Walter invites you to help influence the direction of education by promoting 2011 - 2020 as the Decade of Educational Transformation (d.e.t.). This is in direct response to the work educators are doing at all levels as we continue moving from the standardization ideal of the industrial age to the personalization Ideal of the new knowledge economy. 

Fundamental shifts in society and the ways we work, interact, think and create have brought us to this point. Data proliferation, virtualization, globalization, collaboration and economization have all contributed to these shifts, driving markets to customize offerings to successfully meet the needs and demands of customers. While this trend has taken hold in the private sector, public sector institutions have been slower to adapt. But we are at a point in time where institutions such as public education must begin to transform in order to accurately reflect the changes happening within the society it serves. Successful completion of this process will allow schools to:

• Tightly align K-12, higher education and the workforce
• Foster creativity and problem solving across the curriculum
• Model 21st century skills of global empathy, communication, collaboration, critical thinking, creativity and productivity across all areas of study
• Promote visual, ethical, media, information, cultural, economic, scientific and technical literacies in all subject area disciplines
• Integrate education with community health, housing, public safety, recreation, and private sector businesses
• Provide educators with the training and support they need to transform instructional practices
• Sustain the basic principles of a free and appropriate public education for all children, and
• Build strong consensus for education across all stakeholder groups

In order to accomplish the transformation, the dialogue must move from reforming the Industrial Age model by:

• Redefining use of instructional time
• Performance-based, time-flexible assessments
• Equitable access to virtual data and digital tools
• Funding models that provide incentives for student success, and
• PreK-through-graduate-school educational offerings free of age or grade requirements

By 2020, transformed educational institutions will value and support:

• Flexible, anytime, everywhere learning
• A redefined and expanded role of "Teacher"
• Project-based, authentic learning
• Student-driven learning, and
• Mastery-based pacing

I invite educational professionals, organizations and institutions from around the world to join in this commitment to transforming education in the next ten years, encouraging everyone who is committed to this goal to:

• display the d.e.t. logo on websites, social media feeds and digital publications
• craft a statement about your vision for education in the year 2020
• showcase speakers who address the transformation of education in the next ten years
• include blog posts and articles in upcoming publications advocating for education transformation
• invite your membership to blog about their vision for education transformation

 

We must raise the dialogue from reforming the old Industrial Age model of education to creating a new Knowledge Age model. Together we can frame that dialogue and help move the transformation of education into action!