Success in improving education

--Originally published at hstein98

We hear it all the time: Reforms will make schools and universities better, technology will make schools and universities better, courses for teachers will make schools and universities better. Shortly after the reforms are announced, the technology is bought and the courses are taken we hear a different claim: schools and universities are better now, finally we had success.

No, no and no again. Educational innovation and improvement is a complex endeavor which has to involve public policy, administrators, teachers, parents and students. To create worthwhile educational experiences we have to rethink education as a whole, its purposes, processes, activities and results. Teachers and institutions who claim better learning results because they improved education have the obligation to prove what processes they changed and how they measured their results. If there is no proof, claims are just that, not sustained affirmations.

Comments welcome.