.1 Creating Experimental Schools

Today, we will examine the creation of an experimental school system. Such a school system is important because the American school system has no means of experimentation. There is yet to be a means of getting any kind of systematic evidence concerning various reforms and their effects. So we just keep going on and on, and often experiments are discontinued, not because they haven't worked, but because there has been a shift in the political winds. We have fifteen thousand independent school districts, all of which are making their own judgments as they see fit, making it very difficult to get any solid evidence regarding what they are doing. The other side of that coin, of course, is that even when we do get systematic evidence, the results are not necessarily used. While I was delivering a PR speech at the Fleet Naval Command discussing what was new in education and training, I mentioned how the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics had absolutely cold, hard evidence that students are better off being able to use calculators at all stages of their mathematical calculations on exams. The hard-bitten officers and senior officers did not agree. These people said, "Well what happens if the calculator breaks?" I said "Well, what happens when your car breaks?" He said, "I fix it." But there are a whole lot of folks out there who drive cars and don't have a clue about fixing them.

We feel very strongly about education and how we should change it. It isn't just a matter of evidence, it is a matter of the way we feel, and so even when you get evidence, it isn't necessarily the end of the line. Therefore, more systematic evidence about what works and what doesn't is necessary. Take Microsoft for example. They will spend up to forty percent of their budget on research and
development. I am proposing that we establish one percent of the school districts in every state as experimental schools. I define an experimental school district as a single high school with its feeder schools.

	What is a result of not having experimental schools?	Answer Here
	Mrs. Smith teaches mathematics in a pretty well-off school. The state has provided calculators for the schools to use in the classrooms, but the older teachers in the math department at Mrs. Smith's school do not want to use the calculators at all during class, only teach the basics. The problem with this is that the students are allowed to use the calculators on the SOL exams at the end of the term. How can Mrs. Smith convince her department chair and other members of the department that the students need to learn the calculator as well as the basics, and what evidence could she use to back this up?	Answer Here