Educational change agents wanted

If you are an academic researcher and interested in serving as a powerful catalyst for constructive educational change in the United States and across the globe, consider applying for a Education Entrepreneur Fellowship. According to the website of The Mind Trust:

The Education Entrepreneur Fellowship provides extraordinary entrepreneurs with a unique opportunity to develop and launch initiatives with great potential to transform public education. The term of the Fellowship is two years. During that time, fellows receive a full-time salary, benefits, office space, and customized training and support to turn a promising idea into a functioning educational venture with large-scale, transformational benefits for Indianapolis and beyond. Fellowship ventures will target underserved or disadvantaged populations with solutions that attack the root problems in the delivery of public education. The Fellowship is for people who envision entirely new approaches to the challenges of public education, and possess the relentless drive necessary to exploit opportunities to fulfill their visions. Fellows join a growing network of education entrepreneurs dedicated to forging dramatic change in public education.

Thanks to Corrie Heneghan of the Mind Trust for alerting me to this opportunity.

My initial question about this offer relates to the phrase “the delivery of public education.” To borrow the dichotomy of learning theories shared by Dr. Angela McFarlane at BLC 07, I’m wondering if researchers supporting constructivist learning theories or more balanced theories of both “information/knowledge delivery” as well as construction need apply for a fellowship? Hopefully a wide range of pedagogical perspectives will be welcomed and accepted. Issues of “delivery” are a part of the challenges facing public education today in the United States, but I would contend issues of pedagogy and curriculum are even more fundamental issues. I discussed this briefly over Skype with Lee Baber yesterday. Our need for a broad cultural shift away from standards, punitive assessment, and a focus on the delivery of the curriculm is pressing. We need more schools focused on the goals of developing habits of mind, offering differentiated pathways for learning and assessment, and encouraging student creativity via project-based learning much more than we need improvements in “delivering education.”

The mission and impact of The Mind Trust sounds superb:

…to attract, support, and empower the nation’s most effective and promising education entrepreneurs to transform public education outcomes for children in Indianapolis and beyond.

It is great to see organizations like The Mind Trust supporting educational research and innovation which seeks to constructively (and broadly) transform learning environments. Whether or not you apply for a fellowship, the work of The Mind Trust will be interesting to follow in the months and years ahead.

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