Data Driven Decision Making??

"If we recognize that change and uncertainly are basic principles, we can greet the future and the transformation we are undergoing with the understanding that we do not know enough to be pessimistic." - Hazel Henderson, The Politics of the Solar Age

The hubbub in the headlines of a Western Kansas community this week could be found in the BOE news of 04.19.07 at the Hays Daily.

Did the pendulum “tip” in the direction that will best use the RESOURCES of what was being built over the last three years with their one-to-one? What exactly caused the "tipping point" in this semi-rural Kansas community to "tip" so drastically? Too harsh a word? Not in my opinion.

It makes me wonder......did RESISTANCE from a culture stagnant to change rear its ugly head? Beware--it is messy out here!

How do we protect the learning environments that we inspire and create? Some of us have been working very hard at this for a long time! I would like to think we are “working on the work” as Phil Schlechty would say. Today, it is about creativity and R-Directed thinking which will empower our children with the skills required to be successful in our "flat world"!

At what COST do we abandon our INVESTMENTS in PeoPle, Kids, and technologies?

Our own usd352 “Learning Community”, what we call our Teacher Laptop Initiative, would be devastated if the decision Hays BOE made Wednesday night happened to our district.

What caused the scales to "tip"? Did it tip in the right direction? What disruptions will this "tipping point" cause in the learning cycle of the young adults who attend HHS? What kind of DATA did they look at in order to make an informed decision about changing the instructional learning design at their high school? Without weighing "their" successes and failures, can we really determine much?

I would challenge every one to READ, if you haven't, what Daniel Pink talks about in educating the whole child. It really is about Design. Story. Symphony. Empathy. Play. Meaning.

We’ve DONE “school”…. now is the time to DO LEARNING!

Again, I ponder........ at what COST do we abandon our INVESTMENTS in PeoPle, Kids, and technologies?

Are we "vested" in our people? Do we have reason to be? I certainly believe that today our district is vested in its best learners! In my opinion, our district could not teach the LEVEL of creativity and design without our "platform of choice". Apple.

I am hopeful our community will recognize the quality of their child’s education in the pages of our district website as they browse and dialog with the staff that live and create on these pages! This space is certainly growing and taking on a "whole new mind" of it's own.
http://www.usd352.k12.ks.us/home.html

It is a tiny bit about the technology … isn’t it?

I'm very disappointed in this decision.
http://online.hdnews.net/content/news/schoolboe041907.shtml

Design. Story. Symphony. Empathy. Play. Meaning. Which ones do YOU need to work on today? :)

"It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change." -Charles Darwin