Read the research piece linked in this post. What we need to do is figure out what makes really good public and charter schools (and there are some) so effective and work to disseminate best practices. Do they use a core knowledge curriculum? Do they use formative assessment? Do their teachers receive merit pay? Is there something about the leadership of their principals? A little bit of all of the above?

Everyone has an opinion on this issue, but what I know is this: When new ideas are brought to the table, they deserve serious reflection. Defending the old ways, has gotten you what you have now. If W.Va is quite content with the status quo of its system – then, so be it. However, after having taught for three years in Asia – where reforms and ideas are greeted at the door with a smile and embrace – let me tell you, W.Va is far from ready for global competition.

I’ll dig in on the Charter School issue – I support it and want more of it. For those of us in the African American community, what has been offered up to us in the past, just simply is not good enough.

First, the discussion needs to be informed by national research like that done by the Stanford University Center for Research on Educational Outcomes, which suggests that something is not working on the charter schools front. By comparison, I watched West Virginia plunge headlong into school consolidation when national research was calling those efforts into question and other states’ school systems were beginning to unwind their previous consolidation efforts (not completely successfully, suggests the latest education research out of the New York City school system).

Second, as a disinterested party, I did not always like the tenor of the charter schools/innovation zones debate, which I happened to witness in both the Senate Finance Committee and the House Education Committee and in the media. It became far too personal with people who raised legitimate concerns labeled anti-innovation. This, I suspect, ultimately caused the bill’s demise at the end of the regular legislative session.

Charter schools are but one way of thinking about academic innovation and improvement. We have not specifically said that charter schools are the way to go, just that it is one model. The Innovation Zones approach provides an opportunity for local teachers, parents and academic administrators to develop improvements in a more open environment based on the best available evidence of what works.

Anyone is invited to join the dialogue on this and other new economy issues at http://www.createwv.com.