In a World of 'Not Possible,' Can a Starr Revolution Work?

by Joseph Hawkins

Montgomery County Public Schools is doing a really good job of quickly loading to its public website videos of Superintendent Joshua Starr's book club discussions. Click here to view the newest video, on the book "Drive."

In my last blog post, I wrote about "Drive" and the misguided belief that MCPS should prepare its graduates for the world of work

I noted that my Montgomery County-based for-profit research firm is hiring, and when interviewing new workers, we never discuss high school and what was learned there. Now, I am restricting my observations here to the hiring of recent college graduates.

But let’s get back to the "Drive" video. In the video, Starr claims that our schools are out of sync with the world of work and the global economy.

Now, Starr is not the only school superintendent saying this—that schools today must have a different purpose, one that better matches emerging world economies. On the Dec. 20 edition of "The Politics Hour" on WAMU-FM, Kaya Henderson, chancellor of District of Columbia Public Schools, actually said today's schools are so out of touch with reality that they should be "blown up."

But here's the part that really needs tackling: I accept the notion that schools today have different purposes than schools from the dawn of the last century. Very few of us are going to argue against this. But then we still are left—or Starr is left—with two key questions:

1. How does MCPS actually get parents and communities to accept this notion of a new mission? I’m not convinced that Starr and most MCPS parents are on the same path.
2. Assuming everyone ends up on the same path, what does Starr do to change things—and change schools?

PATCH article continues at this link.