SCHOOL TRANSFORMATION Will COVID-19 be the impetus we need to finally realize “A New Vision for Public Education”? By David DeMarkis, Ed.D.
Wherever there is crisis, there is also
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early 14 years ago, at the height of another economic downturn and social panic, 35 Texas public school superintendents, with help from TASA, joined together to create a new vision for public education in Texas. Meeting as the Public EducationVisioning Institute for two years, they produced a compelling educational treatise that would eventually be known simply as theVisioning Document.
opportunity.
TheVisioning Document – formally entitled “Creating a NewVision for Public Education in Texas: A Work in Progress for Conversation and Further Development” (2008) — challenges public school educators and state legislators to prepare students for a new paradigm in public education, one that adequately engages the digital era through new learning standards, new assessment procedures, and new accountability models. Although theVisioning Document’s principles can be seen in community-based accountability systems (CBAS) in place in a number of Texas school districts today and embedded in other TASA initiatives, the very essence of the document has never really taken root within the broader landscape of Texas public education. It has taken hold in pockets, transforming the hearts and the minds of its progenitors and promulgators, but it has not revolutionized statewide educational infrastructure.That may be changing.
A viral impetus As I sit here quarantined, watching the world of public education get turned upside down by a novel virus, I cannot help but believe that there is a silver lining.The COVID-19 pandemic will inevitably have a lasting impact on public education — but I personally do not believe all of its consequences related to public education, intended or unintended, will be injurious. For wherever there is crisis, there is also opportunity. As districts across the state race to develop remote learning programs, I keep asking myself one question:“Has the COVID-19 pandemic created a climate in which public education has no choice but to finally fully embrace the principles of theVisioning Document?” I think so. I cannot help but believe that a single virus has jettisoned our old educational practices into an uncomfortable future: It has forced educators to embrace digital learning tools; it has encouraged our state to recognize the pitfalls of selecting one subjective calendar day for testing; and it has challenged the public to recognize that our A-F school accountability system does not account for unpredictable sociological variables (such as crises on microcosmic or macrocosmic levels). Now, do not get me wrong here — I am not saying that I am thankful for a pandemic. I am not thankful that thousands of people are dying. I am not thankful that face masks and body bags keep flashing on my social media feeds. I am not thankful that my mother is forced into an unhealthy labor environment as an “essential worker” for a government factory.
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