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A Message from the President
We live in extraordinary times. A combination of economic, social and technological changes now challenges the historic foundation of the "one best system" of public education. Our national goal of ambitious academic attainment for all is set against a challenging environment of mass immigration, a new knowledge economy, and technology as a disruptive innovation. Thus, the basic institutional structure of schooling is being questioned as never before. Everything is up for grabs—from the design of new curriculum; to who teaches; to how individual educators are prepared, enter the field of teaching and are rewarded for their work; to even who actually gets to run the schools. In response, we need to consider fundamental changes in the ways in which we support the development of school professionals and the tools, materials, ideas and evidence with which they work at every level of the education spectrum.
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The Need for Research and Development
In other sectors of society, leaders would turn to their research and development (R&D) communities for guidance. Unfortunately, the current R&D infrastructure for school improvement is weak and fragmented. This is where I think the Carnegie Foundation has a responsibility and the opportunity to contribute. As I look at the future work of the Foundation, I imagine supporting a new vision of education research and its connection to practical improvement. I want us to work toward inventing a strong partnership among school practitioners, academic experts and social entrepreneurs focused on school improvement and accountable for results. This research enterprise, Design, Educational Engineering, and Development (D-EE-D), should advance ambitious learning goals for all students.
There is broad agreement that such an infrastructure should focus on pressing problems of practice in school settings, aim to find solutions for these problems, contribute to a gradually expanding knowledge base about improving schooling, and ultimately hold its own work accountable against evidence on enhancing productivity. I see Carnegie as a networked organization composed of a diverse colleagueship of expertise eventually spanning clinical contexts and commercial and philanthropic partnerships. And I envision us directly engaging in problem-centered D-EE-D by putting a couple of important stakes in the ground and following through in a sustained way. In this manner, we will learn by doing, create exemplars of the work, and will be able to ground the field-building conversations. Our mantras will be to "work locally," anchored on the "job floor" of classrooms, schools and networks of schools. We will "scan globally" to inform our work locally. And we will "educate broadly" about the improvement of public education.
It seems natural that we would continue our historic role as convener, nurturing D-EE-D field building. The Foundation might look at the role of the university and its relations to school districts and the commercial sector in developing people and the tools, materials and ideas that work. The key question for us is one of valued added: How and where might introducing new tools and social practices advance the work of teachers, professors and other school professionals in improving student engagement and learning?
A Special Focus on Where and How Technology Can Transform Teaching and Learning
Technology is changing how we live and learn and will surely transform how we educate going forward. New developments in this domain hold great promise for supporting a more efficient and purposeful educational system, for enhancing the quality of those who teach, and for making knowledge and access to expertise broadly accessible to all. In fact, productive developments in educational technology may well be essential if we are to realize our goals of more engaging, and deeper learning experiences for all children.
In this regard, Carnegie will focus on where and how technology can add value as we seek to advance more ambitious learning goals for all students, and where we can assist educators as they move toward making these new learning goals universal. It is a question that Carnegie has been grappling with during the past decade and we will continue to parse with renewed vigor as we move forward.
Stock Taking and Creative Thinking
We have several important initiatives building to a conclusion over the next two years and the Foundation will actively disseminate these reports and stimulating discussions around them. Some new initiatives have already begun to percolate. The first of these, a partnership with the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation to conduct and evaluate a series of meetings to build the field of digital media and learning, has already begun. In addition, we have begun a process of stock taking, creative thinking, and wide consultation to ascertain the most productive longer term directions for the Foundation going forward.
While this new planning effort is still in its earliest stages, we remain committed to spanning the full educational spectrum from the primary to post-secondary education. I am especially committed to efforts that explore and strengthen the alignment between sectors since it is at points of transition that large numbers of students fall by the wayside. As plans take shape, I will be using this space to communicate emerging ideas and plans.
Anthony S. Bryk
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