Group Genius -- All Together Now

Yesterday I wrote a post about the power of small ideas (Could "SingleStop" Help SES & NCLB Transfers?).  Today it's all about really really large ones. 

Malcolm Gladwell's latest New Yorker article is about how major scientific discoveries often occur at nearly the same time by groups of different people, not by solitary inventors working in isolation as we've been led to believe.  Not only that, but you can apparently gather supersmart folks together and come up with patentable ideas -- lots of them (Annals of Innovation). 

Could this be done in education?  Could a group of folks come together and invent some new solutions?  Or would it end up looking just like any other Aspen Institute conference?  Has there ever been a gathering of reformers from which a major new idea (aka invention) has emerged?

Comments

[MD]

I tend to think the constant striving to find some new, bold "solution" to all of education's ills is actually a big part of the problem. I think we, instinctively, know how to produce an equitable and successful K-12 system, but just aren't willing, as a society to make the sacrifices.

We need to:

1. Invest more in the training of teachers and in their development. Part of that can be merit pay, but more importantly it's about giving them the adequate training and time to prepare their lessons and for society to respect and admire the work they do. Merit pay might help, but most teachers say the salary, even while abysmally low, isn't what causes them to leave the profession.

2. Give MORE, not less, of our resources to the students who need them the most - i.e. children living in poverty. Students come to school far behind their affluent peers and their turbulent family lives can easily distract them from their studies. Give schools serving poor students MORE money than schools serving affluent students. Hire counselors, psychologists, nurses and nutritionists to make sure all the students' needs are met. Provide funds for an abundance of field trips and excursions so low-income students can enjoy some of the oh-so-important life experiences that affluent parents can easily provide for their children.

3. Make access to college easier for low-income and minority students. Do away with legacies and SAT scores, which inevitably favor the rich. Simplify financial aid, and make sure it only goes to the students who need it.

That's what we need to do. Unfortunately, true education equality will require the advantaged to admit they benefited from their advantages and to realize equality won't occur without the privileged class making sacrifices.

[Wendy]

I stumbled by here looking for something else but want to respond. I think a small group of reformers can come together and create innovative and workable solutions. But you can't "convene stakeholders" to "collaboratively process" information and concoct "data-driven decisions." Once upon a time in the mid-1980s, a small group of educated people got together and said, hey, the kids coming into Kindergarten (and out of high-poverty and otherwise dysfunctional homes) aren't near ready for school. We ought to get children into places with high quality teachers earlier. Then they got with like-minded folks in the state's education agency, day-care licensing, Head Start, churches, tribal education, et al, and started designing what is today the nation's model public preschool system in ... (drum roll) ... Oklahoma! Consensus-building conferences were not hosted; stakeholders were not empowered. But, folks who care about kids got together and did the right thing. It happens.

[Wendy]

I stumbled by here looking for something else but want to respond. I think a small group of reformers can come together and create innovative and workable solutions. But you can't "convene stakeholders" to "collaboratively process" information and concoct "data-driven decisions." Once upon a time in the mid-1980s, a small group of educated people got together and said, hey, the kids coming into Kindergarten (and out of high-poverty and otherwise dysfunctional homes) aren't near ready for school. We ought to get children into places with high quality teachers earlier. Then they got with like-minded folks in the state's education agency, day-care licensing, Head Start, churches, tribal education, et al, and started designing what is today the nation's model public and voluntary preschool system in ... (drum roll) ... Oklahoma! Consensus-building conferences were not hosted; stakeholders were not empowered. But, folks who care about kids got together and did the right thing. It happens.

[Marc Dean Millot]

It is possible.

Consider something like a "reality based" TV show, sponsored by the Discovery Channel or PBS.

Take some number of education experts of diverse views.

Put them in a simple setting with only basic supports - an old fashioned Maine summer camp, for example. No real hardship, just nothing fancy and limited communication.

They cannot leave until they come up with unanimous support for three new school school reform ideas.

If they all stay through to the end, each will receive say $500,000.

Each time one leaves, that payment is reduced by some amount, with a $100,000 floor.

Anyone who leaves, must walk out on their own, say 50 miles, and gets nothing.

record the whole thing for subsequent broadcast (ok, narrowcast).

It might take a few months, but I think we'd get something after ideology broke down, and other factors came into play.