My stakeholder group is the citizens of Caldwell, Idaho and we are not fairly represented on our governor’s education task force or in the education debates in this country.

I AM A CITIZEN. When we are treated like bumps in the road, our input and human potential is crushed. That action adds to a climate of despair rather than contributing to a climate capable of producing a professional learning community – “a way of working together that results in continuous school improvement” (Hord, 1997).

SOLUTION: STOP dismantling the system; instead, tear down the barriers to public participation. THAT IS MY MESSAGE to “officialdom.”

SOLUTION: — USE WHAT WE KNOW. THAT IS MY MESSAGE to all. No one person has all the answers and that is why educating children must be a WE effort. We know we need quality leaders, teachers, materials, and adequate funding.

Other SOLUTIONS: A high-quality annual State of Our Schools Report, high-quality parent education, and real community engagement which requires a process that continuously provides for a meaningful exchange of ideas to occur.

A successful outcome in education reform depends on our quality of thought and ability to ask good questions. If “leaders” aren’t examining the FAILED guiding principles, beliefs, and assumptions of the current unsuccessful “reforms”  – then they aren’t being honest with us and we are doomed to repeat the mistakes of the past.

WE already have an abundance of solutions. WE need to use what WE know.

The PROBLEMS are national but solutions TO CULTIVATING a CULTURE of LEARNING will always be local. For continuous improvement to occur, citizens must take back their right and responsibility to actively participate in the education reform process.

Reform Tool Kit