Waiting for Superman? We need about 4 MILLION Supermen and Superwomen

The recent documentary, “Waiting For Superman,” paints a discouraging view of our school system and our ability to give students what they need. Get your child into a first rate school -- private or public -- with great teachers, sufficient resources, and a supportive environment at home and school and you have it made. If not, don't expect much.

To the defense of schools, James Gurthrie opined in 'Waiting for Superman' to reform education? He's already here. that superman has already arrived. He argues that we have a better sense of what works now, lots of public pressure and understand that we must make hard choices in the face of dwindling school resources.

But it ultimately comes down to resources and scalable and replicable models. Revered KIPP founders Mike Feinberg and Dave Levin wrote in the Christian Science Monitor that "the actual proves the possible." It's true that when the "four minute mile" was achieved, it opened the way for other to do the same. But as much as I can see and admire what LeBron James can do, there aren't many people who can do the same.

But KIPP plays with a stacked deck. Students can't attend KIPP unless they agree to do their homework every night, attend school for an extended daily schedule, go to Saturday and summer classes, and not disrupt class. In short, KIPP students have parents who want them to do well in school, will drive them to succeed -- literally and figuratively motivating, punishing and rewarding them as well as making sure they physically get to school on time.

But this reminds me of statistics class in business school the night the professor talked about wanting to see how fast cats run. He said he could catch a bunch of cats and time them running a certain distance. The only problem is he said he would likely only catch slow cats! KIPP has "fast cats."

And if you ignore for a moment that KIPP attracts and admits only SuperKids with SuperParents and employs only SuperTeachers and SuperAdministrators, KIPP gets a lot of financial support not available to most schools.

I volunteered for a sweeping reform program in the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) in the 90's called Project LEARN. It was based on site based management, shared decision-making and teacher, parent and student support. To participate in the program you needed 80 percent of all stakeholders at a school to support the program. The first year around 30 schools had the votes and participated. The next year over 100 schools participated. But as the program moved along year by year, the number of schools left over with sufficient teachers, parents and students willing to put in the hard work dried up. It wasn't a sustainable program. Not enough Supermen and Superwomen (or SuperKids).

I created an automated diagnostic and prescriptive assessment, student management and instructional delivery system 15 years ago. It helps teachers at all levels in their professional development become better. An approach like that coupled with national standards and hared proven practices would help.

But teachers need to be fresh, energetic, positive, encouraging and they must believe students can learn. Administrators must create an environment that is conducive for learning -- safe, forward thinking, respectful and supportive. Parents and community members have to do their part.

So is SuperMan coming? I hope he comes with 4 million colleagues who care, share, dare, repair, and fare well!

Yes - creation of national learning standards and assessments. keeps great teachers from sharing ideas, inhibits innovation, and prevents meaningful comparison of student, teacher, and school performance. Rather than there being 50 different standards, Obama could unify the country around a common vision for the kind of teaching and learning our children need.

Fourth, we should assess teachers on their demonstrated impact on student learning, not whether they hold traditional teacher certifications. BUT you can't control things outside the classroom

Kipp doesn't appear to scale.  Is that how you see it?