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Vol 16 - Hoodies, the Need to Buck Up, and Getting Crisp
Episode 1624th April 2024 • WonkyFolk • CharterFolk
00:00:00 00:49:49

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This week Andy and I start out debriefing the ASU-GSV conference and explore why the open and optimistic spirit of that gathering feels so at odds with the vibe that prevails across much of ed reform these days. That leads to a discussion about Andy’s widely read article about ed reformers needing to buck up and realize the progress that has been made in recent decades. That leads me to chime in about the need to keep a decades-long view in order to appreciate the accomplishments of the charter school movement. We then talk about the fact that many ed reformers are in blue contexts, which are also the most difficult politically, and so the voice of those Folk is loud enough to drive the national narrative among ed reformers regarding prospects for continued impact, We close with Andy identifying the political folly of blues at a national level not embracing greater ed reform and charter schools as a way to win over critically needed swing voters.

SHOW NOTES:

Transcripts

Jed Wallace:

Hey, Andy, how you doing?

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Andy Rotherham: Hey, Jed, how are you?

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It's been a minute, as the kids say.

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Jed Wallace: Yeah, it's

been a little while.

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Just schedule's crazy.

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I'm glad we found some time here.

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Andy Rotherham: Yeah, and I've been

traveling a whole bunch so it's a lot.

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I like we really should pre plan wardrobe,

because I like that today we both

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decided to go with the with the hoodies.

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Jed Wallace: Yeah if anything comes across

as intentional at Charterfolk or Wonkyfolk

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people are making wrong inferences.

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Yeah, no,

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Andy Rotherham: it's funny.

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I I it's unseasonably chilly here.

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We're recording on a Monday actually

was out on the water with Kevin

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Kosar, shad fishing this morning.

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It was quite cold, but so I

usually I'm one of my colleagues.

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She told me that when I wear a hoodie, it

makes me look like a Teletubby, so I tend

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to stay, I tend to steer clear of them,

but it's a little chilly, so it felt good.

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It felt good today.

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Jed Wallace: I know that last week you

were in San Diego because I know that

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Bellwether had a big presence there.

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Andy Rotherham: Yeah,

where it was not cold.

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Jed Wallace: I wasn't able to go

because of other travel stuff.

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I'm going to start making it

now, something on my calendar I'm

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going to plan to go to every year.

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But I wanted to ask you, given that you

were there, given that you presented,

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you had this whole AI thing going.

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I've now talked about a

dozen people about it.

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I've wanted to write about it

at Charterfolk, but I thought,

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Hey, wait, don't I, why don't

I check in with Andy first?

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Do you have any observations

you would share from what

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you're picking up down there?

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Andy Rotherham: Yeah, I

don't go all the time.

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There's that there's South by

Southwest, you can only, you

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can only do so many of these.

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And I am to some extent of the mind

that conferences are, they're like

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they're like a socially acceptable

alternative to work, right?

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If you put on your, if you put

on your expense report, like I'm

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flying to California and going to

happy hour for three days, your

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boss would be like, yeah, hell no.

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But if you're like, I'm going to

this thing, which is essentially

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going to happy hour for three days.

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People are like, Oh yeah, sure.

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And so it's, and so it's

a lot, it's intense.

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There's just a ton of people.

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And there's two kinds, in my experience,

there's two kinds of people that

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there's people, everybody's trying to

get time with, and then there's people

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trying to get time with everybody.

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I'm sure it's exhausting on both sides.

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But so it's just it's an intense

couple of days to be out there.

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But there's a lot of energy.

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What they've built first of all, is And

Deb Quazzo might deserve a lot of credit.

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It's a force of nature.

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And now there's all these

spinoffs from it and smaller ones.

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And that's remarkable and they

deserve, if you've built something

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like that, you deserve in this

field, a lot of credit for it.

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For sure.

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Yeah.

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And they're both like super

just interesting driven people.

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Obviously not surprisingly, like

the big theme this year was AI.

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We did a little happy hour for Bellwether

with a couple of folks working on

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AI to talk about is it undersold?

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Or or overhyped.

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And that was fascinating.

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And that was the theme across it.

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I will, I do have to say, I tend to agree.

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I had to ask people I've

moderated that thing.

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I asked people for a show of hands on

what percent of companies that were

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there this year would be back next year.

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Cause they would still be around.

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And they said about, like 50 percent

and a lot of people were saying like 20.

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I don't know if I'm quite that bearish,

but I do think a lot of these, it's

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more frothy than I had thought.

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And I'm not sure even because a lot of

the like savvy ed tech investors, the

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private equity and the venture folks

in that space, they're really keeping

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their powdered more dry on this thing.

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So I'm not sure where that's

exactly all coming from.

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Coming from, but there's just

a lot of AI companies, some

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that were really interesting.

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I had dinner with the CEO of a company

that does instructional coaching using

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AI, which actually has some really

interesting benefits that including

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teachers, when you're first starting out,

I remember, when I was first learning,

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you don't want people necessarily.

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Hovering over your shoulder.

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And this is a way to get like

real time feedback, coaching all

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that, but in a more sort of almost

like private confidential way.

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And so it's some real benefits there.

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Lots of the rap, but then lots of tutoring

and instructional kind of stuff too.

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So some really, I think some

really interesting applications.

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And some that I think are frothy.

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My own personal take

is like other ed tech.

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It's the stuff that surrounds Classrooms,

remember you, you'll remember this.

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Like the early days, like rocket ship ever

is it's the ed tech school and they were

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obviously doing that, but there was like

a lot of real instruction going on, really

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like in person, like it was not like

the kids just weren't like being taught.

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By computers, right?

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Yeah.

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Same thing is true.

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Like when school one got going, a lot

of these things they're tech enabled

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and tech fuel, but they're not.

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And so I tend to think though, with

this round on AI, a lot of this

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stuff's going to be all this stuff

you can wrap around the classroom.

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So all kinds of analytics, ways to

make teachers jobs so much easier.

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I think we're going to look back

on the days of like teachers doing

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IEPs the way they do in a lot of

paperwork and be like, that's crazy.

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All of that.

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That's where I think that a lot of

the action is that could actually be

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transformative transportation, obviously

lots of stuff around logistics efficiency,

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which, no one wanted to, I was struck.

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No one like the big lie that continues

is that this is going to have no

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impact on, on, on employment numbers.

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And right.

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I just don't see it.

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You've got these three trends.

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One is the immediate one, which is ESSR.

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And that was, there was

like a hiring binge.

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And that's gonna be an issue.

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Then you got the demographic

changes, just declining enrollment.

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And then third, like you have to.

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Think this is going to have some

kinds of impact on productivity.

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I don't think it's going

to eliminate teachers.

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Like I was just saying, these schools

are not, but it's going to have an

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impact on adult employment, but like

everybody's pretending like that's

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not the case and I'm curious when

that sort of bubble will break.

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And there'll be some sort of taboo

breaker or permission structure

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for people to talk about that.

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Jed Wallace: There've been three

themes of conversations I've had

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for with people that were there.

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Some were really focusing on.

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Just how real this AI thing is now.

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And it just seems like this is a

fundamentally different technology.

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And there's a bunch of like envelopes

that are being built around ChatGPT

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and some of the other engines.

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90 percent of those envelopes

are probably going to go away.

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But hey, there really is something

profoundly exciting and new.

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There's the other group I would say is

Oh, my gosh, the AI is just so overhyped.

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And, it's far too early to know

what its value is really going

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to be, or, all that stuff.

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But the one that I would say is

overarching across both of those.

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is just this feeling people have

going there that it feels dynamic.

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It feels open.

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It feels moving.

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It feels creative.

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And it feels as though just culturally,

it's just so at odds with a lot of

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ed reform and just education today,

which is just so stuck in fixity.

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And so people are just wondering how the

heck These two worlds are going to have

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any interaction whatsoever or Is the

reality going to be that ai is evolving

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in such a way that it's going to be so

direct to parent And it's going to be so

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inexpensive That perhaps the ai will never

really fully integrate with our existing

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schools, you know as much as maybe

earlier technologies any thoughts here?

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Andy Rotherham: Yeah, oh my

God, that points up a few yeah,

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though on the energy thing.

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Yes.

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It, you know what it feels to me?

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Like it feels to me like new

schools, 15, 20 years ago, where

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you felt like you didn't have your

passport, but you felt like you

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were going to a different country.

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In terms of the way people were talking

about things in Silicon Valley felt like

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that in general, but you like new schools

was like the education arm of that.

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And that's how ASU GSV definitely feels.

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It's where the optimists are.

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There's, and everybody's there's

lots of people just doing interesting

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stuff and sometimes just impromptu,

like the road trip nation guys rolled

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up in their, one of their RVs and

they're giving out popsicles and it

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was just, interesting group of people

standing around, talking about stuff

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and that kind of energy you don't get

at like lots of education conferences.

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Jed Wallace: Do you have a feeling, Andy,

that the people there are so frustrated

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with the ossified public education

system that they're really thinking

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about how they make their applications

completely and utterly parallel to it?

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Just focus on private schools.

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Just focus on ESAs.

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Just focus on these other areas

because there's no progress

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to be made in this other area.

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Andy Rotherham: I don't know if it's that.

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I don't know if it's that.

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I think it's people want change and I

think you've got two pressures going on.

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You've got The desire for change

is going to go wherever they can.

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And if they feel like that kind of change

is going to be in a different sector,

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even like the community colleges say, or

different parts of K 12, like what you're

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talking about, they're going to go there.

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And then you've obviously got, these

are, a lot of these are funded ventures.

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So you've got investment pressure

and there's pressure to, go where

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there's markets and so forth.

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One thing you said that was interesting,

you talked about which is obviously.

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Huge player, but there's I, one of

the things that just during our event

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that struck me is a few years ago

people thought there would be like an

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AI that would be like a thing, right?

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Right now there's like

multiple ones, right?

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Yeah.

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And so there's diff and that is

just to me it illustrative that.

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I just don't think we fully

understand the velocity here and the.

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Potential.

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So I think people are going

to go wherever they can.

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I do think you'll see some direct to

consumer kinds of applications for sure.

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I think in that a lot of ways like

that's going to mirror the old a lot.

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Some of the things we saw with Ed Tech.

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It's just did.

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This is different than older Ed Tech

because of the generative nature.

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One thing, though Yeah, I hear you on

the the sort of overhyped like that

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but the more interesting argument, this

is what Ben Riley's been was at our

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event was talking about is just simply

some of this is just at odds with what

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we know about learning science and

what we know about how people learn.

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And how is that going to play out?

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And that did not slow down some ed

tech applications that were fairly

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at odds with what we know about,

learning science and so forth.

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Give

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Jed Wallace: an example.

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What are you talking

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Andy Rotherham: about?

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Just how humans acquire information,

how we use information, how we relate

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to each other as humans, like what

effective instruction looks like.

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And Ben's, it's easy to put him like in

the overhyped bucket, but he's actually

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and this is just another sort of, there's

lots of people criticize this stuff,

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Larry Cuban, like famously and so forth.

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But it's a little different.

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He's he has some of those concerns,

but what he really is concerned about

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is how is this actually going to play

out in terms of what we know about how

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people learn, help how kids actually

operate in what they need in classrooms.

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And I do think that is

an interesting thing.

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Conversation that it will be unfortunate

if it gets stuck in that groove of

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overhyped or not, which I mean, that

was the title of the thing I moderated,

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but it's a deeper it's a deeper concern.

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And I'm going to be looking at our,

in our, the corner of the world

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that you and I pay attention to

a lot, also charters how to what

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did charter start doing with this?

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You're seeing some AI tools or how

communicating with parents and so forth.

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What else are you seeing?

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That's in terms of.

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Using these things to build applications.

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Jed Wallace: I would say

that's too early to generalize.

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I think there are other things that

just come up that I find striking.

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That this conference happens nearly

concurrent with Height publishing his

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new book about Excess technology being a

problem for kids and then you have Vinod

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Khosla who did his Coffee chat and he

basically is saying hey All kids are going

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to have their own tutors, but not only

are they going to have their own tutors

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We're going to build in that they're

going to have their own psychologists

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Their own therapists as well.

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And so it almost feels ADE's position

is get even more technology into

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kids' hands, and it will ultimately

break through on the on the psychology

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side too, where I can imagine what

Jonathan Heit would say about that,

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Andy Rotherham: Yeah.

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I have a real concern about that actually.

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Yeah, I just, I talked

with someone recently.

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I had lunch with a woman recently,

and she was telling me about this

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like AI boyfriend she has and.

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If you think about like real boyfriends

having been one or a real pain in

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the ass and really difficult and

unmanageable really, and like she was

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saying, like this one has different

settings and you can set different

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things around boundaries and whatever.

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And so it's a very

customized, nice experience.

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And it got me thinking like, okay, you're

going to have that obviously for kids

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and you're already hearing about this.

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And so everyone's a kid.

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They have an imaginary friend, but

then you lose the imaginary friends.

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Imaginary friend fundamentally is

becomes boring and is not there.

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You can't do things and respond to you.

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So to this a little bit,

the heights concerns.

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What makes me think about this is like.

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What happens when the imaginary friend

is actually super engaging, easy to get

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along with, cool, always there, into

whatever you're into, and so forth,

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and you can see that for like kids, you

can see that for adults, replicas, this

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place where people are going and getting

these, imaginary partners and which

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aren't imaginary because it's like an AI.

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So it's, what are going to be the

compelling sort of, what do we present

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as compelling alternatives to get

people to interact a lot with other

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humans, to go out and do things.

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And people can be like, Oh,

that's what's the big deal?

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Like you're, except we're

having that problem now, right?

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It's we can't get kids, we can't get

them off of, we can't get them off of

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screens now and as engaging and intense,

the dopamine stuff With social media

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this will all be like next level, right?

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And so what things are we going to

have on offer to compete with that?

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Jed Wallace: So I don't really know

i'm thinking about a dinner party.

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I had just a couple weekends ago With

some of my wife's work colleagues.

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They're all psychologists And they

are aware now of a number of different

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products using AI that are not

necessarily for improving therapy, but

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they are for managing the practice.

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If you're a psychologist, one

of the huge problems is doing

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your minutes, doing your notes.

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And as long as you're.

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As your client would be

comfortable with the A.

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I running.

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The psychologist is not going to

have to spend 20 to 30 minutes doing

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notes after their hour long session.

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That would just transform things right?

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But are the clients going to be

willing to allow technology in

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the room such that additional?

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Capacities there.

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And then also the things that it will

spit back to you as a therapist in

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terms of like, how much time did I spend

speaking this time versus last time?

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What level of emotional resonance,

was this person's voice, talking

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with at different moments, right?

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It's really great stuff, but you've

got client, you got client resistance.

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And so I can just imagine, the

parent resistance, that's going

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to be a part of this thing.

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But the other thing too is, I hope you're

right, but do you think there will be?

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Cause

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Andy Rotherham: I'll look all like

I've written this all on up to this,

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like parenting is like in your parent,

it's like a, it's like a, it's like a

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constant stream of like small failures

that usually aren't super consequential.

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And then some big wins along the way.

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But one that like, Yep.

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I was not as good on this technology.

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It was hard to like constantly

be like policing it.

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And it's so addictive.

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So I hear you on parents.

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I'm just not sure.

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Maybe this next generation of parents is

going to see what this has done to kids.

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We'll be more cautious,

but it's frigging hard.

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I think we're asking, we are

asking a lot of parents, there's a

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reason we regulate some substances.

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Cause we don't just ask parents

to keep their kids from alcohol,

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tobacco, stuff like that.

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We have.

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Policies to help with that.

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Yeah.

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Cause it's hard, right?

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On the other hand you are

supposed to be a parent.

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I do know parents who have done like

a much better job of it than I did.

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So it's certainly it's certainly doable.

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Yeah, it's not impossible.

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Jed Wallace: And I would say that,

among psychologists right now, and it's

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instructive, as it relates to education,

they're aware of all of these different

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AI tools that are there, but they don't

trust anybody that's trying to peddle them

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and they don't know which one's better.

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And and they don't have enough time to go

in and really do the analysis themselves.

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So it's just easier.

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Do nothing.

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Do nothing.

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And so I feel as though one particular

advantage that the charter school world

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could have is if they simply make the

choice, they are going to put enough

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resource toward the analysis of the

different tools that are available

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to us to start making some choices.

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To start making some choices where I

can imagine big bureaucracies and then

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pushing the decision through an entire

elaborate stakeholder engagement process

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is going to slow it down so much.

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I just hope that, what charter

schools do is get themselves into

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a mode of not overthinking this.

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Don't overanalyze, do enough

to know it's safe and, all that

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kind of stuff, but then get it

operational within a couple of weeks.

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And then pull the plug if it doesn't

work, but you're, and also you're just

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going to have a team or a person at least,

depending on how big your organization

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is, that's really on top of these things.

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And it is allowing the

testing of innovation.

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It's almost like you're not

generating the innovation now.

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You're really trying to ride the

innovation, but which one do you do

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and how do you integrate it into what

you're already doing within your school?

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I almost feel like it's a core

competency that a lot of schools are

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gonna have to get great at these days.

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Thanks.

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Andy Rotherham: Yeah, no, definitely.

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And again, the velocity of it is just

so fast, you need people to keep up.

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You can't expect people to.

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To do that without a lot of support

and intent and intentionality.

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I do think these for charters, these

communication devices with parents, the

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ability to offer customized communication

with parents, coaching for kids.

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Obviously tutoring is a big piece too.

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Is going to be like a really resonant

thing and we'll help with engagement.

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You can see, you can see lots of stuff

moving in, moving into the space there.

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Jed Wallace: Let me, do you mind if

I ask you about your buck up article?

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I feel like it's related to

this and I can like whatever I

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like all of your Edgewalk posts.

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I particularly liked that one.

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And I also sense that, a

lot of people had read it.

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I saw people, texting or tweeting

on it and that kind of stuff.

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Can you just first share with the

audience, what you wrote generally in

368

:

case they haven't seen it yet, but then

also Just put a little color around

369

:

what motivated you're writing it.

370

:

And, what are you thinking now that

you've done it, what you published in

371

:

three weeks ago or something like that.

372

:

Andy Rotherham: Yeah.

373

:

Two weeks ago, it was right before ASU.

374

:

I put it on a Friday.

375

:

I will say it obviously hit a nerve.

376

:

An interesting thing I can tell

is I can look at on, on the sub

377

:

stack, you get Edgewonk either by

coming to the website or get, or a

378

:

newsletter, which is through sub stack.

379

:

And you can always tell when you've

hit a nerve, when the sub stack, the

380

:

open rates on the email, don't change

much, but the viewership, is noticeably.

381

:

And then I checked the tiger, the

stats, I use tiger tech and I checked

382

:

the stats and it was like, way out.

383

:

pretty good over a weekend, which

readership's usually a little

384

:

bit down on the weekends because

people read it, during the week.

385

:

And so it definitely hit a

nerve and you could see that.

386

:

Oh boy.

387

:

What, I've actually got a list.

388

:

I have a, I just have a spreadsheet

where I gather notes and gather string

389

:

on things I'm thinking about writing

and it helps me hold myself accountable.

390

:

To get through some stuff and all that.

391

:

And I'd wanted to write this one for

a while, cause I just didn't get it.

392

:

And the lead of it was a story that

like kept rattling around in my head,

393

:

which was just like, sometimes like

why there's sort of things that aren't

394

:

true and it, people keep saying them

and then there's things that aren't

395

:

true and are counterproductive to say.

396

:

And yet people keep saying

them and that's weird.

397

:

So what motivated me was just like, I'm

sick and tired of going to meetings,

398

:

listening to reformers bellyache, and

when they know it's not true and like the

399

:

more extreme examples of this are people

saying just like ridiculous things like

400

:

we've made no progress Since before the

civil rights act, we've made no progress

401

:

since Jim Crow and it's, you're just, and

actually I saw, I haven't had a chance

402

:

to read it yet, but I saw like a clip

from a podcast with a African American

403

:

woman who was like, furious about this.

404

:

Cause she was like, you

should be saying thank you.

405

:

Like the reason you're able to

like, go to these meetings and say

406

:

all this stuff is because of what

my generation did, older lady.

407

:

And she was really pissed.

408

:

And like all that has just, I've

been like, what is going on here?

409

:

And it's not true.

410

:

And there's plenty of evidence.

411

:

I didn't even get deeply

into a lot of the evidence.

412

:

I got into some of it, but gap, we've

got evidence on, the lowest performing

413

:

kids, the ones that everybody said

is the reason that they do this work.

414

:

We're making real gains and so forth.

415

:

And so I just get sick of it.

416

:

And it was like, and we're watching,

we're seeing this era of sort of

417

:

philanthropic contraction in the sector.

418

:

And some of that is funders

just getting sick of education.

419

:

Some is they're deciding climate

change or something else.

420

:

And like when that's happening, it

seems just completely insane to be

421

:

running around saying nothing works

and we haven't accomplished anything.

422

:

And again, I don't think

people actually believe it.

423

:

I think it's wearing this

hair shirt, but it's bullshit.

424

:

And they don't, cause these

are not stupid people.

425

:

These are many cases.

426

:

These people went to the.

427

:

in the world.

428

:

They don't believe this stuff.

429

:

But they're saying it cause

they're getting rewarded for it.

430

:

It's like this performative

thing you're supposed to say.

431

:

And I was just like enough,

like, why are we doing this?

432

:

Jed Wallace: I guess you're

you're more optimistic than me.

433

:

You're saying that people are being

duplicitous in the presentation.

434

:

I think that most of us are clueless.

435

:

We actually bought into this

idea that we haven't made this

436

:

kind of fundamental progress.

437

:

If we still believed it, then I think

we would see more people moving forward

438

:

with Moxie as they maybe, just try to

say the right thing at different times.

439

:

But what I really believe is that

the lack of confidence that we've

440

:

actually made significant progress

is leading to a dispiritedness that

441

:

is taking spring out of our step.

442

:

And it's the lack of spring and step

I worry about more than anything else.

443

:

Andy Rotherham: Yeah you

say that's a good push.

444

:

That's fair.

445

:

It may be in some cases people

just haven't really dialed into it.

446

:

And by the way, I did, I want to

make clear in the piece of the piece

447

:

isn't Hey, everything's gone great.

448

:

And if we just went back to 2004, 1996,

educational reform, things would be great.

449

:

That's not the point of it at all.

450

:

It's it, there's been plenty of

mistakes, plenty of hard one lessons.

451

:

Tim Daly has been doing a really good set

of deep dives on some of those lessons.

452

:

It's just that It is

not like, whoa, is us.

453

:

There hasn't been any progress has

been so slow, steady progress that

454

:

if you look at broad social policy

changes in the United States is not

455

:

like wildly out of line with that.

456

:

And there's been some noteworthy things,

including, charters that we've got.

457

:

I mentioned the jet, I got into this

when I first got to know you, like

458

:

people were like, I was literally

told by like the smart folks in

459

:

education that I was like naive.

460

:

One guy said I was naive to even be

that interested in KIPP because there'd

461

:

never be more than 15 KIPP schools.

462

:

Jed Wallace: Yeah.

463

:

There's

464

:

Andy Rotherham: 275 of them.

465

:

Now there's 7, 000 charters.

466

:

Nobody thought people thought

Clinton was just like, that was

467

:

the most ridiculous hyperbole.

468

:

When he said three, a goal of

:

469

:

probably be like mocked for that.

470

:

And like we blew past

:

471

:

So yeah, so I think it's around and I do

think so some of it may be cluelessness.

472

:

You may be more charitable.

473

:

I'd have to think more.

474

:

I just think a lot of people, I

think they know what they're saying.

475

:

The fashion right now is to

be like, nothing's worked.

476

:

It's all been really terrible and bad

and and you get rewarded for that.

477

:

You don't get where you actually

don't get rewarded that much for

478

:

saying everything's going well

because that cuts against the grain.

479

:

And people don't like that.

480

:

And they think you're oblivious

to the problems or whatever.

481

:

So people are getting rewarded for that.

482

:

And they're doing it.

483

:

I just wanted to like, hopefully

in some small way, just reset the

484

:

narrative to a more balanced place

that there's been like wins and losses,

485

:

but like a lot of wins and progress.

486

:

And by the way, social change in this

country doesn't happen overnight.

487

:

And if you were expecting that

you're in the wrong line of work.

488

:

Jed Wallace: Yeah.

489

:

I've been writing about, is Charter

History a bunch of ashes and Ramona

490

:

passing away, but also losing Don,

losing Linda, there's just become

491

:

this moment to look at at their

accomplishments, which were multi

492

:

decade in their undertaking which is.

493

:

What the charter school movement is, too.

494

:

And there are just very few reform

efforts that have a multi decade history.

495

:

Most of them fall apart.

496

:

They don't even make it that far.

497

:

And we do.

498

:

And we don't even, first of

all, we don't even stress that.

499

:

We don't even stress that, which

is bizarre, but then we just lose.

500

:

We lose track.

501

:

Ramona was so great at being able to

remind everybody about how appalling

502

:

public education was in the 80s and the

early 90s, and it's when you see that.

503

:

And remember how bad it was and then

to see, you know what it looks like now

504

:

after charter schools have grown to have

almost 50 percent of kids in charge.

505

:

And are there all sorts of

problems that are still there?

506

:

And is it not good enough and all that?

507

:

Yes, absolutely.

508

:

But if you look for everything going

back before that, decade after decade, No

509

:

progress or things getting actually worse.

510

:

So I've been signaling at Charterful,

I can't get it done because I just

511

:

cannot publish something that sucks on

something I think is super important.

512

:

And I feel like the Boston busing

thing is super, super important.

513

:

This is the 50th anniversary Of the

climactic moments of it when the

514

:

court cases were decided when Brett,

the Bradley case, Milligan Bradley

515

:

was decided in July of 2000 of 1974.

516

:

That's basically when the

Rehnquist court pulled back from.

517

:

Broad integration efforts across

multiple school districts and said,

518

:

No, Detroit, even though you're 97

percent black, you're going to do

519

:

all of your integration efforts only

within the District of Detroit, right?

520

:

It was a monumental decision

that they made in:

521

:

And, the Boston busing instance and,

conflict and tragedy was informing all

522

:

of those court cases as they happened.

523

:

And, if you look at Boston,

Boston is an abject, tragedy.

524

:

All the way to 1999.

525

:

They basically, the Garrity the judge,

he imposed the court order in:

526

:

There were 25 years of

busing, 25 years of busing.

527

:

1999, he lets it all drop, right?

528

:

Nothing had gotten better.

529

:

Nothing had gotten

better in Boston schools.

530

:

You go look at the press, you look at

Boston Herald, you look at Boston Globe.

531

:

It's just tragedy after tragedy.

532

:

What was made in 1999?

533

:

Roxbury Prep.

534

:

John King makes Roxbury Prep.

535

:

And within 15 years, the charter

schools of Boston were kicking butt.

536

:

They were the highest performing sector

of charter schools in the country, right?

537

:

And in the, in, in question two,

that was:

538

:

said, we're not going to allow

charter schools to grow anymore.

539

:

That fall, there was a larger number

of applicants to charter schools in

540

:

Boston than there have ever been before.

541

:

And I think our world

doesn't understand this.

542

:

We don't know this.

543

:

Certainly our newcomers don't know it.

544

:

And when those of us that have a

sense of hope, that are, that remain

545

:

perpetually bucked up forget that our

world doesn't understand these things.

546

:

It just speaks to, we got to go

back and tell the story again.

547

:

So people retain the sense of

optimism that if we keep going,

548

:

something profound will happen.

549

:

Andy Rotherham: Yeah.

550

:

I love that.

551

:

Yeah, that's Yeah, when I first got like

very early in my career, my boss's boss

552

:

had been an assistant superintendent up in

Boston during that in the early seventies.

553

:

And he told me about literally

redlining parents would come up on

554

:

the boards on these maps and they

would write with red magic markers.

555

:

And I remember thinking, so this is like

the nineties thinking, okay, like we've

556

:

at least like we've made, like I've

always been like fundamentally optimistic.

557

:

Okay.

558

:

We've made like blank.

559

:

That at least now the boundary

disputes are like more subtle because

560

:

people are scared to be like that

openly racist, which it doesn't

561

:

mean we've solved the problem.

562

:

And this is the thing.

563

:

As soon as you say like anything

about progress, you're like we

564

:

haven't solved the problem, right?

565

:

We haven't solved the problem,

but we have made progress.

566

:

we're moving in a positive direction.

567

:

And you just have to keep applying that

sort of sustained pressure, which is

568

:

why, and you talk about, which is why

like when the my, like that article,

569

:

like that's, was basically my point.

570

:

Like we've got to keep applying pressure.

571

:

You can't.

572

:

You can't let up.

573

:

That's how change happens.

574

:

And it's too easy to, I'd

add to your list of people.

575

:

I totally agree with your history, but

I'd also add like Linda Brown passing

576

:

recently, another person who just did

and the thing that like Linda, Don Ramona

577

:

I wrote a piece about Don that also,

I think people are a little hungry,

578

:

there's an appetite for this, the piece

about Don performed really well too.

579

:

And I think it was basically

just about Don was not fearless.

580

:

Or I guess reckless would be better.

581

:

He knew the risks.

582

:

He wasn't like he, but he did it anyway.

583

:

He was courageous.

584

:

He had courage.

585

:

He was brave is what he, I remember

when I first met Don in the nineties,

586

:

I was like, this guy's brave.

587

:

He's walking away from a

very comfortable career path.

588

:

All of that to do this other thing

with launching charters and I

589

:

think the, to your point on telling

stories, I think also because you need

590

:

people who are willing to be brave.

591

:

And if everybody thinks there's

no, you can't be brave, you'll

592

:

be punished for it or whatever,

then no, one's going to do it.

593

:

It's becomes a really unvirtuous cycle.

594

:

And so we need to tell these stories.

595

:

Linda Brown was brave.

596

:

Ramona was brave.

597

:

Don was brave.

598

:

Jed Wallace: Yeah, and I put a

lot of this on the leadership.

599

:

I don't know if it's

leadership within schools.

600

:

I really put it on the

leadership coming from advocacy.

601

:

I think those people have

got to be crisp on it.

602

:

And I will say I was a bonehead, at

during my 10 years at CCSA, I wasn't

603

:

crisp enough on this, or I didn't

get crisp enough until probably

604

:

the last two and a half years.

605

:

And and then I was getting a little

bit better, but I don't think

606

:

we understand when we don't have

charter school advocates that can

607

:

tell these stories this quickly.

608

:

Look at Kansas city, look at Kansas city.

609

:

Kansas city is every bit as bad as Boston.

610

:

Frickin horrible ending the amount of

money that they spent in Kansas City.

611

:

I'm sure you know that history.

612

:

There's nothing that's ever been done

in terms of volume of dollars per kid.

613

:

And it achieved nothing.

614

:

And, but now since then.

615

:

Charter schools that came

along and we've grown to 50%.

616

:

And if you look at, the credo studies

for the Kansas City Charter schools,

617

:

they're, I, they're nailing it.

618

:

Nailing it, but we won't even say it.

619

:

And another thing that just

drives me crazy is we have nothing

620

:

about what the next chapter is.

621

:

Okay?

622

:

We're at 50%.

623

:

Woo-hoo.

624

:

It's great.

625

:

We've got an awesome story to tell.

626

:

But what is the next chapter?

627

:

People, let's go.

628

:

And when we can't either tell

the history effectively going.

629

:

backwards or saying how continued

work is going to get us to

630

:

something that will long endure.

631

:

That's where we find people

needing to be bucked up.

632

:

And I put a lot of that on

the advocacy leadership.

633

:

Andy Rotherham: Yeah, I know

your point of Christmas.

634

:

I do.

635

:

I feel like we've, part of it is

because we got a lot of walks.

636

:

I don't think there's, there are

not as enough hacks in the section.

637

:

What I mean by that, like Bruce Reed wrote

a great piece this years ago now with the

638

:

Washington monthly that was about like

hacks need wonks and walks need hacks.

639

:

And it's less stay in your

lane than you need both.

640

:

And then he wrote about the

difference between and walks.

641

:

And Bruce is the consummate wonk.

642

:

And We haven't done, I think in this

sector, a fantastic job of the wonks

643

:

do a lot of the here's how we should

talk about this stuff, but we talk

644

:

about it in certain ways rather than

the hacks can teach you how to be

645

:

crisp and how to sell it and so forth.

646

:

I think that's a place we haven't

necessarily done are not just charters,

647

:

but had reform generally done our politics

super 1 reason the politics haven't

648

:

been as sustainable as they might.

649

:

One thing before we move off of this,

I can't with Boston and this is a

650

:

little bit personal to me because

these are schools that like help

651

:

my family get a rung on the ladder.

652

:

It's hard to miss.

653

:

Also the response.

654

:

This goes back to this idea of what's

politically fashionable and so forth.

655

:

Like Boston.

656

:

Now these selective.

657

:

So some of the schools in Boston

were just fantastic public schools.

658

:

So Latin girls, Latin, these schools,

girls, I doesn't, it doesn't really

659

:

even exist anymore in the same way.

660

:

Like the Response to frustration about

lack of whether we're making enough

661

:

progress and pressure has been to erode

the things that made these schools iconic

662

:

the same fights going on in New York.

663

:

And elsewhere, obviously, out your

way in San Francisco, they have

664

:

this fight, and I think it's really.

665

:

It's illustrative, because it's such a

counterproductive way to respond, which

666

:

is to try to then weaken, tear down,

go low as common denominator, rather

667

:

than figure out how do we like expand

excellence, expand access to excellence.

668

:

And it's really the antithesis of

the people we just talked about

669

:

and others in terms of their.

670

:

Their belief in what's possible for all

kids and that you can have much higher

671

:

expectations for kids than we have now.

672

:

And these systems are responding by

really doing the opposite, which if

673

:

you're a public school person like

you are, and I am like, it's just

674

:

very dispiriting to watch that.

675

:

Jed Wallace: Yeah, I'm not going to give

you're not, I don't think you're going to

676

:

budge me on selective admissions, Andy.

677

:

I just, this is my

678

:

Andy Rotherham: subtle effort to.

679

:

I was trying to get your, I was

trying to get your slipstream,

680

:

Jed Wallace: But I totally agree

with you that we keep things.

681

:

We got to keep aspiring

toward greater academic rigor.

682

:

And I just do not believe that

greater academic rigor and selective

683

:

admissions are necessarily inseparable.

684

:

And if you look, I don't know if you saw

fascinating a story down in Gainesville.

685

:

There's a school that's connected a

public school traditional public that's

686

:

operated by the university of Florida

or it's operated on the university of

687

:

Florida campus, Penny Schwinn, who was

the secretary of education in Tennessee.

688

:

And she's an old charter folks.

689

:

She started schools here in Sacramento

and we helped get her elected to

690

:

Sacramento County office of education.

691

:

She's now working for the university

of Florida and her charge is that

692

:

their school is ranked number 30.

693

:

38 in the state and

that's not good enough.

694

:

University of Florida

insists that they be top 10.

695

:

So what does Penny propose?

696

:

Let's change to selective admissions.

697

:

That's the way they're going to

get themselves to the top 10.

698

:

Then in the article that talked about

this, and there were, the article was

699

:

basically about all the parents in

Gainesville that were upset about this.

700

:

They did not want this to happen.

701

:

It talked about the other 37

schools that are above the

702

:

university of Florida school.

703

:

35 of them are selected admission

schools and two are in Coral Gables.

704

:

It's just,

705

:

Andy Rotherham: I look at this less.

706

:

I'm okay with some degrees and

you and I disagree on this.

707

:

I know some degree of customization.

708

:

And you can have different kinds

of schools and public schools

709

:

that have requirements around

arts and things like that.

710

:

I think I want to see a broad base of

things under that public education banner.

711

:

I think that's how you make public

education durable and sustainable.

712

:

But you got it to your point.

713

:

You got to talk about this accurately

and you got to make clear these

714

:

schools are not and an open enrollment.

715

:

School that's hitting the cover

off the ball is not the same as

716

:

a selective admission school that

might be getting the same results.

717

:

And this is sort of me.

718

:

I see.

719

:

This is like an information communication

navigation challenge, not a reason not

720

:

to have sort of a plethora of options.

721

:

But you're right.

722

:

We got to talk about this stuff.

723

:

This honestly, this was my.

724

:

Frustration with years ago, the way

that Newsweek was ranking schools.

725

:

Yeah, they were a bank.

726

:

A lot of traction in Florida

were a lot of the top schools.

727

:

And you're like, these are not overall

like great schools, high dropout

728

:

rates, big achievement gaps, but they

do a really good job with a small

729

:

set of kids, which doesn't mean like

they should stop doing a good job.

730

:

That set of kids, what means

let's talk about this honestly.

731

:

And, this is what happens in DC,

like the charts in DC are constantly.

732

:

compared to the selective

admissions public schools in D.

733

:

C.

734

:

And that's not a fair comparison either.

735

:

Yeah,

736

:

Jed Wallace: but I, this is one where

because we're not crisp on what we

737

:

believe constitutes a great public

school, I, the, I think the favorite

738

:

post that I've written at CharterFolk

over four years was about my dad's

739

:

definition of a great public school.

740

:

The eight public, eight words that define

a great public school that positively

741

:

affects the rate at which children learn.

742

:

And there's no reason why we can't.

743

:

Have the data systems that would be able

to see whether or not schools accelerate

744

:

the rate at which And then if we can

get a point of view that's in fact what

745

:

it is, then we can start just you know

taking a you know Dismantling a system

746

:

that just says hey if you're good at

recruiting already high performing Kids,

747

:

you know that doesn't necessarily make you

a great public school But because we're

748

:

not crisp because we're not crisp we end

up dragged down into the mire of things.

749

:

Andy Rotherham: Okay, so question

for you Are we like the charters

750

:

face an existential crisis?

751

:

You and I have talked about my, my

concern that when the music stops,

752

:

they don't necessarily have a place.

753

:

Do charters face, he

got all this pressure.

754

:

Some of them have.

755

:

Felt pressured to adopt

practices, not dissimilar from

756

:

traditional public schools.

757

:

You've got the ESAs and a lot

of political energy heading

758

:

in that direction, Democrats.

759

:

And we can talk about some

of the political things

760

:

with parents and so forth.

761

:

Don't necessarily aren't embracing them.

762

:

So you got Republicans going one

way, Democrats going another.

763

:

The lines are getting blurry.

764

:

Charters are giving up some

of the things that kind of

765

:

traditionally gave them their edge.

766

:

Do you think on this like being crisp,

which is a branding kind of thing, do you

767

:

think there's like an existential crisis

where like in 15 years, like charters

768

:

won't have a distinct if changes aren't

made and how we talk about and do advocacy

769

:

and so forth, the charters won't have a

distinct brand or place on the landscape.

770

:

Jed Wallace: I generally don't

worry about it, but it's the

771

:

thing I worry the most about.

772

:

I ultimately think we're going to be

successful, but it is possible that

773

:

people could refuse to arm the Ukrainians.

774

:

And if you don't arm the Ukrainians,

they're going to fricking lose.

775

:

They're gonna freaking lose.

776

:

It all comes down to whether Ukraine

folk are willing to keep doing it.

777

:

And I think Ukraine folk are willing

to keep doing it as long as they

778

:

got, the means by which to keep

trying to to defeat the Russians.

779

:

And for our stuff, this is where, it

relates to your article about bucking up.

780

:

I feel like the re, the reason that

you and I intuitively feel like

781

:

our world needs to be bucked up is

because the challenges are deepest.

782

:

In our bluest environments And at least

for charter schools, but I think a lot

783

:

of ed reform, too That's where We went

to blue context because those were

784

:

the ones that were the most broken and

those were the ones where the highest

785

:

needs kids Were and all of that and

it's the place where it's just so

786

:

Just it's so dysfunctional right now.

787

:

And so given that The vast majority of

people who are in ed reform, the vast

788

:

majority of them are Dems themselves, but

also they're stuck in these democratic

789

:

contexts that are just dysfunctional.

790

:

Their opinions then frame the

national chatter within the ed world.

791

:

And and a part of this is that Republican,

I'm not Republican, our funders are

792

:

saying, forget the blue context.

793

:

Do not beat your head against walls.

794

:

Go to places where you can make progress.

795

:

And so that's the blue.

796

:

Our CMOs and charter school operators

in urban context feel abandoned.

797

:

They feel abandoned.

798

:

And I don't think that's wise.

799

:

I don't think it's wise because

ultimately, I think things are going

800

:

to implode in those blue context.

801

:

And things are gonna open up again,

and we want those people ready to

802

:

pounce as soon as things do open.

803

:

And look at Philadelphia

just this last week.

804

:

It looks like the school board's

gonna change there, right?

805

:

But the other part of it, too, is

these people really matter to us.

806

:

They really matter to us.

807

:

They have to feel like

they're being supported.

808

:

They have to feel like

they're being honored.

809

:

And and they will rub off on

all sorts of other people, too.

810

:

So my sense, Andy, is as long as charter

folk have spring in step, As long

811

:

as we keep going forward with moxie.

812

:

I don't have any worry about things

I think we can keep up in florida.

813

:

I think we can keep up in arizona I think

we can keep up in arkansas, and we're the

814

:

only thing going in blue context but the

question is are we going to keep going?

815

:

Are we going to keep

applying for charters?

816

:

Are we going to keep pushing, for the

reforms that we need at school district

817

:

levels and that kind of stuff and

without that feeling of wind at the blues

818

:

backs You know That does make me worry.

819

:

Andy Rotherham: All right.

820

:

Riddle me this then.

821

:

Okay.

822

:

So if this is counterintuitive and,

I've talked about people have trouble

823

:

getting their heads around it.

824

:

One of Biden's biggest problems right

now is politically is erosion of

825

:

support among Black and Hispanic voters.

826

:

And there was a new poll, the YouGov poll

was written up in The Economist recently.

827

:

We can put the article in the

show notes and access the poll.

828

:

And basically it showed one of the

things that's highly predictive

829

:

of being a Biden to Trump voters.

830

:

So you voted for Biden in 2020 and

say, you're going to vote for Trump.

831

:

And that's a big deal because the

election is so tight that voters who

832

:

switch are especially valuable rather

than just like low propensity and

833

:

other kinds of voters, just because

Trump has a, he has a ceiling.

834

:

Both candidates are

struggling in their own way.

835

:

And Trump has a seat.

836

:

So those voters, they really,

those voters really matter.

837

:

Was black and Hispanic

parents, people with kids.

838

:

And those people said they were, some

of that was economic anxiety for sure.

839

:

Inflation, these people,

they were they did not list

840

:

education as their top concern.

841

:

They listed They listed economic things,

but they are parents with kids and

842

:

that, that stood out in the cross tabs.

843

:

And there's only a fraction of

them moving from Trump to Biden.

844

:

So like I think 3 percent sound like that.

845

:

We can check that, but like the red,

like 10, 11 percent moving the other way.

846

:

And it seems strange.

847

:

So that's happening at the same time.

848

:

The Biden administration's cutting support

for For the chart for the federal charter

849

:

school program, which is at once, go

through the hill and everything, but it's

850

:

symbolically, you don't have to do that.

851

:

They're really not much of a friend

of charters and the Democrats

852

:

generally don't have much of it.

853

:

And it seems as you and I think

we've talked about a little

854

:

bit before, education issues.

855

:

These, do seem like it's a piece.

856

:

There's a set of things.

857

:

These are also

disproportionately conservative,

858

:

Jed Wallace: right?

859

:

Andy Rotherham: Going to be conservative

african americans, conservative

860

:

hispanics who Biden is make is

losing and trump is making real

861

:

inroads against now in the polling.

862

:

So riddle me like why Hey, Why is

it such a struggle to get Democrats

863

:

to put forward some kind of

agenda here that's not repellent?

864

:

Jed Wallace: Let me first

underscore your your point with

865

:

some additional data from Texas.

866

:

Because I think that what Starling, and

it was fun for us to be there at Charter

867

:

School Growth Fund, and there she was

in the audience, and I don't know, I

868

:

was fawning over her left and right.

869

:

What is going on?

870

:

We can learn so much.

871

:

from the advocacy that the Texas Charter

School Association is doing right now.

872

:

And one of the things that

she's, you, when you're Texas,

873

:

you, it's just a huge state.

874

:

You could waste all of your money, on,

on who knows what political activity.

875

:

And Starley's just been like, look,

let's focus on charter school parents.

876

:

And we think we can turn more of

them out, and we think we can flip

877

:

more of them, to charter support

than than if we tried to spend the

878

:

same dollar on just any old voter.

879

:

And she's got really stunning numbers.

880

:

And numbers large enough to have

been the difference maker in several

881

:

legislative races, and I think even

a couple of their state board races.

882

:

And what they really found was that

these Dems, who would otherwise have

883

:

voted Dem, when you tell them, that

their dam is opposed to charter schools

884

:

and the Republican is supporter.

885

:

They have a significant number.

886

:

I don't know the exact numbers here,

but it's a significant number are

887

:

willing to vote for the dam right now.

888

:

So that just speaks to the level

of danger that I think Dems

889

:

have to stay in that space.

890

:

And I wish I could say they were getting

the message, but, you saw those posts

891

:

that I wrote about the hearings in

Washington on charter schools where

892

:

it was a very clear strategy, right?

893

:

The Republicans just wanted those Dems

on that committee, and I got to be more

894

:

precise in my language because when I say.

895

:

All the Dems in Congress, that's wrong.

896

:

No, it's the subset of Dems within

Congress that get appointed to those

897

:

committees, which is a function of,

the unions telling the leadership

898

:

who to put on those committees.

899

:

The voters don't know that.

900

:

And all they do is they

see that message come out.

901

:

And I don't know if you saw, if you read

the post that I wrote, that some of the

902

:

most ridiculous things that they said.

903

:

Andy Rotherham: And look,

that, that ramps up or down,

904

:

depending on it's hard to miss.

905

:

It's the Democrats with Clinton and

with Obama were like good on this stuff.

906

:

It tamped down some of the craziness

and like that presidential bully

907

:

pulpit, you get you get some

cover, you can shape the narrative.

908

:

You get some people will just be quiet.

909

:

Cause they don't want to get in your way.

910

:

They want to be good.

911

:

They want to be good foot

soldiers for the party.

912

:

All those things add up.

913

:

And so it's just it's just

inexplicable to me right now.

914

:

That the Dems aren't even making nominal

moves to try to use education to head

915

:

this off, especially because the other

guy, it's, is not, Mitt Romney, or George

916

:

Bush or whatever it's Donald Trump,

who I think like most people agree is

917

:

like a real problem on multiple levels.

918

:

Again, we're in election season

and the people who hate charters

919

:

are the teachers unions and white.

920

:

Progressives and they're not the

votes Biden has to worry about.

921

:

Like the votes he has to worry

about are the votes in the middle

922

:

and the votes that he's eroding.

923

:

And so it's just, again, like

whatever the explanation is just

924

:

politically in an election, you

should be doing everything you can.

925

:

To address whatever your

political deficiencies are.

926

:

And yeah, I just don't don't get it.

927

:

And again, this election,

actually, everyone always says,

928

:

yeah, every election is the most

important lecture of your life.

929

:

But this was actually important

considering the backdrop.

930

:

And yeah, I don't know.

931

:

I don't it's, I hear you and

I hear the frustration and I

932

:

don't that I it is inexplicable.

933

:

Jed Wallace: Listen, I

know we're, near time here.

934

:

I'm realizing that I'd like to just

go back and feather in one additional

935

:

piece on this prior conversation about

the blues and keeping, ed Reformers

936

:

and charters, spring in our step.

937

:

I just.

938

:

I know that many of our pros, our

advocacy pros, our comms pros tell

939

:

us not to say anything negative

about traditional public schools.

940

:

And I think that is ultimately a box that

Contributes to a lot of the problems that

941

:

you and I have been talking about here.

942

:

Why do we need to be bucked up?

943

:

I mean if there's not any real

big problem Why are we going to

944

:

run into anything anyway, right?

945

:

And if there's not really been any big

problem then what's been the magnitude

946

:

of the charter school's accomplishment

and if there's not any real continued

947

:

problem why do we even bother going on?

948

:

And I just feel like this is one of

the most I understand that ridiculous

949

:

toxicity and you put, you brought

that up when we were in Arizona,

950

:

there are some people that want to

fight just for the sake of fighting.

951

:

And that is totally, and they

fight for unfair reasons.

952

:

But if we are Chris, I come back to

this word again and again about what

953

:

is fair game, what is fair game and

what is something that we can do.

954

:

And I'm just starting to feel too.

955

:

Like we need different policy

proposals, ones that I've

956

:

never talked about before too.

957

:

I'm pushing myself to get new stuff.

958

:

We need something that rewards

those schools that are getting

959

:

us where we want to go.

960

:

And, I think there have been a

few places, Ohio tries to give

961

:

like a funding increment to the

charters that get good test scores.

962

:

But good test scores is not even

what we're talking about now.

963

:

What we want are schools

that parents really want.

964

:

That parents really want that low

income kids would be willing to get

965

:

on a bus or drive, across a district

line to attend the suburban school.

966

:

We want the suburban school to take them.

967

:

What do we right now?

968

:

What we do is we tend to penalize

that which is successful.

969

:

That which is successful has money

sucked away from it generally to

970

:

go into these really small, un,

unsustainable schools and more money

971

:

ends up going to the schools that

people don't want than the ones we do.

972

:

And I just feel like it's incumbent upon

us because to come up with new ways.

973

:

To reward that which we want to see

in the future and our advocacy is just

974

:

not imaginative along these lines.

975

:

Andy Rotherham: Yeah,

no I generally agree.

976

:

Yeah, the getting what do you do

helping parents move across these lines?

977

:

How do you reward?

978

:

I think there's a lot of things we could

do there for your more creative and

979

:

policy than we have been here again.

980

:

You're not going to you're not

going to see that the current

981

:

administration was all kinds of

things you could see about helping

982

:

good ideas, travel, helping rewarding

success giving resources to expand.

983

:

And that's what we used to.

984

:

We used to do more of that

kind of that kind of energy.

985

:

I do think, You know the kind of person

you can find them on Twitter who like

986

:

if they're a chart, if they're like

a choice person, every time something

987

:

happens in public schools, they're

like, they're treating it around.

988

:

And likewise, if they're they

consider themselves a public school

989

:

person or a charter critic, anytime

something happens in a charter school.

990

:

And these are in fact, things that happen

in both sectors, you get there's incidents

991

:

of fraud or graft or whatever, or adults

do inappropriate things, whatever it is.

992

:

Yeah.

993

:

Those people are obnoxious.

994

:

And I feel like the thing we should

talk honestly about with both sectors

995

:

is what's the macro performance picture.

996

:

I think there's places charters

are still falling short and

997

:

we should talk about that.

998

:

This place is a traditional

public schools are falling short.

999

:

And then there's issues like you,

you told the story of Boston earlier.

:

00:48:22,604 --> 00:48:27,164

And I feel like on both, one thing you

find on both sides is I wrote an article

:

00:48:27,164 --> 00:48:31,804

years ago called like achievement realists

versus public relationists on both sides.

:

00:48:31,804 --> 00:48:35,694

You find these people who like, they

think the path that this is basically

:

00:48:35,694 --> 00:48:39,094

a public relations problem and a

public relations war to fight out.

:

00:48:39,474 --> 00:48:41,834

And then you've got the people

and I'm in this camp who are like

:

00:48:41,844 --> 00:48:44,454

the achievement realists are like,

people are going to figure it out.

:

00:48:44,624 --> 00:48:45,954

Sooner or later anyway.

:

00:48:45,964 --> 00:48:48,084

And so you might as well just be

straightforward about the data,

:

00:48:48,084 --> 00:48:51,534

talk about things, honestly, drive

towards improvement and so forth.

:

00:48:51,544 --> 00:48:53,104

That's why I guess I'm

an accountability guy.

:

00:48:53,154 --> 00:48:54,134

I want good reporting.

:

00:48:54,374 --> 00:48:54,934

I want good.

:

00:48:54,964 --> 00:48:56,944

I want good data on all schools.

:

00:48:57,294 --> 00:48:59,614

And I feel like that's the divide.

:

00:48:59,624 --> 00:49:01,964

And we have too many people on both sides.

:

00:49:01,964 --> 00:49:04,844

We're still in this public

relationist kind of posture where

:

00:49:04,844 --> 00:49:08,504

this is just, it's a PR war to be

won one way or the other or lost.

:

00:49:09,109 --> 00:49:11,189

One way or the other, rather

than these are just like

:

00:49:11,199 --> 00:49:13,529

substantive problems to solve.

:

00:49:13,869 --> 00:49:16,209

And again, going back to the

article, which we have done a

:

00:49:16,209 --> 00:49:17,609

decent job solving some of them.

:

00:49:17,609 --> 00:49:19,309

There's a lot of lessons

and learning there.

:

00:49:19,359 --> 00:49:21,259

But it's getting obscured

by all this other stuff.

:

00:49:21,869 --> 00:49:23,919

We've probably gone, we've

probably gone long enough.

:

00:49:23,919 --> 00:49:24,179

And,

:

00:49:24,249 --> 00:49:25,929

Jed Wallace: If you have a

link to that one, send it and

:

00:49:25,929 --> 00:49:27,079

we'll get it in the notes.

:

00:49:27,339 --> 00:49:32,069

That sounds like a really interesting one

and Hey, it's great to have caught up.

:

00:49:32,669 --> 00:49:34,319

It's great to see you as well.

:

00:49:34,319 --> 00:49:34,699

I hope,

:

00:49:34,729 --> 00:49:36,179

Andy Rotherham: Again, soon

we've got some upcoming, we've

:

00:49:36,179 --> 00:49:37,829

got some exciting guests coming.

:

00:49:37,829 --> 00:49:40,449

So we will I've been

traveling a lot as well.

:

00:49:40,449 --> 00:49:43,969

And so we will get back in a more

regular cadence regular cadence soon.

:

00:49:44,469 --> 00:49:45,179

Looking forward to it.

:

00:49:45,369 --> 00:49:46,249

Hey, great to see you, Jed.

:

00:49:46,249 --> 00:49:46,529

Bye bye.

:

00:49:47,109 --> 00:49:47,419

Okay.

:

00:49:47,509 --> 00:49:47,769

Bye.

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