To Would-be Education Reformers

I really, really want to encourage you to take this suggestion.

Reading what you have written all over the internet, and listening to you at public hearings, it appears that you have a crystal clear idea of what should happen in schools to make them places that best support student learning and growth. In all seriousness and sincerity, I want to invite you to start a charter school that fully implements your instructional approaches and other philosophies. I encourage you to do this because you can only gain so much credibility from the sidelines. If you really want to drive ed reform in this state, start your own school and demonstrate how much more effective your way of doing things is. People are much more likely to listen to results than rhetoric. It’s easy for policy makers to ignore an armchair quarterback / critic with no academic credentials in education, but when your school’s CRT results top every other public school in the state, no one can ignore you any longer. And if charter schools aren’t your cup of tea, then start a private school. That process is even simpler.

Either way, replace your argumentation with results. Replace it with your own results from your own school where you’ve implemented your own model. Show everyone how to do it rather than just telling them how they should do it. This will move your agenda along SIGNIFICANTLY further / faster. Heaven knows you’re currently spending more time on other education reform-related “activities” than it would take you to actually open a school and start making things better for Utah’s children.