There are few things that affect each of us so personally and so profoundly, and few that hold such rich possibility as education. This possibility is at the source of educators’ powerful commitment to education.
But with all of the intelligent thinking, purposeful effort, dedication, and goodwill devoted to education, the people who have committed themselves to truly making a difference have found themselves frustrated. In the face of having given their best efforts, often they are only able to make incremental improvements, or at best periodically achieve extraordinary results what can’t be sustained. And there is less and less sense of education realizing it potential.
The Education Network stands for the possibility of education that lies beyond the enormous value already being contributed. And we are dedicated to realizing this possibility that lives in the aspirations of all those committed to education.
Our Mission
The mission of The Education Network is to transform education in the United States by empowering individuals and educational communities to fulfill their vision for education such that:
All children are nurtured, enriched and have a sense of themselves as a contribution to their family, their community, and society;
Every community has a pathway for designing its future and developing creative and effective citizens who fulfill that future; and,
Society is enabled to fulfill the possibility of democracy.
Our Philosophy
The Education Network asserts that as a nation we already have everything necessary for education to succeed – including committed teachers, effective programs, dedicated administrators and parents, children who are willing and able to learn, and even sufficient financial resources. What is missing is an environment which maximizes what these valuable resources can produce.
The current environment for education is based on certain assumptions – shared understandings that have evolved over time – and this reality is perpetuated by concurrent traditional practices. These underlying assumptions and practices reconfirm and sustain the reality. The culture of education shapes and limits the outcomes of even the most creative thinking, truly innovative approaches, and the most inspired action.
All that is possible in education hinges on generating a new culture based on uncommon assumptions. Creating an atmosphere in which students excel and stakeholders achieve truly substantive changes hinges on new ways of thinking about and interacting with education.
The Education Network is committed to creating a new paradigm for education – altering the conversations which constitute education and serve as the environment for education. In this paradigm, people have the opportunity to make a real and lasting difference with students, and impact the future of education in their communities.
“A talent for speaking differently rather than arguing well is the chief instrument of cultural change.”
~ American philosopher Richard Rorty
Our Methodology
Rather than focusing on the kinds of skills that it takes to work effectively within the current framework of thinking and interacting with education, The Education Network has developed and utilizes a methodology that makes it possible for people to those limitations. This methodology based on the premise that the access to bringing about truly substantive change in education can be achieved through language.
By focusing on a unique set of conversations, it is possible to transform complaints into committed action, form extended partnerships, and generate a focus which inspires extraordinary action over the long term. For more than 30 years, we have offered highly specialized training programs in which the participants have developed the skills that allow them to naturally access their own creativity, discover their own solutions to challenges, and see pathways to successfully deal with issues that previously seemed impossible to resolve.