This Commentary got my attention! “Why I’m Against Innovation in Education”

https://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2018/05/02/why-im-against-innovation-in-education.html

Thank you, Mike Schmoker, for this important and necessary Commentary. You are so right! We need more (objective, not-agenda-or advocacy-driven) researchers and educators to speak up for effective educational practices and results.

What’s missing, though, is any mention of special education–the arena filled with agenda-driven, faddish, mandated, and yet, unproven approaches. Beyond differentiated instruction, which is mentioned here as “popular”, but not evidence-based, how about the use of 1:1 aides, the push for technology for “personalized instruction”–whatever that term means (it is still not defined), the overuse and misused of so-called accommodations, the mandate for “inclusion” even when it does not work for all students–just for starters!

When education is driven by Washington and state capitals–instead of by honest researchers and classroom teachers and, even, common sense–can we be surprised that it is not evidence-based? We need more teachers to speak up and pursue what works. Thanks for getting the conversation going.