Gary Ackerman @garyackerman@qoto.org

One of the mistakes educators make is believing the conclusion that what we try to do can be reduced to a number. The value (economic, political, cultural) of an individual or population lies in its variation. We should cultivate that more than seeking standardized students.

Defining problems and defining solutions are not the same. Effective systems and leaders focus on framing and understanding problems not limiting them to available solutions. #leadership

If your answer to “why do we need this?” is “because you will need it next year,” you need to stop. Learning is about building connections. Build them with students every chance you get.

Regression to the mean does not make an interesting story, so we discount it, but it explains much.

It’s been distressing to see how little #education is about #learning.

“Mutually focused attention” seems the basis of all #teaching and #learning.

Those who say “we have always done it this way” should not receive pay increases, after all, “we have always paid you that.”

School is not about students, teaching, learning or any such thing. For me, it all started with A Nation at Risk.

I used to work with a principal and we disagreed on methods. I suggested we replace tests, and his response was "with what?" Over time I realized we had vastly different concepts of evaluation. I hoped to see growth, but he wanted numbers to display on a dashboard.

If you refer to students as “high performers” and “low performers” (using any terminology or in any guise), then your are bringing an obsolete concept learning and learners.

Education stopped being about learning a long time ago.

What good is critical thought if you do not yourself believe something or are not open to having your beliefs modified? - Mark Edmundson

If your leadership disallows questions (explicitly or implicitly, actively or passively, overly or covertly) you will fail and so will they.

Those who value immediacy, efficiency, and ease will find their systems precarious then disastrous.

"It would be a shame if brilliant technology were to end up threatening the kind of intellect that produced it." - Edward Teller

Leaders who pursue efficiency through analytics must ask: efficient for whom? Data can optimize systems while obscuring human costs.

#Science is a story of human perseverance and intellectual audacity.

Empathy requires knowledge and feeling.

The teacher is not merely a transmitter of content, but a cultivator of context. Guided discovery fosters autonomy and interpretive depth.

“Only connect.” -E. M. Forester distilled the essence of #teaching into two words.