As school districts reflect on what they will do with their share of the economic stimulus funding, how they will spend Vision 20/20 or ARRA grant funds, Jeff’s words at The Thinking Stick are a sober reminder of what could happen without vision and leadership. In fact, as an administrator, those words scare me to death even as they fill me with hope about the future:

Set a deadline for yourself as a school or organization. Make your plan…focus on student learning and then just do it. As some point you need to stop planning and get moving! If you don’t have a clear purpose of how a laptop changes the learning landscape then you could end up like this:

Yet school officials here and in several other places said laptops had
been abused by students, did not fit into lesson plans, and showed
little, if any, measurable effect on grades and test scores at a time
of increased pressure to meet state standards. Districts have dropped
laptop programs after resistance from teachers, logistical and
technical problems, and escalating maintenance costs.

Not a good place to be.

Begin with the end in mind…I’m reminded of “Our Iceberg is Melting” by John Kotter and the process he describes in that book.

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