Five Most Influential People in Education, 2008?

Got an e-mail from Robert Pondiscio at the invigorating Core Knowledge Blog requesting some thinking on  the five individuals who had the most impact on American education in 2008. He's asking a cross-section of writers and thinkers, and posting his poll results between Christmas and the beginning of the year. He let us know that we could submit our thoughts to him "on background" which made me laugh out loud. I guess that knowing what to say to remain politically viable is key right now, but nobody asks teachers if they want to submit comments anonymously. In fact, policy leaders seldom ask teachers much of anything (see #1, below).

I genuinely appreciate being asked, therefore--and the opportunity to muse about my choices. Here they are, in Letterman Reverse order:

#5) Jay Mathews ~ For traditional educational journalism, nobody wields a bigger syndicated pen than Mathews. Straddles the line between what the general public thinks about educational issues and what “professional” educators think. Willing to dialogue with people who think he’s wrong, and explore new trends, but confident in his opinions.

#4) Eduwonkette ~ the amazing thing about Eduwonkette is the fact that pretty much everyone in EdBlog World either loves her or deeply respects her work, or both. Her commenters are free to argue with her—and she will acknowledge her arguments’ shortcomings with grace and smarts. She makes statistics sing. Her occasional snarkiness is buttressed by solid scholarship and a finely-tuned sense of humor.

#3) Michelle Rhee ~ Poster Child for So Many Things. It must suck to be Michelle, carrying the weight of urban school reform around on her feisty shoulders, not to mention all the hopes and dreams of Teach for America corps members and alums. Seriously. She’s talented and brilliant, but has been put in a no-win position. Her “my way or the highway” stance has earned her more enemies than friends. And in education, you need friends.

#2) Linda Darling-Hammond ~ Diane Ravitch wrote today that the selection of Arne Duncan must be a relief to Darling-Hammond, and that’s probably true. In the world of academe, Darling-Hammond is high-profile, but fairly middle of the road. The fact that she became a lightning rod for anger and anxiety around competing schools of thought in contemporary education policy-making says something about her perceived (and ongoing) influence with the incoming administration. And also about what Americans believe might fix our ailing schools.

Millions of people who read the news now know her name. Unfortunately, some of what they “know” about Linda Darling-Hammond is third-hand and at best partially correct. She represents the battle over two enormous issues in the field--What is effective teaching? How do we make more good teachers?—and a third issue that transcends education: How should we as a nation in economic disaster feel about labor unions?

#1 EveryTeacher ~ I know this suggestion means I lose 5 vote-points in Pondiscio's poll,  but it really is the right answer to his question: Who had the greatest impact on education in 2008? The people who research, write and think about education believe they’re stimulating the most productive change, but the real action happens (or doesn’t) every day at what Checker Finn termed the “retail level.” The reason reforms stall or deliver minimal results is because the reformers do not work in real schools, or ask real teachers for feedback. (And sometimes, reformers' own unsuccessful teaching experience is written off to policy failures…)

The most exciting transformations in schools are happening through networks of practitioners—the best educational technology bloggers and their thousands of acolytes who are creating elegant tech solutions for schools and sharing them at little or no cost, for example. Or the National Writing Project, a teacher-led professional growth experience for language arts teachers. Or the Teacher Leaders Network, where a few hundred exemplary practitioners gather virtually to argue and muse about key policy issues from the perspective of the classroom.

Each year, teachers make the total difference—positive or negative—in the lives of 30 children, or 150 children. While policy leaders impact larger groups, the biggest educational effects on individual students (and nobody matters more than individual students) come, over time, from their teachers.

Image: o0o0xmods/morguefile

NOTE: Typepad assures us that the comment function will be fixed, soon. In the meantime, if you wish to comment, please e-mail your comments to me at: nflanagan@comcast.net

Comments

[John Norton]

It may be possible, Nancy, to post a comment here -- if readers just ignore all the spinning circles, click post, fill in the security thing, and ignore the lack of confirmation. At least, that's the case if you can read this!

[Melissa B.]

I sure do agree with #1. I always have a few bones to pick with Jay Matthews, but he has done some groundbreaking stuff. And the jury's still out on Michelle Rhee, but I'm rooting for her!

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