Who likes talking about what you’re doing wrong? Pretty much nobody, and that has certainly applied to educators and education institutions for many years, both locally and nationally. Everyone has opinions on what should be changed; few are willing to look in the mirror.
But schools are one of the best examples of places where candidness and self-reflection about what’s not working are assets, provided they are paired with willingness to change and improve.
I offer here a national example that smells to me of unwillingness to focus on how to make progress and a local example that offers a hopeful step toward frank discussion and significant change.
In the last couple of decades, several international tests have measured how students in a few dozen nations are doing in reading, math, science and occasionally in other areas. The most prominent of them is known as PISA and is run by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, based in Paris.