Do the math! I have been involved in school improvement… educational reform… since the late eighties.  Three decades – and counting! The educational community continues to be replete with “improvements:”  from site-based management in the 80s, to standards-based in the 90s, to proficiency-based in the 00s, to now  competency-based with a nod to “personalized learning.” It’s enough to make even the most resilient, forward  thinking educator jaded… and just… tired.  

Yet, I am still hopeful that our past tinkering efforts have given way to true transformation. Really.  Entrepreneurial leaders of the day (e.g. Bezos at Amazon, Jobs at Apple, Page & Brin at Google) teach us that  it’s not about buffing and shining the current, outdated system; it’s about disrupting the current system.  

Disruption – leapfrogging over the current – requires different thinking. Bezos et al designed down from the  ideal: the ideal reading experience… the ideal listening experience… the ideal search experience. And so,  true transformation of education requires designing down from the ideal learning experience (ILX) which is  based on a different function, answers different questions, and realizes different results. My purpose here is to  examine this difference between the Industrial Age’s assembly line schools and a customized learning  community. 

The function of Industrial Age, assembly line schools (which, by the way, has been around since  1892!) has been to sort out and select talent… separate the men from the boys… who gets it and  who gets it first was (is?) an important designation. In order to get to that function, time became –  and still is – the constant. All Industrial Age policies, procedures, and structures served that sorting  and selecting function. The underlying assumption was (is?) bell curve thinking: some are smart… some are kinda’ smart and, well, some are just not smart.

The function of customized learning communities is to develop talent… to design (as those  entrepreneurs have done) the ideal – the ideal learning experience for all learners. In order to get to  this function of customized learning communities, time must be the variable. All structures, policies,  and procedures must support the ideal learning experience to develop talent. The underlying  assumption – belief – or understanding is: They all can learn, recognizing, honoring, and supporting  that they learn in different ways and different timeframes.

DIFFERENT ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS (EQs)

The difference is significant and quite clear. Industrial Age, assembly line schools operate from… design structures, policies, and procedures from… very different essential questions. Remember: their EQs are to support their function: to sort out and select talent. The EQs of customized learning communities signal the structures, policies, and procedures needed to support its function: to develop talent in the ideal learning experience. Take a look at the very different EQS… with the “answers.” Sobering on one hand to see what has been; yet hopeful on the other to know what can, will, and needs to be.