Over twenty years ago, when I was studying like a mad woman at Vanderbilt to get my doctorate, I studied the works of Ron Edmonds and Lawrence Lezotte. They were all about the Effective Schools Movement, and back as far as A Nation at Risk (early '80's when the writers claimed that if a foreign country had forced on us our shoddy public Ameican education system-- that we would have considered it an act of war) and the Coleman Report (mid 60's report concluding that schools don't matter in raising the performance of at risk children)... we were looking for "the answer."
My professional career has been in search of finding the way to teach and reach all kids, despite their economic and educational short comings. I truly believed (and do believe) in the Correlates of Effective Schools. And, all these years later, we have come to realize that we actually can teach every child whose education is of importance to us... whether we do or not is the point in question (kind of a paraphrase of Rod Edmonds).
Imagine my delight when my beloved Oklahoma City Public Schools brought in Lawrence Lezotte for two straight days of training for the principals. Each day I marched right up to the front of the presentation room and sat squarely in front of Larry Lezotte. I was mesmerized and entranced. His message was as dynamic and awe inspiring today as it was over twenty years ago.
And, yes, I did make Betsy snap our picture.
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