16)

I have decided instead, to allocate all of my resources to discovering what it is that makes someone become an elite reformer. I’ve racked my brain just trying to figure out what