From Zero Sum to Positive Sum
Plus, Does Banning Things Actually Keep Children Safe in Schools?
Happy July!
Copies of my new book, From Reopen to Reinvent, arrived at my doorstep two days ago. It comes out in less than two weeks, so there’s still time to preorder a copy here and be among the first to read it! I’m incredibly excited to share its contents with you.
If you’re curious about some of the messages from the book, Education Next published the first excerpt from it here, titled “From Zero Sum to Positive Sum.” The point in the piece—that our K–12 school system should not be a zero-sum one in which some students succeed at the expense of others—is one of the major themes that runs throughout the book.
Some of the other themes include:
Helping schools find the time and space to reinvent given all that is on educators’ plates;
Moving to a mastery-based learning system in which student success is guaranteed;
Creating learning spaces in which teachers co-teach in teams to create a stronger web of support for themselves and students;
And recognizing and meeting the vastly different needs of parents and students with a range of schooling options rather than one-size-fits-all solutions.
From Reopen to Reinvent is a book that both offers solutions to better serve all students and a playbook for helping educators design those options as we seek to rebuild from the devastation of the pandemic. For parents frustrated with the challenges their children have faced at schools, the book presents a path forward from the pandemic.
AND — For those interested in buying several copies, I’m still offering a limited-time special.
If you’re interested in having me speak to a group (virtually or in-person), get in touch, as I’m discounting my usual speaker fees for those who make larger pre-order purchases before the book ships July 13th. You can pre-order the book from Amazon, from Barnes & Noble, or from Indiebound.
Final Podcast Episodes of the Season
As those who have been subscribers to my newsletter know, many of the messages in From Reopen to Reinvent stem from a podcast, Class Disrupted, that Diane Tavenner and I started during the pandemic in May of 2020.
We’ve now wrapped up three full seasons of the podcast with our final episode of Season 3, which is available for listening (and reading the transcript) here. Titled “Does Banning Things Actually Keep Children Safe in Schools?”, the episode offers a provocative look at many of the hot-button issues in education right now, from banning CRT to banning books and speakers, and points out the commonality in all of these regardless of whether the desire to ban originates from the right or left.
As usual, Diane and I try to create a third way through these issues that transcends the polarization so common across the political spectrum today.
Finally, at the end of the episode we promise that we’ll be back for a fourth season, so you can keep your ears and eyes out for more from us in the fall!
On the higher education front, Jeff Selingo and I dropped two more episodes of our Future U. podcast to complete our fifth season.
In the second to last episode, we journeyed to Atlanta to spend time with the presidents of Georgia Tech and Emory University, along with faculty and staff at each institution, as part of our Future U. Campus Tour sponsored by Salesforce.org. Aimée Eubanks Davis, founder of Braven, joined me as a guest host to facilitate the conversation, which you can listen to, read, or watch here.
I had four takeaways from the conversation. The importance of:
Colleges having a culture of care on campus;
Intentionally building community for students whether in-person or virtual. In neither of these cases should the college seek to be a student’s parent, but instead to help students build resiliency and agency to handle the challenges that life throws at them, both in college and afterward;
Urban campuses for students, not just in terms of economic opportunity, but also because of the chance to partake with faculty, staff, company employees, and more as citizens in a vibrant community;
The research that universities conduct for society and the opportunities conducting research creates for students.
In our season finale, “Final Report,” Jeff and I offered some updates about past guests on our podcast, reflected about the past year in higher ed, each made a prediction about the future of higher education, and then offered a solution to the challenges we each view as among the stickiest higher education faces at the moment.
My prediction boiled down to this: I think a recession could stabilize the decline in college enrollments, but I don’t think it will lead to a big rebound given inflation’s impact on college prices.
Agree or disagree with our predictions? We’d love to hear from you over social media with your thoughts. You can listen to (or read) the full episode here and, after doing so, let us know.
As always, thank you for reading, writing, and listening.