#WhatIf My Ideas on School Reform Become Reality?

Thanks to Valerie Strauss’ post today on the #whatif Twitter meme responses to Arne Duncan, I realized something surprising and was encouraged to tweet some of the ideas for CONSTRUCTIVE education/school reform that have been marinating in my mind for many months.

   by  stevegarfield 

First of all, when viewing the lively #whatif twitter stream, I saw that Arne Duncan (our U.S. Secretary of Education) follows me on Twitter. This might seem unremarkable, but he’s presently just following 202 folks and has over 180K followers. I’m not sure what prompted him to follow me, but if there’s a chance he’d listen to my small voice or the voices of other teachers I regularly try to amplify, that’s a very good thing.

In checking out #whatif tweets, I realized I'm among the 202 people @arneduncan is following now. So is @shareski & several other friends

— Wesley Fryer, Ph.D. ??? wesfryer.com/after (@wfryer) January 2, 2015

For several months now, I’ve been wanting to write a book on education reform for legislators. I’ve been thinking this needs to be a handbook, and it needs to give legislators short “sound bytes” they can use when talking to the media, constituents, and each other about education policy issues. Unfortunately, different organizations promoting “destructive education reform” including harmful policies like A-F report cards, VAM in teacher assessment, etc. have done an effective job holding hotel retreats and passing out talking points that some legislators have made their own. We need not only a counter-narrative to the present wave of destructive, anti-public school reforms which Diane Ravitch (@dianeravitch) has articulately documented in her books “The Death and Life of the Great American School System” and “Reign of Error,” but a “handbook for constructive education reform in the language of common folk.” Of course it needs a shorter and catchier title, but hopefully you get the idea. I want to contribute to that effort, but as a full-time classroom teacher, I don’t have much free time to write now. (Yes, I could be writing that over the Christmas holidays, but I’ve been a book writing slacker… I admit it.)

So, here are my #whatif tweets from this evening. Perhaps I’ll take these sometime down the road and elaborate on each one in more detail in a short handbook for legislators on education policy.

#whatif Legislators recognized providing teachers w professional autonomy is essential 4 creativity & 21st-century digital learning? #OklaEd

— Wesley Fryer, Ph.D. ??? wesfryer.com/after (@wfryer) January 2, 2015

#WhatIf our leaders encouraged collaboration locally & internationally for students & teachers, instead of a focus on testing? #OklaEd

— Wesley Fryer, Ph.D. ??? wesfryer.com/after (@wfryer) January 2, 2015

#whatif every school had a student @storychasers news team that used social media 2 share exciting stories of learning every week?

— Wesley Fryer, Ph.D. ??? wesfryer.com/after (@wfryer) January 2, 2015

#whatif we engaged in dialogue about simplifying school finance systems that no one seems to completely understand today? #OklaEd

— Wesley Fryer, Ph.D. ??? wesfryer.com/after (@wfryer) January 2, 2015

#whatif we provided every T & student with a wireless digital device for learning, recognizing info literacy has fundamentally changed?

— Wesley Fryer, Ph.D. ??? wesfryer.com/after (@wfryer) January 2, 2015

#whatif we started emphasizing the ways students can "show what they know with media" instead of focusing on testing? #OklaEd

— Wesley Fryer, Ph.D. ??? wesfryer.com/after (@wfryer) January 2, 2015

#whatif we started paying teachers in Oklahoma equivalent salaries to our peers in Texas? #OklaEd

— Wesley Fryer, Ph.D. ??? wesfryer.com/after (@wfryer) January 2, 2015

#whatif we broke our largest school districts into smaller organizations which could be more creative, agile, & better meet student needs?

— Wesley Fryer, Ph.D. ??? wesfryer.com/after (@wfryer) January 2, 2015

#whatif we surveyed every K-12 student in 3rd through 12th grade at the end of each course about their teachers, like college students do?

— Wesley Fryer, Ph.D. ??? wesfryer.com/after (@wfryer) January 2, 2015

#whatif we changed our school schedules so every week teachers have opportunities to collaborate & have professional development together?

— Wesley Fryer, Ph.D. ??? wesfryer.com/after (@wfryer) January 2, 2015

#whatif our leaders recognized relationships are vital for learning, & in schools that requires professional educators committed to STAY?

— Wesley Fryer, Ph.D. ??? wesfryer.com/after (@wfryer) January 2, 2015

#whatif our local school boards invested more in professional development for Ts & digital learning tools for students as they do in sports?

— Wesley Fryer, Ph.D. ??? wesfryer.com/after (@wfryer) January 2, 2015

#whatif every legislator was required to take every test students are required to take in their state each year? #oklaed

— Wesley Fryer, Ph.D. ??? wesfryer.com/after (@wfryer) January 2, 2015

#whatif the media & citizens in the United States got as upset about the Snowden revelations as they/we have over the Sony hack?

— Wesley Fryer, Ph.D. ??? wesfryer.com/after (@wfryer) January 2, 2015

#whatif leaders realized the only "silver bullets" that can improve EDU are high quality, passionate, loving teachers in every classroom?

— Wesley Fryer, Ph.D. ??? wesfryer.com/after (@wfryer) January 2, 2015

“What if” indeed? These all relate to the final tweet of the day I’ll share in this post, which is a photo of three bumper stickers I purchased awhile back to adorn a future laptop in need of decoration.

3 bumper stickers which summarize why we need more #OklaEd teachers & students to tell our stories with social media pic.twitter.com/3EvQM0vTKC

— Wesley Fryer, Ph.D. ??? wesfryer.com/after (@wfryer) January 1, 2015

In case you’re reading this on a device or in a location where you can’t view that Twitter photo, here is the text from the bumper stickers:

Whoever controls the media, the images, controls the future. -Alan Ginsberg. The key to the future is finding the optimistic stories and letting them be known. – Pete Seeger. As individual fingers we can easily be broken, but together we make a mighty fist. – Sitting Bull.

Long live freedom of speech, and the opportunity to share our hopes and dreams for our schools with others around the world via Twitter.

What are your #WhatIf statements about education you’d like to share with Arne Duncan and other leaders shaping educational policies?