Public schools are stuck in the storm. Both mysterious and multifaceted, the lightning and thunder act together and apart. The people are divided. Administrators are divided. Policies are misconstrued and lend to more pressure and a deeper divide. And, every side is claiming to battle for student success. Who gets left out in the rain? Who are the innocent bystanders? At a pivotal moment of scarcity and survival, the elements of public policy, high-stakes assessments, diversity, and inclusion, teaching core curriculum standards, and instructional delivery are on the top of everyone’s mind and all over the media. The data feeds the news and the news feeds the people and bits and pieces of truth are lost along the way and recycled back. Once evidence-based action can be proven, a new normal for educating children from K12 and into early college can be established. As policymakers step out of the way, initiatives from the inside can take root. Perhaps the entry of free-market education will allow for more freedom of instruction and we can begin to close the achievement gap we hear so much about. “Without continual growth and progress, such words as improvement, achievement, and success have no meaning.” Benjamin Franklin. It is time to get out of the way of the trajectory of public education and let it be what it wants to be for a while. There will always be passionate parent groups, there will always be research into the shaping of the mind, and there will always be talk about preparing the future workforce. Some things will change and some things will remain the same. The most difficult part of change is the turmoil we hear about in this tumultuous time in education.
