Learning is More Than A Test Score

I am still bleary eyed from a late night of watching returns. The politics of hope was victorious over fear and cynicism. The torch truly passed last night to a new generation in what President-Elect Obama described as the “true genius of America”.

For those of us who came of age and began our careers in the 60’s there was a sense of closure. The memories of Grant Park in 1968 during the tumultuous Democratic Convention were superseded at last by the sea of joyful faces waiting to hear from the first African American to break this historic barrier. It was truly representative of the kaleidoscope that is America and held forth to the world by example, the best aspirations of democracy.

Why is this important for education. Here’s what I think. For 40 years I have maintained that the act of teaching is an act of optimism. Without a sense of possibility for the future why would we bother. The election of Barak Obama once again legitimizes intellectualism and vision, calm deliberation and eloquence, shared responsibility and sacrifice. In the last decade educators have been pummeled by a scheme of accountability that is anything but shared – a do it or else mentality culminating in the philosophy embedded in the No Child Left Behind law.

We seek only a recognition of the enormity of the challenge before us – to educate every child to high levels of achievement. We seek only appropriate levels of support and shared responsibility for the transformation of public education to truly achieve this radical new mission.

Yes we can.