This is a delightful article by teacher-historian John Thompson, written with Stanley Hupfeld, a retired hospital executive in Oklahoma City.

They write:

“For over 15 years, the OKCPS has adopted the normative instruction-driven, curriculum-driven approach to school improvement. The key to these policies is holding individuals accountable for measurable increases in student performance. The system has done a respectable job of implementing that game plan, but there is a growing body of research explaining why it simply can’t work with schools facing the challenges in our poorest schools. To turn around schools with extreme concentrations of children from generational poverty who have endured multiple traumas, schooling must become a team effort…

“Dipesh Navsaria, keynote speaker at the Potts Family Foundation Oklahoma Early Childhood Coalition Business Summit, also explains that once every student knows he has a mentor who is “crazy about him,” meaningful learning will follow. Navsaria then reviews the scientific evidence on why schools must make education fun. Research shows that the first 1,000 days of life are the key to closing the achievement gap. As Navsaria explains, we must restore play to its rightful place in elementary schools.

“We know the district teachers love their students. But this is not the point. What has been left out is a culture that promotes and sustains an aura of love and fun. Common sense tells us this is so — but now so does the research. Nothing less than a cultural transformation is necessary — not the program of the month.”