A value proposition for a new era

Recently, I read an article in The New York Times about the debate over whether Earth is entering a new epoch (Zhong, 2022). Geologists categorize Earth’s existence according to epochs, and within them are eras and eons during which species thrived and went extinct. Humans are but a blip in the timeline, but we are ones defining the terms of the debate today. Soon after I read this article, a colleague who’s the superintendent of a diverse and well-heeled suburban district told me that she feels we’ve entered a distinctly new era of leadership. Let’s call this the PTSP era — Post-Trump, Sorta Post-pandemic.

Scientists have organized bodies that formally name time spans, but public educators have no such thing. We generally point to significant pieces of legislation like the No Child Left Behind Act or major reports like A Nation at Risk. And we collapse periods from the more distant past under umbrella terms, such as the Progressive Era. Each of these categorizations represents an era of school reform grounded in distinct beliefs about how to ensure that more students achieve standards that prepare them for college and careers.

The standards-based reform era may still shackle public educators to the yoke of annual state tests and related policies, but much of the air has gone out of the balloon in our PTSP era. More attention is being paid to social-emotional learning, mental health, and issues of diversity and equity. Students and parents are pushing for change in both constructive and destructive ways. And while few would disagree that our goal is to take care of our kids, there are endless competing perspectives on what teachers should do with students every day, how to organize schools and districts, and how to measure progress — among other things. When there are fewer clear guardrails than ever and more folks are clamoring for change, school system leaders face serious questions about the value proposition of public schools.